Plan for the best, prepare for the worst

Remember the old days back when families had minimal stuff and lived with only the necessities of a household, and the children spent their days playing, reading, or helping with chores? No TV, no chatting on the phone with friends, no going out shopping at malls or meeting friends at Starbucks.

Granted, none of us really want to go back to those times because we like our TV, our cell phones, shopping, and going out to be with friends. The point I want to make however is looking at the idea of being more of a minimalist – living mainly with the things we need and getting back to the more basics of a family lifestyle.

Lately I’ve been researching and reading information about disaster preparedness and what a person should have on hand to survive a disaster and how a person can live on certain fundamentals. I started to visualize what it would be like having to get back to basics.

I personally like the luxuries life affords me in this day, yet I feel I should be prepared in case a day ever happens when those luxuries and my lifestyle get interrupted by a crisis.

Although I’m not dwelling on disaster possibilities, the fact remains that anything is possible, especially with the situation of our American dollar, and we should just plan for the best and prepare for the worst.

I did have to face a crisis once. One night several months ago I was awakened by a knock on my door at 3am. It was a neighbor and the minute I opened the door, I knew why he was there: we had a big fire heading our way. I looked around my house trying to decide what to pack up for evacuation, not knowing if I would be coming back to a house still in tact.

In looking around, I saw all the things I would miss having, but wouldn’t need. I then started loading my SUV with items I needed to survive if I couldn’t return to a home. I gathered articles of clothing, my photo albums, some toiletrees, a blanket and pillow, my computer, and my fire-box of Val Docs (not certain it would withstand a fire!).

Within the hour, the police drove by with loud-speakers enforcing evacuation and I put my dog in the car and headed out of the canyon down the hill to a friend’s house in a neighboring city.

As I drove away, I wondered if I would have to start all over again? Would my lifestyle really change in the blink of an eye? Luckily it didn’t and I was able to return home 3 days later to a home that was still there.

I didn’t exactly have to rough it either while being away from home. I was fortunate enough to have friends to stay with. Other people were not so fortunate and had to stay together in shelters.

Ok, I may have strayed away from my point, so I’ll get back to it. If we were to truly examine all the things we have and decide its true value (what benefit it has to us) and whether or not we’d miss it if there was a disaster, then maybe a lot of us wouldn’t have so much stuff.

Cutting back to some household basics can remove a lot of clutter in our lives. Do we really need it? That’s the question. Are we prepared to survive a rough time? That’s the challenge. Would we be better off if our family lifestyle included more reading than watching TV? That’s a discretion that might lend foresight to a calmer, more orderly family unit.

All in all, I’m promoting the idea of being prepared, cutting back on things we don’t need, and bringing the family unit back to some fundamental lifestyle that includes more of the old days values and less of today’s mindless activities. We just might find new opportunities in new circumstances.

References for emergency planning, prepare and kits:

http://www.ready.gov

http://www.fema.gov/areyouready

http://www.prepare.org

http://www.equipped.org/disastertoc.htm

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/disaster-preparedness

Hurricane Preparedness

Hurricane Checklist

For those of you who live in parts of the country that are prone to hurricanes, it is important to be prepared. Being organized is an integral part to being prepared.

Here’s an article in the Miami Herald that might help: Hurricane Check List

Related posts:
Hurricane Relief Planning
Organize Your Pets For A Disaster

Hurricane Relief Planning

After Disaster Tips

In a Mason-Dixon poll, only 53% of households in the hurricane areas say they have a plan if their home is threatened by a serious hurricane; 43% say they feel vulnerable to hurricanes or hurricane-related damage; and 22% admit that their home could be secured or prepared for a hurricane in a few hours.

Severe Weather Meteorologist Brian Hill offers free tips on how to create an “After Disaster Rebuilding Plan” to protect themselves or their property from hurricanes. To get these tips, go to www.disasterkit.tv.

Katrina Pet Rescue Organized

Muttshack Helps Organize Relief Efforts for Lost Pets

I want to take this time to focus on all the relief efforts for the victims of Katrina — in particular, the lost pets from the disaster.

The Muttshack Foundation has been working with pet rescue organizations to help in the rescue of lost pets resulting from the Katrina disaster. Founder Amanda St John has set up a fund to aid the pet rescuers going to the disaster locations, who have set up a temporary shelter for lost pets. You can go to the Muttshack web site to make a contribution.

For information about protecting your pets in a disaster, read the article “Organizing Your Pets for a Disaster.”

In a Computer World

Crash Preparedness

Now, we’ve all heard about disaster preparedness and having emergency kits, right? And, we’ve heard about backing up our computer data files regularly, yes? Well, what about all that information we need to get up and running again if our computer hard drive just up and dies without notice?

I’m talking about our email account settings that we need to set up our email accounts again. I’m talking about our serial numbers and unlock key codes for downloaded software we’ve purchased and registered. I’m talking about the settings for uploading our web site(s) to our web host servers.

These were some of the things I found necessary to have at hand when we have to replace our hard drive or have to reformat one…like I had to do recently.

It’s amazing how much we rely on our computers and how much information we store in them. I had all my Internet registrations in an email folder, although fortunately, I also recorded them onto my rolodex cards.

Having a file or log or way to retrieve important information is vital when we operate with computers. Yes, computer backups are great, but do they store our log in and password information, our computer settings and email configurations, or the key codes to unlock software we have to reinstall? No, I can tell you it doesn’t.

The one thing I haven’t done manually (and I’m sorry for it) is to log my favorite Internet sites. Because, now all my Internet Favorites are gone and have to be reconstructed from scratch. I’m not quite sure this is feasible to do because of the nature of how time-consuming it would be and the double-work this would involve, but it’s just a thought.

Whatever the case, just keep hoping it doesn’t happen to you — but be prepared, nevertheless.

Organize for Disaster

Disaster Season

This month we’ve been seeing news sources reporting that June is the start of hurricane season. Although some of us may not live in places where hurricanes threaten our town, there are always other natural disasters, no matter where we live.

Judith Kolberg was kind enough to send me her newest book, “Organize for Disaster.” I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, however a good scan of the book shows it to be a great resource of information relating to dealing with disaster.

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Now, I’m pretty certain Judith didn’t send me her book because she thinks I’m a disaster, or not prepared, or anything like that. I do think it was out of the goodness of her heart, wouldn’t you agree?

And, if you haven’t read a recent article posted at our web site, be sure to read it — Organize Your Pets for a Disaster; It May Save Its Life and Yours.