Emergency Preparedness: Preparing, Sheltering in Place, Having a "Go Bag," and Evacuating

God forbid you or your family ever encounter an emergency situation, evacuation, natural disaster, etc. But if you do, it’s best to be prepared. Now, you probably can’t prepare for everything but even some level of preparedness is much better than none. In this post I’m sharing some general ideas on ways you can prepare your home and your family if you’re stuck or need to evacuate, but please do your own homework and contact local authorities for the best advice on what situations are most likely to arise for you. | This post contains affiliate links |

Disclaimer: I am not a survival or emergency expert, but just sharing my opinion on ideas and discussion points on how you might prepare. Do your own research and contact local authorities on the best way to prepare your home and your family for any emergency situation which could arise.

Prepare Your Home

First let’s talk about the home front - it’s a good idea to make sure you have a generator (correctly installed and well ventilated) and extra fuel (safely stored) in the event you’re without power for awhile. Make sure you have shovels, flashlights, extra food that doesn’t need to be cooked (like crackers, canned goods, etc), pet food, water, blankets, matches, and candles too. Some people recommend filling bathtubs and sinks with water prior to bad weather coming so that you have a supply of water for cooking/drinking/washing/flushing toilets. Make sure phones and electronics are charged and you have extra charging packs.

Whether you have a generator or not to run your refridgerator or freezer during a power outage, it's a good idea to keep thermometers inside both fridge and freezer to monitor the temperature for food safety. Do not open the doors unless you really need to (opening them lets the precious cold air out), but by having thermometers in place you can make sure your food is still safe to eat after a prolonged outage.

Have a battery-operated or crank radio on hand - if the power or cellphone/internet services are disrupted you’ll want to be able to listen to the radio to get updates.

It’s also important to have a First Aid Kit and enough medications on hand if someone has a pre-existing medical condition, as well as general medications that you and your family may need like fever/pain reducers. If someone in your family has an allergy or restricted diet, make sure you have a backup of enough “safe” foods in the house for them to have. It’s also a good idea to have medical information for your family posted in the house for first responders if needed.

Make sure to also have working smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and fire extinguishers in your home. Keep important documents in a Fireproof Safe.

In the event of a local outbreak of illness (flu, stomach bug, - edited to add COVID-19 too), it’s a good idea to have basic over-the-counter medications on hand as well as disinfectant supplies and face masks.

Decide Where and How You May Need to Shelter In Place

Think about different scenarios that could ever happen, which is probably most dependent on where you live. If you live in tornado or hurricane-prone area, maybe you need to have a plan in place to quickly bring in lawn furniture and other items that could go air-born, shut your storm shutters, and shelter in the basement or bathroom. If you live in a city, maybe a scenario that’s more likely is you may have to shelter in place due to violence or riots - where would be the safest place in your home or apartment to do that? If you live in winter-storm prone area, maybe that’s making sure your heating vents stay clear from snow and you have a roof rake and shovels ready to make sure your roof doesn’t get overloaded and you can shovel your way out of your front door. If you live in an earthquake-prone area, maybe that’s being aware where the safest place in your house to shelter would be (maybe a strong doorway), or know if it would be safest to evacuate the building entirely and wait it out outside.

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What is a “Go Bag” and Why Your Family Should Have One

A “Go Bag” is something you have packed and ready in the event you needed to evacuate your home immediately and potentially survive outside (in the woods or on the road in your vehicle) on your own for several days… situations that may arise where you may be put in that situation could be quick moving storms, flash floods, wild fires, etc. A Go Bag is something that is ready to go with emergency supplies including food, water or a water flirtation system, survival blankets, first aid kit, personal medications that you/your family may need, medical ID cards, masks (to help filter smoke/dust/germs), etc. It’s also a good idea to have local maps in there as well, as phones and internet may not work.

You can put your own Go Bag together or order a pre-made Go Bag and add what personal things you may need to it.

Have an Evacuation Plan

First, it goes without saying you should have plans for things like Fire Drills. Consult your local fire department for tips, but in general make sure you and your family (including kids) understand what a fire/evacuation drill is, how to safely and quickly exit the building, what to do if you get trapped, and where to meet outside afterwards. Practice this a few times a year so it’s second nature, but hopefully you never ever need to do it for real.

Now to take that one step further - take some time to think through different scenarios that could happen where you might have to evacuate your area/town (God forbid they ever do), and plan how you would react. If a wild fire or flood was happening nearby, how would you and your family evacuate your area? Take some time to familiarize yourself with area roads and which ones would be the best to evacuate by - make sure you also come up several backup plans too as your first choice exit plan may be blocked off. Also be aware of which roads may be most prone to fall victim to a natural disaster - for example, a low-lying road near a stream would be likely to flood, and probably shouldn’t be counted on as an exit road in a weather emergency. Keep maps in your car too as phones/GPS may not work and it would be beneficial to have a paper map to consult. It's also important to have cash on hand as ATMs/credit card machines may be down as well.

Always try to keep your car gas tank fairly full too, that way you’ll be ready to go anytime and won’t have to worry about running out of gas or being able to buy gas (as gas stations may be out of gas or there could be long lines) wasting valuable time for your family to make an efficient exit.

Hopefully you will never fall into a scenario where you’ll ever have to use any of your emergency supplies or shelter/evacuation plans, but it’s best to be prepared. Make sure to re-evaluate your plans and supplies regularly as roads and situations can change and supplies will expire over time (check those expiration dates on medicine, first aid items, and food/water). May you all stay safe and well!

Disclaimer: I am not a survival or emergency expert, but just sharing my opinion on ideas and discussion points on how you might prepare. Do your own research and contact local authorities on the best way to prepare your home and your family for any emergency situation which could arise.

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• My Recipe for “Quarantine Chili”

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Why My Blog Will Never Make a Lot of Money (and why I'm okay with it)

First off, no disrespect to my fellow bloggers and blogger friends. Blogging professionally is HARD and so much work - maintaining a following, meeting deadlines, constantly creating and promoting content, and so much more. So many people work tirelessly on their blogs every single day in order to grow it and provide income for their families - and I absolutely applaud that. However, there are a lot of common aspects of blogging that I am personally not okay with… and while it holds me back from making this blog lucrative, I’m more than okay with it - and here’s why…

I Don’t Overshare

Most blogs with a dedicated following tend to share everything about their daily lives - what they’re wearing that day, what they did, what they ate, what silly thing their kids did, what personal roadblock they’re encountering, etc. And I like my personal life, well - personal. I won’t be constantly on Instastories narrating my life, sharing all the details throughout my day. And I confess, some of my favorite blogs to follow do just that - I’m guilty of enjoying their stories and living their life vicariously through them. It’s interesting and fun and a great way to get an engaged following - but I could never do that myself. I personally find it too intrusive and creepy to have so many people know so much about our personal life.

I Won’t Sell Out My Kids

Promoting kid and baby items/gear is a huge market in the blogging industry. So many brands seek out bloggers with kids and growing families and hire them to help promote their products. In turn, bloggers share tons of photos of their children wearing or using the products, along with personal stories to make it more interesting. For example, a blogger may choose to take a sponsored post about a potty seat. In doing so, she may choose to share photos and stories of her kids potty training… now can you imagine being that child and having that digital footprint/history when they grow up? It would come back to haunt him in high school or if he ever ran for Congress.
Now, I do work with some select kids brands and products - however I’m particular with who and how I work with them. I only share about products and brands we honestly love or use, and I limit the photos I post of our children. Typically when I share photos of our kids on the blog they are carefully cropped or edited to help protect their anonymity - this is super important to me but definitely limits the brands that want to work with me, as most brands want tons of personable photos.

I Follow the Rules

I always do my best to follow the rules regarding sponsored content and outbound links. There are a lot of guidelines out there from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on how sponsored content and affiliate links need to always be disclosed and outbound sponsored/affiliate links should be formatted as “no-follow” (in order to not falsely inflate a product or brand’s Google-ranking). Unfortunately there are a lot of unscrupulous companies out there that will solicit bloggers to create posts or add back-links that completely go against these rules. I have been solicited several times (and a few times by large companies that should know far better), asking me to add “do-follow” links or mention product without disclosures in exchange for compensation. I always turn these shady offers down (and scold them for being unethical).

I Have Standards

I will ONLY accept sponsored posts from products and brands we honestly use or are interested in. I will never accept a sponsored post from something that doesn’t fit my blog, my beliefs, or me. I have turned down many sponsored posts for products that do not fit my aesthetic or would have me promote a product we do not like or would never use.

I Don’t Live in an Instagram-Worthy House

We live in a very average house with very average finishes and furniture. Our kitchen is still sporting it’s laminate green (yes, green) counter tops and linoleum floor and our living room still has the very bold (and ugly) burgundy wall-to-wall carpet that were installed when our house was originally built. Would I love to renovate and re-do these things? Absolutely. But it’s not in our budget right now and not a priority, so we’re going to continue to live with these less-than-beautiful finishes. Many bloggers completely re-renovate or re-decorate the same rooms in their home over and over in order to keep up with the latest trends and to continue to land partnerships. And as fun as that might be, it’s also very wasteful and encourages a “throw-away society” that values consumerism and disposable items over value and longevity.

I Don’t Stick to a Content Schedule

Sticking to a content schedule is something I really should be better about. I already keep a blog calendar over my desk and pencil in a few blog topics or content I want to create over the course of each month. However, I’m terrible at sticking to it… life gets busy. Lately we’ve been keeping busy with family, sports, appointments, and school. Keeping up with the kids is most important and so I try to be flexible (arguably far too flexible) with the blog. Sometimes I don’t do a blog post or Instagram post for a week… or three! That’s as good as a death sentence for engagement, which is already SO hard to achieve these days with Instagram’s increasingly difficult algorithms.

So in conclusion, if you want your blog to be lucrative - consider doing the opposite of all I do. I’ll be over here, not making much money but content in my principles ;)