Did you know that September is National Preparedness Month? NAPO (the National Association of Professional Organizers) is working to make all homeowners more aware of ways they can prepare for disaster and emergenices in their homes and workplaces.
So, how prepared are you? Do you have an emergency medical kit? Are you curious about the items that make up such a kit?
My kit has: bandaids (a variety of sizes), gauze pads and paper tape, iodine, ant-bacterial hand santizer, latex gloves, tweezers, benadryl (topical ointment and tablets), asperin, an ace bandage and baby wipes
When you put together your kit think about the sorts of injuries that you generally take care of and then think about the items you use when dealing with those injuries.
Do you have a bag or file box that you could grab quickly with important documents/ information? Are you wondering what documents are ‘important’? They are the ones that you would use to prove your identity (birth certificate & passport), home ownership, insurance – all types, bank and investment account numbers to name a few. Do you have your important documents scanned onto a jump drive with the originals in a safe deposit box at the bank. If you do, that jump drive could be in a prepared tote bag in your front hall closet.
Are you wondering if you should go to such extremes to be prepared? Well, you never know when disaster is going to strike and even though it does take time and effort to become prepared, as the saying goes – better safe than sorry. Isn’t it better to have all the documents you would need to prove who you are, where you live, to give you access to bank accounts or investment accounts, insurance information etc. than to wish you could put your hands on them?
How else should you be prepared? If there was a sudden fire in your house do you have smoke/carbon monoxide alarms to alert your family? Have you changed those batteries recently? Do you have fire extinguishers? Are they fully operational? You can take your fire extinguisher to a hardware store or the fire station nearest you to check their functionality. What if the fire was so sudden and enormous that everyone had to leave the house does everyone know the safest way out? In school we had regular fire drills so we would know exactly where to go should the alram sound. It’s a good idea to practice that with your family.
Take some time this month to look at ways you can prepare yourself just in case of a natural disaster!
For more information on this topic check out Judith Kolberg’s book: Organize for Disaster: Prepare Your Family and Your Home For Any Natural and Unnatural Disaster