Hurricane Emergency Kit

August 11, 2015 in Family, Learning by Anna

Being prepared for the unknown is something most people know we should do, but the majority of us don’t take time to actually do it! We have lived in a state prone to hurricanes for eight years and didn’t really have anything ready in case of a natural disaster. Recently, we moved closer to the coast in this region which forced us to make a hurricane emergency kit.

If you don’t feel like putting together your own kit, you can order one from Amazon! Here’s an affiliate link to one that’s for four people. (Four Person Perfect Survival Kit Deluxe) They have several variations to choose from.

Make an Emergency Kit and save money while doing so! from Learn Like A Mom! http://learnlikeamom.com/hurricane-emergency-kit/

 

Preparing a Hurricane Emergency Kit

I will walk you through a few things to consider when preparing an emergency kit.

Saving Money

I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was financially driven to prepare a kit.

The state of Virginia has one three-day sales tax holiday weekend beginning the first Friday in August.

Yes, saving on tax pushed me to buy a bunch of stuff that I just may need one day.

In addition to saving taxes on emergency preparedness items, customers can save tax on clothing, footwear, school supplies, and Energy Star and WaterSense products. For complete details on qualifying items and more, please go to Virginia’s Government Tax Page.

Not in Virginia? Search “your state” + “emergency preparedness” or “emergency kit.” You can replace “hurricane” with “earthquake” or “tornado” or any other applicable term for your area.

Depending on how much you purchase, the saving on taxes can add up pretty quickly.

You can never be too prepared. Make your emergency kit now!Click To Tweet

Be Prepared Before Preparing

Heading out on a tax-free shopping spree won’t save you much money if you’re buying items that don’t qualify for the tax-free holiday, or you buy a bunch of items you don’t actually need or won’t use.

The National Hurricane Center offers supply lists and emergency plans, along with a ton of resources to help you gain focus.

Make a list of items that you need while you search for items that you may already have. This is a great chance to go through some things in your cabinets and garage, check batteries and functions of your smoke detectors and flashlights, and more.

Go Shopping

Make an Emergency Kit and save money while doing so! from Learn Like A Mom! http://learnlikeamom.com/hurricane-emergency-kit/

With your list in hand, head to the store. You may want to stop at customer service before filling your cart to verify with a manager that the store will honor the tax-free holiday. Since they are not widely advertised (in my opinion), many people don’t know about them. If your cashier looks at you with that deer in the headlights look, you’ll already know that the manager is aware and you’ll get your savings.

Assemble Your Hurricane Emergency Kit

Make an Emergency Kit and save money while doing so! from Learn Like A Mom! http://learnlikeamom.com/hurricane-emergency-kit/

 

When you get home, take the time to go through your stash to make sure that you purchased everything you may need. Combine it with what you already had and decide on a place where you will keep it, have access to it, and leave it alone until you actually need it.

Open things up! Don’t leave everything in its package. What good will batteries for your flashlights do if you don’t have a knife or scissors to open the batteries? Take them out and place them in the flashlight and know where your flashlight is.

Set up your weather radio, cut open the bag holding your tarp, make a list of important things you’ll want to grab at the last minute, along with a list of important contact numbers to have handy if something were to happen.

In addition to the items you see in the picture, I would add some cash (as ATMs don’t always work), a can opener (not electric!), some canned goods, along with a few days worth of clothes and travel toiletry items.

We put our kit into a large rubbermaid container and placed it in the garage. I took some of the water and split it up into the two vehicles we have as well.

Preparing all of the items in your hurricane emergency kit now will make things easier if a natural disaster occurs.

One More Resource

The US Coast Guard’s Storm Center explains warning flags, advisory terms, the hurricane scale (like Category 1 vs. Category 5), and more.

Remember the Five P’s. (I first heard these from my husband, but don’t know the source.)

Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance!

Please comment below if you’ve found this article helpful or if you have any other tips that might help people prepare for an emergency!

Make an Emergency Kit and save money while doing so! from Learn Like A Mom! http://learnlikeamom.com/hurricane-emergency-kit/