My goal for my emergency kit is that if there was an emergency and we had to up and leave our home I would be able to grab a few things and take off. No stress, no panic, and allow me to quickly and easily get my family to safety. Or have time to help a neighbor who maybe wasn't as prepared or who's spouse isn't available to help them.
Emergencies almost NEVER come when we are financially prepared or when we have time to plan and pack. They come out of the blue, unexpected, and tend to cause overwhelming amounts of stress and anxiety to everyone around you. Wouldn't it be awesome if you were prepared in some way?
We have a truck so I wanted things in bins that can be grabbed and thrown in the back of the truck. So if you have a van or a car you will want to think what would fit best in your vehicle if you needed to grab and go. I don't want to have to be re arranging my items from one bag or bin to another because it wouldn't fit. You may not have that kind of time in an emergency.
So here is my Kit so far. I had an empty Red bin in our storage area. (rare thing...bins are almost NEVER empty at my house) Here is what I gathered from my house. These are all things that I have in my stockpile. Part of the reason for having a stockpile is so that you never have to pay full price for anything. Also note that I didn't put my Favorite items in here....the bath items are items I got for free or close to it but they aren't my preferred shampoo, conditioner, or body wash. But if no soap is available you won't care what kind it is.
In my Bin: (this is just a start)
3 Paper Towel
2 laundry soap
1 finish dishwasher tablets
1 napkins
1 Stayfree Pads
1 Tissues
2 Travel Wipes
Trash bags
6 misc medications (pain reliever, sinus meds, Nyquil ~ Watch expiration dates/Rotate if needed)
2 Candles
9 full size bathroom products (shampoo, conditioner, body wash, shaving cream, toothpaste)
1 Ajax
1 Rubber Gloves (I will be putting more of these in but this is all I had on hand)
1 room spray
2 bug spray
1 bag of bathroom samples (shampoo, body wash, any samples I have in the house)
1 bag of Laundry samples (laundry soap, dryer sheets, softeners)
We don't have a lot of storage so my bin is sitting by my dryer. I use it to set my laundry basket on when I'm getting laundry out. Easy to get to!
If you notice in the above picture there is room for more items in my bin. I will be adding more things to it as I'm able to get them on sale. Again my intent wasn't to run out and spend a lot of money to put this together. I wanted to see what we had in the house that I could set aside and use in an emergency.
These are all essential items that if your evacuated and without a home these would probably be the items you would run to Walmart to pick up. If we had to go to Walmart to pick up these items in an emergency situation it would cost us well over $100. And like I said before Emergencies don't always happen when you have extra money in your bank account. It's not enough to last my family more than a few weeks at most, however, it would help tide us over so we can use what funds we do have available for food, lodging, or Gas to get to a safe place.
I have not done a food emergency kit and I'm not sure I will be doing that. I will probably have an empty bin available so I can toss what's in the pantry into the bin and go. We have a "Snack bin" in the pantry for the kids snacks and in an emergency that is what I would grab if I didn't have time to grab the other items. It is almost always at least half full and could last my kids awhile if we were in the truck traveling.
I encourage you to start your own bin. It may only have one or two things in it to start but I'm sure over time you could have a good emergency bin. Take your time and make your bin your own. What I feel my family needs is NOT what you may need for your family. It's as easy as buying one extra item each payday.
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