Emergency Preparedness

I don't think I'm alone in my new obsession. I think with the economic downturn that has affected so many, and certainly touches all of us in one way or another, many of us are finally taking more seriously the council to prepare our families and homes for those hard days that will (or have) come. My New Year's resolution is to get my 72-hour kits, water storage, 3-month food storage, and 1-year food storage supply taken care of. It is an ambitious goal, but I have found a great resource to help. It's foodstoragemadeeasy.net, and they have set up a system to send out bi-weekly checklists that will see us through all of those things in 1 year's time. I have been working on it since the beginning of the year, and am very excited. I would highly recommend that web site, as well as a group they are a part of at funwithfoodstorage.net to everyone. Please check them out.

Anyway, I am so excited about the deals I've found so far through being resourceful and, well, cheap. I've gotten free wire shelves from craigslist. I've gotten a set of 12 very sturdy wooden shelves for $48 from Linens and Things when they were going out of business. I've found really cheap and free water storage containers. I've found killer deals at the REI outlet with an additional 20% off on the day I decided to buy. And I've had other things sitting around the house that can be used in a new way.

So I've decided to take on several new piano students, and money is going toward my goal each month. It's made it so much easier to have that money already set aside - I don't feel like I have to sacrifice other things to purchase these things. I feel like I'm set up to succeed, and I'm really excited. I never thought food storage would be something exciting, but I truly am pumped about it. Weird, I know.

The other day, Leah was saying a blessing on our lunch, and she asked that our family will be able to be prepared for church (?) and for emergencies. I think my exuberance is rubbing off. :) My main concern in all of this is to prepare my kids to be able to handle an emergency without losing it.

So... wish me luck. I'll keep you posted.