Hurricane Preparedness

I guess this week is determined to go out with a bang.  We had the earthquake earlier in the week and now we are under tropical storm warnings with Irene blowing through.  I've been trying to play catch up from vacation this week and to now get ready for Irene coming through my area.  We've had a couple of hurricanes and tropical storms go through our area in the last few years and so today I thought I'd share a couple of tips I've learned that have helped us get through.

1. Fill your bathtub.  Sounds goofy, but I did that a few years ago and it saved us.  You may have to use water from your bathtub to flush your toilet.  Dh laughed at me for doing it, but then when we needed it he was glad I'd done it.  That brings up another point.  Have a bucket ready in case you need to get the water out of the bathtub.

2. Dish washing. If the power goes out you won't be able to wash your dishes, so run your dishwasher ahead of time.  Also, get some of that foaming hand sanitizer.  That works best if you have sticky things like peanut butter on your hands.  You won't want to use all your water up to wash your hands.

3. Water. As I mentioned above, water may become a precious commodity so having foaming hand sanitizer can help.  Getting bottle water is good.  Another thing I'd recommend is if you have any empty gallon milk jugs, fill them with water and freeze them. They will make a great ice block if your power goes out and can keep your fridge/freezer cold for a while.

4. Battery Powered Lantern.  Until I had kids I never realized how great this was to have in the house.  I always used candles before, but you don't want to have candles going in a room with small kids.  So a battery powered lantern is nice to have.  Here is a tip. If you are having a hard time finding flashlights and batteries in your area, Dollar Tree now has battery powered Chinese Lanterns for Halloween. I just bought some yesterday.  You can hang up a couple of those if your power goes out.  Plus you'll be ahead for Halloween. LOL

5. Canned goods and fresh bread.  I've got peanut butter on hand and tuna fish.  Things that don't require cooking are good to have on hand.

6. Fill your propane for the gas grill.  A few years ago we had a grill that had a side burner and it was so handy when we lost power. If your food starts to go bad in your freezer, you can use your gas grill to eat it up.

7. Trash bags.  These are handy if you have storm debris.

8. Glow sticks.  Storms can be scary for some kids.  Why not try to make it fun and let them have glow sticks.  These can be found in the camping section of Wal Mart, or Dollar Tree has had some fun ones in the shape of princess wands, swords, bracelets, and necklaces.

9. Can opener.  Be sure to have an old fashioned can opener if you need to open cans.

10. Charger.  Be sure to charge up your cell phone, ipod, laptop, etc. You may not how power for a few days.

I'm saying a prayer for the folks in the Outer Banks of North Carolina since it sounds like they could get hit hard.  It is hard to believe we were just there a week ago and it was beautiful.  Hoping they won't get hit hard.

Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods!