On Friday night, a wicked storm with winds up to 80mph whipped through the Columbus, OH area where I live. Trees were unrooted like weeds and lawn furniture was tossed around like leaves in the powerful gusts.
We were fortunate to only lose power for a short time, but many others are — and will — be without power until as late at July 9th.
I’m left feeling somewhat guilty about being spared the inconvenience and discomfort of losing power. And I’m realizing how swiftly electric-powered comforts like air conditioning and home-brewed coffee could be swept away.
If my creature comforts were taken away, would I be able to cope?
The past two years have been peppered with my experiences in living with less. But even after paring down substantially in an effort to become more self-sufficient, I realize how utterly dependent I am.
I tend to keep my pantry rather sparse to avoid the possibility of food waste. After the storm on Friday, I decided to stock more non-perishables in my pantry to ensure my kids have some food in the event our refrigerator isn’t powered.
It goes against my minimalist tendencies to stock things I don’t need, but I have to admit that putting those boxes of crackers, bags of oats, dried fruit, sunflower seeds and other non perishable food items in my pantry felt good. It felt safe. Responsible even.
Would I have what I needed in the event of an emergency?
I’m also evaluating what I would need to put together in order to quickly evacuate if we ever needed to get the heck out of dodge in a hurry. After the reality check of the storm Friday night, I’ve decided we’re not prepared.
Over the coming weeks I’ll be putting together the items we would need to keep safe in the event of an emergency, or grab and go if we ever needed to leave our home quickly. Ideally, I would like to have the items in one place so they would be easy to find and fast to grab.
Do you have a plan for an emergency situation? What are your best tips?
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Good to hear your family is OK Jenny. We had no damage or power outages where we live but we know friends and family who were without power for over 24 hours and some who still do not have electricity. It’s amazing how much we take for granted basic things like electricity until they are out of our life for a bit.
Thanks Jon. There are quite a few that are still without power in our area.
It is amazing how much we take for granted. Whenever something like this happens I find myself quite humbled by the comforts to which we have access.
I live in Africa and power outages, water cut offs are the norm. My essentials are bottled water, I usually have 10 litres handy, candles and matches, a couple of rechargeable camping lights (charge them regularly or the batteries die), try and keep phone and iPad well charged, lots of blankets for when the heating goes off.
Those are great tips Steph! Especially the tip to keep water on hand. As much as I’m opposed to bottled water, I think I’ll be making an exception for emergency preparedness.
I’m glad to hear you made it through unscathed, Jenny. Certainly such luck is no reason to feel guilty.
Living in an RV, I’m pretty well prepared for most emergencies. I’m self-contained, with my own on-board supply of water and propane, and rooftop solar panels plus a generator for electricity. I even have ham radio for communication in the event infrastructured communication systems go down.
Plus, I can also relatively easily move everything out of the path of the storm, though I’d have to have forewarning and believe it to be a real threat.
My biggest vulnerability would be if I was directly hit by strong winds – on always hears of mobile homes being ripped from their foundations and RVs and big trucks being tossed about like Matchbox toys.
I didn’t realize your RV had solar panels too Mike! That is awesome.
I agree, you’re pretty well set. Like you said, just avoid any winds and you should be good to go!
I’m so glad to hear your family is ok!
As for us, we really aren’t prepared for emergencies other than a fire. It’s hard to imagine something going wrong here weather-wise, other than being stuck without power in the summer. In that case, I have no clue what we’d do, especially if the power was out to a wide area–meaning we couldn’t just couch surf at a relative’s house. If all else fails, we’d just drive until we hit a hotel to stay at.
I’m looking forward to what you come up with!
Hi Megyn! Last I heard, there were 450k without power in the Columbus Ohio area. I can’t remember a time when there were this many outages.
Like you, we talked about driving to a hotel if we were without power and all else failed, but we realized there is a big chance we wouldn’t have enough gas! Needless to say, we’ve decided to keep a few gallons of gas on hand for just such an occasion.
I work for a power company, so if the power goes out in enough places, I’ll be working! I do keep thinking I should buy a big flagon of water – which I must do. I already have candles and matches, and I know where they are.
(Megyn – re:power outages, it really depends on what happens, whether all your family would also be out… We do try to ‘segment’ things up at the distribution level; but if a power plant went down, then yes, it could be state wide or larger the issue)
This is good to know Sarah. While the outages in Ohio aren’t state-wide, they’re pretty widespread. And yes, we need to stock up on water as well.
In 2009 I moved to Florida from Arizona where I had lived for 12 years after 14 in California. I spent my first 30 years in mostly snow country and over my 59 years have experienced a wide range of weather & power & water NOT playing well together. Earthquakes, wildfires, some flooding but nowhere near what I’ve seen in parts of the country and World where I’ve NOT been living, and Now hurricanes have all been part of the fabric for my Life. I’ve come to terms with all these possibilities and feel fairly well prepared in case of the wheels coming off the proverbial wagon.
On the other hand… last year I got myself in quite a state readying myself for Irene. She ended up going way north or here, DOing considerable damage in places so NOT prepared for hurricane-ish activity…
What I DO Now is I consider that Life is risky BEcause of a great many things BEyond weather. Yet still we all seem to manage most of the time. And here’s the one thing I learned yet again with Irene: people are kind, generous, compassionate, and willing to help other people. I know it seems like we’re all wrapped up in our little cocoons, especially here, in the World where we can connect with amazing speed to people we’re never likely to meet otherwise.
In others’ responses and comments I see that playing out again, which is no surprise. I’ve got rid of my car in my most recent minimising and simplifying. What that helps me see is that if a hurricane comes I’ve got to reach out. Funny, that seems so much more sensible and feasible than I’d have imagined, WITHOUT 4 wheels at the ready…
I will think more on all this, to BE sure, especially since it’s Now “that time of year” here in my new home… Thanks for helping me see the flowers BEyond the thorns.
Wow Currie. It sounds like you’ve seen many disasters!
I agree that people are typically kind and compassionate. It would be great to be in a position to help others if a disaster were to strike.
It’s definitely become clear that I need to be better prepared in the event of an emergency!
Sounds to me like you’re being prudent. We live in an area that experiences mega-thrust earthquakes periodically, the ones that can exceed 9.0 in magnitude. We take preparation seriously, with 14 gallons of water stored, lots of non-perishable food, and steps taken to I hope minimize damage to our possessions. My best tip is to talk through scenarios regularly with your family. We ask ourselves: Say I’m home and you’re downtown when the quake hits–what’s next? Where do we go in the house for best protection? What should you do if you’re in a car driving when The Big One comes? How do you turn off water to the house (in case pipes are burst)? I hope this will help minimize panic and improve our chances of survival.
It sounds like you’ve got a great plan together Kurt!
I’ve talked with my family about what we would do in the event of a fire, but that’s about it. I like your suggestion to talk about what to do if we’re separated and communication systems are down. This is a real concern considering my cell service was down for about 30 hours after the storm.
We live in an area of the midwest where tornadoes are common in the summer and blizzards aren’t unheard of in the winter. It would be foolish to be unprepared. Being minimalist doesn’t mean I have to throw out the fire extinguisher, nor does it mean I’m going to give up my first aid kit and little stash of nonperishables and tp in the basement.
I store emergency water without resorting to plastic water bottles. I just can the water in mason canning jars. Just heat the water to boiling, heat sterilize the jars in the oven, then fill jars w/ boiling water, place lids and rings on jars, and process in boiling water canner for 5 minutes. The jars will seal and you’ll have sterile water in glass jars. This will be fine for years, unlike plastic water bottles that start to leach after a few months. You don’t have to buy a lot of extra equipment to do this either. Just get a dozen quart sized jars w/ lids and rings, and you can even borrow a canner from someone else for the afternoon, since you’ll only need to do this once.
I absolutely love the idea of canning my own sterilized water Kara. Why didn’t I think of that?! Thanks for the awesome tip!
You don’t even need a “canner”, per se – boiling water in a large stock pot (8-10 quarts) will do the job just fine too.
If you *do* have access to a huge canner, two quart mason jars are available. Depending on what you’re planning to use the water for, it might be better to have some bigger jars.
I personally prefer the wide-mouth jars, since they’re easier to get inside and clean.
I don’t have any tips for you, but we live in the Southwest, east of Phoenix and while it is prone to brushfire and extreme heat that may lead to heat stroke and increased smog warnings, it is pretty isolated from other natural disasters. We have our share of micro-bursts, which can be scary. The main thing to be concerned for here is power outage in the dead of summer. In 115 to 120 degrees a house can literally become an oven without A/c. My husband keeps 2 generators and a power converter box around, with which we could at least run a portable unit off of. He is not even 30 (I am) but has been doing this for years, and yes, we have used it several times a year in the last 7 years or so. This is imperative, especially with little ones in the house, most of our outages happened in the middle of the night.
One of my brothers lives in the Pacific Northwest, north of Seattle. Every winter tgey are snowed in at least once, with 4 kids, no less! They keep a wood burning stove and emergency kindling, and a small store room stocked with food and supplies.
My MIL grew up in the backwoods of Ontario, and she and her siblings were taught how to live off the land, and to prepared, always. Sometimes they would take 2 or 3 week long canoe trips, even without their parents, and packed just what they needed to survive, so as not to weigh themselves down. Last week she told me of one canoe trip in which her teenage brothers tipped their canoe in a whirl pool, losing all of the bags, as they had not secured the bags in the way that she had instructed. They were ten days out, and decided they had better head home. In the mean time they lived off of berries, greens, and lily bulbs, and pine needle tea as they made their way out of the wilderness.
Minimalism is not about being immaculate to me, it is about being resourceful, and prepared. More importantly, self sufficiency makes us on less dependant upon corporations in times of want and need. There is a vast difference between having some essential supplies on hand and hoarding unnecessary things. Minimalism for me is about function and harmony, not deprivation.
Anyway, this comment is certainly not minimal! I like your blog, and drop by to read every now and again. Have a good one!
Thanks for sharing your stories with us J.R.C.!
115-120 degrees is dangerously hot. It got up to 100 degrees here last week, and it’s been in the 90s during the entire time the power has been out for many. It gets so humid in Ohio that it really feels hard to breath at times. I would have to imagine it would be dangerous for small children or elderly trying to make it through a power outage in the heat.
My husband and I have discussed checking Craig’s List when the power outage it over to see if people are trying to unload newly purchased generators. It would be nice to be able to run some fans and keep the refrigerator plugged in if we were without power.
And it sounds like your MIL learned to be very resourceful! What an important (and fascinating) skill-set to have.
This was interesting to me in the sense that it put a all different spin on the idea of minimalism, and not keeping those ‘in case of’ items in your house.
In your case, you do need to be prepare because of the weather circumstances in your area.
If we look at the global picture, the financial storms can hit anyone of us any time, then what?
For instance I am pretty sure if I loose my job I will regret not having kept the set of extra towels I had in my linen cupboards, the ones that was ‘clutter’ at the time and I won’t be able to offer anymore.
This is a great point Sam. We do keep some extras on hand, but try to get rid of things we haven’t used in years that do nothing but clog up the house. For example, if I have a hard time closing the linen closet, then I probably have too many towels.
The power outage has led me to think hard about keeping extra nonperishable food and water in the house. I’ve decided it’s something I’m going to do (and have already stocked some nonperishables). I also want to get a plan and supplies together in case we would need to evacuate our home quickly.
These are things I’ve been putting off, but the storm last week reminded me that if I wait too long, I might be sorry!
I’ve lived in areas prone to tornadoes, then hurricanes, now earthquakes and wildfires.
There are some great resources online for emergency preparedness – local to your state as well as nationally. I wouldn’t buy a pre-loaded kit, but they can give you an idea of what might be useful.
Water definitely – that’s what you always see the longest lines for in disaster reports. Although I sympathize with the plastic vs. glass container issue, if you’re in wind storms or earthquakes glass containers may not survive.
Also, if you have pets you need to have a stash of dry food and maybe a water bowl.
Any meds you have to have; an extra pair of glasses if you are dependent on glasses. Duct tape, matches, work gloves & shoes that fully proect your feet, basic tool kit emergency blankets; some cash (& maybe an extra credit card with your emergency kit).
These are all great suggestions Ellen. Thank you! Three out of four of us are dependent on glasses and that is something I didn’t consider.
If you’re lucky enough to be farsighted, cheap reading glasses from the store can work as emergency backups. They’re not high quality, but if you don’t happen to have an old pair (because it broke or something), you can get a pair of those reading glasses for around $10.
Oh, yeah, and a can opener if part of your plan is to live off the canned goods in your pantry.
Yes, we did pick up a manual can opener.
The military (at least used to) issue can openers called “P38s” with field rations. You can pick them up for fifty cents or less at military surplus stores, and they work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-38_can_opener
They’re not ultra high-quality, but they do the job well – and they don’t take up much space so you could toss them a few different places with your emergency supplies. Or tape one together (so the hook doesn’t come out when you’re not expecting it) and leave it on your key ring.
I live in Arizona, so the only thing weather wise I worry about is dust storms and how hot it gets. That being said, my family’s AC went out last week for 2 days, and I couldn’t handle it. The inside of our house was 100 degrees and we couldn’t function. We stayed out of the house until the AC guy said he would be there, and when he was there, we were swimming.
Wow Cassi. It’s been so hot in Ohio these past two weeks as well (up to 103 yesterday). I can’t imagine how you could manage without a way to cool down.
This is something I keep meaning to do and I’ll be interested in reading what makes your list.
Hopefully, I’ll get this sorted in my OWN home before any such event warrants the need!
I know Bunchy, it’s something I’ve been putting off as well. But after the recent seven day power outage in my area, I decided now is the time to get prepared! I’m working on a post that will outline what I decided to include in our emergency kit.
Stay tuned!
Good points to think about, Jenny.
I consider minimalism for me to be more along the lines of “have what you need, nothing you don’t”.
Emergency preps fall into the ‘needs’ category.
Most people have only 3 days worth of food in stock. I’d say 7 days is bare minimum, but 30 would really be a good starting point. I aim for 6 months.
Bleach is a good item to have extra of stocked, as water takes space, but bleach can be used to purify water of dubious quality.
A good set of 0-degree sleeping bags, enough for the family, will help in case an emergency happens in winter.
Enough batteries for flashlights and emergency radios are a good investment, as is a solar charger.
I’ve found that learning about what has a longer shelf-life helps conserve food AND save you money. Buy long-lasting food (tuna cans, rice, SPAM, etc) and I’ll guarantee you by the time you have to use them, almost always prices will be significantly higher.
When I decided to practice minimalism, I also looked at it with an eye towards the future.
For example, I bought SmartWool socks, since I knew they’d serve me way better than cheapie wallie-world socks and last me way longer. Less space, better socks.
I could ramble on about preps for a bit if allowed to
-Rich
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