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Category Archives: Preparedness

This website category covers  preparedness in the sense of working “what if” into your everyday planning and shopping.  What emergencies might you have to deal with and what items do you want to have on hand just in case?

You will find articles here from the point of view of a librarian who loves to organize information. What if the power goes out? Do you have water stored at home? At this writing, the most popular article in this section grew out of an actual emergency. We were living in a remote small town in Colorado when the gas pumps had to be shut down for months. My article on choosing a gas can came out of that.

Preparedness is appropriate for people of all points of view who live in all situations, I’ve come to believe, and for that reason I’m increasing its importance here on this more general site. Many of the articles in other categories of this site have prepping in mind.

Your Emergency Evacuation Checklist

Simple Green Living

What if you had to do an emergency evacuation? How well could you do it, bringing along your essential papers and other things? It could be due to fire or wildfire, earthquake, hurricane, some human craziness, or other disaster. This article will cover the most useful tip I’ve found and that is to create your own checklist in advance and keep it someplace very convenient. How about on the refrigerator or in the front of a handy file drawer? We are all different, and no personal emergency evacuation plans template will be exactly right for your situation. They can be good … Continue reading →

Are You Ready for Summer? What We Do

Simple Green Living

Here in southern New Mexico, June is our hottest month. It’s barely rained for months and the rainy season usually starts in July. Add that we have a lot of windy days in the spring. There have been forest fires already around the Southwest. Even here my eyes have burned from distant smoke a couple of times. So I’m doing quite a few things to prepare for the new season. What you will do depends of course on where you live and what you cope with. I’m not gloating when I say I haven’t seen one mosquito yet this year! … Continue reading →

This Online Course on Prepping Can Give You a Big Boost

Simple Green Living

How prepared are you for the uncertainties of life? Do you have some water and food stored? What about your crucial documents? Despite writing about the importance of preparedness, and having purchased some good books on it, I have to admit that other things tend to take priority. If something disrupted my routines, I would have enough toilet paper and AA batteries for a while, but I’m not sure how well I’d do overall! Chances are that you too have gaps in your versatility. That’s why this online course is such a good thing. It’s put together by Daisy Luther … Continue reading →

When the Internet Went Down

Simple Green Living

Here I’ll tell you a story, a sad but short tale of life without internet. Then I’ll follow it up with some thoughts on big-picture implications. Wednesday started out normally enough, with me checking email and weather first thing. But by the time I got back to my laptop an hour later, the internet was gone. Around 9 AM we called our wifi service provider, Comcast, and an automated voice said that they expected service to be resumed by noon. Yikes, We Lost the Internet Was it a snag in their service or something larger? Was it local, regional, or … Continue reading →

Why Explore the Best Prepper Sites?

Simple Green Living

I’d say that the times call for doing at least a little preparedness, so recently I turned my librarian’s eye to the plethora of resources on the internet. My question was: What are the best prepper sites to get a sense of the world of preparedness? Let’s Begin with More than Just Surviving I loved the name of this site when I saw a link to it somewhere, and when I went there, I discovered a beautifully made and thoughtful website. It defines itself better than I could: More Than Just Surviving is a survival blog that features wilderness survival and … Continue reading →

Multi-Tools Can Get You Out of Trouble

Simple Green Living

Multi-tools give you many  uses in one easy-to-carry tool. Weighing little enough to take around with you, they give you resources you might suddenly need. These are handy things which are built on the shape of a pair of pliers or a knife. They include scissors, bottle openers, screwdrivers, and other tools. There are even some without knives which can be taken through airport security. Multi tools are great in many situations! In a hurry? Here are the best-selling multi-tools right now.   And here is a link to the , arguably the Best Multi-Tool ever.  The Top Brands of Multitools Leatherman, Gerber, … Continue reading →

Three Days without Electricity: What Happened in One Town

Simple Green Living

When the power was out for nearly three days and nights in an Australian town, one of the residents sent a report to an American friend of his. People did surprisingly well but there were many problems that could have been avoided with a little preparedness. The man who wrote was one of the few who were truly ready. The outage was statewide for about half as long and it was caused by a category 2 hurricane which was preceded by some low-level tornadoes. The webpage article I read is interesting and could be eye-opening. Take a look. I have … Continue reading →

Are You Prepared to Evacuate? NOW?

Simple Green Living

What if many thousands, or even millions, of people in your area were under evacuation orders? What if gas stations were running out of gas and grocery store shelves were bare? What if power outages were expected to cover an even larger area and go on for a lengthy time? That’s what is happening as I write, as Hurricane Matthew approaches the southeastern US. I wrote about evacuation a while ago, and here is my blog post inspired by reading about the fires around Fort McMurray, in western Canada: Have to Evacuate Your Home? What Do You Need to Grab? There’s a handy … Continue reading →

The Best and the Brightest Headlamp Flashlights

Simple Green Living

Many people love headlamp flashlights (or just headlamps as they are widely called), and they have strong opinions about which are the best. These flashlights are widely used in outdoor activities, from adventurous ones like caving, to jogging, hiking, and bicycling, to just walking the dog after dark. You might want one for camping, RVing, or for times when the electricity goes out.  Sure, any flashlight is a help at those times, but hands-free can be very useful. I discovered these flashlights many years ago, when my husband Kelly made himself a Halloween costume with one, but it was much clunkier … Continue reading →

Do You Really Only Need Toilet Paper and Whisky for Preparedness?

Simple Green Living

“Just load up on toilet paper and whisky. You can trade them for everything you need!” This comment came from the woman in line behind me at the grocery store, where my cart was bulging with my regular monthly shopping plus some things for long-term storage. We were chatting and I had said I was writing this blog post, on survival foods to buy at the grocery store. “Are you a survivalist?” asked a man who heard our conversation. “Kind of,” I said. “I think everyone should have enough supplies to be versatile.” A Survival Food List for the Grocery Store If you are of the toilet … Continue reading →

Justrite Gas Cans: Safe and Effective

Simple Green Living

Researching Justrite gas cans, I’ve been extremely impressed with their safety and usability features. On this page, you’ll be able to draw your own conclusions, not just from the text but also from videos and PDF files as well as links to reviews. The featured image next to this paragraph is both a thumbs up for these cans and a reminder that if you run out of gas, you could be hitch-hiking! If you’re in a hurry or already know you want a Justrite safety gas can, here’s a link to a best seller  Two Top Justrite Gas Cans These two often come … Continue reading →

Why Jayne was Prepared for the Fukushima Earthquake

Simple Green Living

Jayne Nakata didn’t set out to be an advocate of preparedness, but now she is, after her experiences in the huge 2011 Fukushima earthquake, so famous for the massive destruction from the tsunami and the radioactivity leaked from the nuclear power plant. She is originally from New Zealand. She’s lived in Japan for over half her life now, after she was studying the Japanese language there and met the man who is now her husband. Ah, love stories — I adore them and based on the popularity of my tale of how I met my husband, so do many of … Continue reading →

10 Things to Put in a Family Emergency Binder

Simple Green Living
a binder for preparedness

Sometimes people have to leave their homes in a hurry due to forest fires, earthquakes, and other events. How clearly would you think and what would you have to do if you had to get out fast? Without projecting that you will need to use a family emergency binder (also called a grab and go binder), it’s comforting and practical to have one. Here is a list of 10 things to keep in it. That’s a great start, and if you think of a good 11th or 12th, let me know in the comments! 10 Things to Put in Your Binder [1] A check you … Continue reading →

Which 5 Gallon Gas Can Should You Get Now?

Simple Green Living

Not everybody needs one, but if you do, you want to get the best 5 gallon gas can for your needs. That link takes you to another article on this site, where I talk about how to choose a gas can… I wrote it when we needed one.  It goes into metal vs. plastic gas cans, safety and usage tips, comments on some of the best, and more. Here, in this article, I’m doing something different. The list below brings in the data on the five current best sellers in hazardous storage cans. It updates automatically every day. Some of the items may … Continue reading →

Have to Evacuate Your Home? What Do You Need to Grab?

Simple Green Living

Being forced to leave home is something I’d really rather not think about. But if it should ever happen, I’d definitely rather have a home evacuation checklist to help me get out. And actually, there are a lot more evacuations every year than you might think. Here are some of the causes of people having to evacuate their homes: Flooding Fire, whether a house fire, a fire in a small region, or a vast forest fire Hurricanes Tornadoes or more likely their aftermath Earthquakes’ aftermath Industrial mishaps, for example, ones that release noxious gases   So in this article, I’ll come … Continue reading →

Are You Prepared for Emergency? How About Disaster?

Simple Green Living

An emergency is something that comes up which is usually at least a little dangerous and unexpected. It requires immediate action. It could be your child throwing up on your good clothes just as you were leaving for an important meeting. It could be the ATM machine not working when you are out of cash. It could be an accident of some sort. One factor in all emergencies is an element of unpleasantness. A disaster is even worse. It typically also has the characteristic of being sudden, but a disaster leads to loss of life, a large amount of damage, … Continue reading →

The Best Gas Cans, 5 Gallon or Smaller

Simple Green Living

What are the best gas cans for transporting, storing, and pouring out five gallons of gasoline? That question came up when the one gas station in our small Colorado town went out of business. (Update: The town has gas again, and we moved away. But there are many times when you might want to store some gasoline.) My husband was going to go to a hardware store and buy something that looked well made, but I said, “Let me do some research. I’d like to get a really good gas can.” There are larger ones but 5 gallons weighs enough that I didn’t look … Continue reading →

Here’s a Fun Little Candle to Make with an Orange and Some Olive Oil

Simple Green Living

I enjoyed watching this little video about how to make a candle that wil burn for an hour or more. You need an orange, a sharp knive, olive oil, matches or a lighter, and a little patience: I came across this video on the excellent peakprosperity.com Updated: Saturday, May 21, 2016

Continue reading →

Emergency Water Storage at Home: Download My Free E-Book Here

Simple Green Living
Free PDF about Emergency Water Storage at Home

Here is the link to a free ebook I just wrote. It is titled: Emergency Water Storage at Home: Why, How, How Much Water, and at What Cost? It is a PDF file. If you just click on the link, it will open in a new tab or window. To download it to your computer, right-click on the link and chose “Save Link As” and then you will have it. You are very welcome to print it out or to share the PDF file with other people, provided you don’t charge them anything! Home water storage has been on my … Continue reading →

Home Water Storage: Do You Do It?

Simple Green Living

Home water storage is one of those good ideas for just-in-case. If your water suddenly wasn’t coming in the pipes, how easily would you cope?  We just got a chance to find out. It happened like this, and further down I will describe simple water storage you can do. Our local water system notified everyone in our neighborhood that on Tuesday and Thursday of this week, we would be without water for a number of hours while a new pump was installed.  So I thought that over the weekend, Kelly and I could do something to prepare. But when we … Continue reading →

When the Power Goes Out

Simple Green Living

Has the power gone out at your place in the past year? Are you more or less prepared for being without electricity for a while? I’ve got five tips. With the power grid vulnerable to a variety of events, it’s a good idea to set things up so you can do okay if your power is out for a while. UPDATE: Since I wrote this, newsman Ted Koppel has written Lights Out,  a sobering book about the risk of longer term power outages. Here is my review of it on this website. We lived in Mexico for several years recently and … Continue reading →

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