Preparedness Resolutions

The Christmas hustle and bustle is behind us by a few days; I hope it was a joyful and happy time for you and your family. I always find the week after Christmas to be kind-of a quiet time; a time to relish the calm after the wonderful holiday storm; a time to look ahead to the new year. Next year, coming so quickly, is a page yet unwritten, and we don’t know the joys or sorrows it will bring. As you take a few moments to reflect on the things you’d like to have or be or accomplish in the next 12 months, I encourage you to include preparedness in your list of New Year’s Resolutions.
It seems that not just Americans have preparedness goals, but America itself. FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) recently releasing to the press its own Goal, a national preparedness strategy. This is in response to a directive by President Obama last April asking them to make a plan for preventing or mitigating natural and human-made disasters in our country. Marc Armbinder, a reporter for the National Journal wrote, “On Friday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which coordinates this national preparedness strategy, is releasing what it calls the Goal - a list of major identified threats and the type of actions the government can take to meet them. A full copy can be found… on FEMA's website. The Goal, obtained by National Journal, relies heavily on cooperation among state, local and federal governments, and boosts the roles and responsibilities of the private sector. It also envisions a change in the way the public views disasters: Americans have to prepare to be resilient” (Ambinder, 2011).
I’ve been saying all along that we need to be prepared to be resilient. We have to take care of ourselves because in a serious emergency, there aren’t enough First Responders to take care of everybody. Chances are really good that you’ll be waaaaay down on the list of priorities (and that’s a list you don’t want to be at the top of!)
Disasters are not the only thing you need to be prepared for. Remember the four areas of preparedness: Worst Case Scenarios, Provident Living, Emergency Preparedness, and 72-hour Survival. Each one of these areas needs your attention. So, while it’s good to get your flashlights and propane stoves, etc., don’t forget to set a few goals in other areas also. Make a plan to set aside money for a rainy day, or stock up on some long-term storage items. Start a 72-hour kit, even if you just begin with what you have on hand and put it in a cardboard box. These are all good starts.
We all hope this year is prosperous and calm, but there’s no guarantee. Set a few goals now to help yourself be prepared.
Works Cited
Ambinder, M. (2011, October 07). Obama issues preparedness goals. Retrieved January 03, 2012, from Government Executive: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1011/100711preparedness.htm

When the Wind Blows

Lynn Jaynes and Tyler Bacus of Asplundh Tree Experts remove a tree fallen on T Street in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011. (Laura Seitz, Deseret News)

We had a whopper of a storm in Utah yesterday.  Winds up to 102 mph knocked down trees, power lines, buildings, and left a path of destruction that caused millions of dollars in damages.  The Deseret News reported, “an estimated 50,000 customers were without power in Utah, and Rocky Mountain Power officials warned that some residents should be prepared to be without power for up to 48 hours” (Reavy & O'Donoghue, 2011). Layton fire prevention specialist Doug Bitton said “emergency responders were overwhelmed by downed power lines and blown transformers” (Reavy & O'Donoghue, 2011).   Have you given any thought to what you would do if you were without power for several days?  How would you stay warm if it was wintertime?  What do you do about all the food in your refrigerator and freezer?  How will you cook a warm meal for your cold family?  How will you get around in the dark?  There are so many things to think about and prepare for.  The advice Rocky MountainPower spokesman Dave Eskelsen gave to people yesterday was “"Get your emergency preparations out and organized and have an alternate place to go if the home gets too cold for you” (Morgan, 2011) You’ll find some good tips from the power company in this article, “Tips to prepare for an evening without power”.  In the coming weeks I’ll talk more about this subject, but for this minute, let me leave you with this thought.  Being prepared is not an all-or-nothing endeavor; being a little bit prepared is a lot better than not being prepared at all.  So go out this very day and buy a flashlight, a couple cans of stew or pork and beans, a manual can opener, and a battery-operated radio.  It’s a good start in case you’re in the path of the next big wind storm.

Works Cited

Morgan, E. (2011, December 02). Tips to prepare for an evening without power. Retrieved December 02, 2011, from Deseret News.com: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705395189/Tips-to-prepare-for-an-evening-without-power.html

Reavy, P., & O'Donoghue, A. J. (2011, December 2). Hurricane force winds wreak havoc in Davis County. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from Deseret News.com: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705395170/Hurricane-force-winds-wreak-havoc-in-Davis-County-cleanup-could-take-days.html?pg=1
Photo:  http://static.deseretnews.com/images/article/midres/676983/676983.jpg

Christmas Preparedness Gifts

I have another Christmas thought for you.  Have you considered preparedness items as Christmas gifts?  Really.  I’m serious.  What better way is there to say “I love you” than to want someone to be safe and taken care of in an emergency?  I know I’m a little unusual but I think a case of beef stew or a #10 can of dehydrated apples is a very thoughtful gift.  Even very traditional preparedness foods like dried milk and grains may be appreciated by someone working at actively stocking up on food storage items.  And, of course, who wouldn’t appreciate a #10 can of chocolate pudding, or the fixings for no-bake cookies—oats, cocoa, sugar, etc., are all great preparedness foods! 

Plan Not Panic, Larry Salsbury

Preparedness isn’t limited to food, though.  Here are some other terrific items that fill the bill for both emergency preparedness and Christmas giving.  LED flashlights for home, garage, closets, and car.   A small, battery-powered radio (a must item for every household for emergency preparedness), a portable butane stove and canisters of butane (one of the best stoves to have since it is safe to use indoors).  Sleeping bags.  First-aid kits.  Emergency blankets and/or ponchos.  Seventy-two-hour kits or some of the components to make one.  (I can recommend a great book on preparing the most complete and personalized 72-hour kit: It’s Time to Plan, Not Panic.  Guess who wrote it?) A hand grain grinder.  Lanterns—battery operated or butane.  An emergency kit for a car—this isn’t the same as the traditional car tools kit with jumper cables and flares, etc. though those are good too.  This is a kit with items to take care of YOU in an emergency, not your car; things like food, emergency blankets, and bottles of water.  I recently did a podcast on emergency car kits.  You can listen to it here for car-kit-inspiration. 

Listen to internet radio with Preparedness Radio on Blog Talk Radio

If you are willing to dig a little deeper into your bank account, you might want to consider a portable home generator as a gift for your family or someone you love.  This is a fairly big decision, so you’ll want to do a little research before you shell out the bucks.  Consumer Reports agrees with me: “A growing number of hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms, and other natural disasters in recent years have probably put preparedness on your radar screen. Along with an emergency plan and a three-day supply of food and water, you might want to consider adding backup power at your home” (Generators, 2011).   Their website offers a wattage calculator to help you determine the right size generator for your home, along with a buying guide and safety recommendations.  This video clip only lasts a minute and a half but it gives a nice little overview of generators. 

Have a very merry prepared Christmas!

Video Clip from http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/home-garden/safety-security/generators/overview/index.htm

Works Cited

Generators. (2011, March). Retrieved November 27, 2011, from ConsumerReports.org: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/home-garden/safety-security/generators/overview/index.htm

Podcast,  http://test.blogtalkradio.com/doctorprepper/2011/11/11/preparedness-solutions

A Spending Game Plan for the Holidays

Christmas Picture from www.backyardlandscape.net

Did I mention that saving money at the grocery store is another area of expertise that I teach, write about, and promote?  A few years back, I published a book on the subject, Beating the High Cost of Eating: The Essential Guide to Supermarket Survival.  It is also published by Cedar Fort  and available in some bookstores and on my website   In conjunction with it, I prepared a Spending Game Plan to help you get through the holidays without breaking your budget.  In the frenzy of the Holiday shopping season, a spending game plan should be considered as an essential money management tool.  A spending game plan will help you control, yet enjoy holiday spending.  Here is a summary of the information in it:

1.  PLAN:  Set aside an hour or two to pour over magazines, consumer information, and the Internet for ideas and price guidelines.

2.  COMPARE:  check out newspapers, catalogs, Internet sites, discount outlets, department stores, etc.  Price differences can be astounding.  Compare with a pencil and paper (or pda) in hand.  Your memory is not a reliable resource, especially as there will be more demands on your time, memory and budget in the busy holiday season.

3.  CONSULT: Consult with a spouse, family members or friends to be sure you agree beforehand on any joint gifts that may be part of your plans.

4.  SHARE COSTS:  Combine funds to stretch your budget.

5.  NOTEBOOK: Carry a small notebook in your purse or pocket, or use your preferred electronic device.  Jot down facts, sizes, ideas, and dollar limits per person.  Use this information as an item-comparison resource and decision list.

6.  LISTS:  These will help keep things under control and can be fun. Planning well this year could give you a head start on next year if you keep the lists as a resource.  Use your lists as shopping tools.  Plan, revise, and check off items as they are purchased. In the holiday rush, this one thing alone can help you maintain budget control. 

7.  PLAN SHOPPING:  Spread shopping out over several excursions.  Don’t wait until fatigue and desperation set in.  Use the Internet when you can (don’t forget to figure in shipping charges!) Calculated shopping is a goal of the spending game plan.

8.  BUDGET:  Some people mistakenly only consider gift costs as a Christmas budget.  This is a costly mistake.  Remember to budget for the entire holiday season, and all the different experiences that includes:  parties, New Year’s Eve, family/friend dinners, gifts for work associates, neighbors, others.  Be realistic, but use a budget.  The more detailed it is, the better money management tool it becomes.

9.  DOLLAR LIMIT:  Set it! Stay within it!  When it’s gone, that’s it!  Remember to estimate high and include taxes.

10. CREDIT CARDS:  Try to use only one, and set a spending limit.  Credit card expenses should be part of your budget, and like other money sources, stop spending when you reach your budget limit (NOT your credit card limit!)

11. NEXT YEAR: Start saving for next year on December 26^th of this year.  Even a simple plan works if you stick to it.  Figure out how much you spent this year, divide that by 12 and save that much per month.

If you’re not sure how to go about figuring out a realistic Christmas budget, you might want to check out these websites that give good examples:  money for regular people and Christmas Budget .   

Good luck sticking to your budget.  You’ll find it’s one of the best Christmas gifts you can give yourself.

Prepare for a Lovely Christmas

This post is not necessarily about preparedness, at least not in the traditional way.  Consider it a suggestion on how to prepare to have a lovely holiday season.  With the holidays on us in full force with all the cooking and shopping and decorating and wrapping and mistletoe kissing and Christmas carol singing and everything that goes into the holiday to make it special, I’d like to encourage you to slow down, take a deep breath, and simplify.   It’s easy to get caught up in the minutia of the holiday season so that you lose sight of the joy it should bring.  We’d all like to have a Norman Rockwell Christmas, with a golden turkey on the table and presents in coordinating wrappings with puffy ribbons under the perfectly decorated Christmas tree and everyone smiling and peaceful in their Sunday best, but the truth is, that’s just a myth.  It is a commercial message that enriches retailers and impoverishes the soul of the parent who just can’t measure up to it.   Elizabeth Scott, MS, calls this kind of thinking Holiday Perfectionism.  Here is what she has to say in a great article: “Holiday perfectionism is one of the main causes of holiday stress… But whether it’s due to the impossible standards of holiday bliss sold to us by various marketing campaigns, to the exaggerated memories of holiday greatness that we’re trying to match (or outdo) from our own childhoods, or simply our regular-life perfectionism carried over and applied to the holidays, holiday perfectionism is all too common” (Scott, 2009) Read the rest of her suggestions for de-stressing here.

The truth is, for a busy parent, preparing for Christmas can be like adding a 20-hour-a-week job into an already packed schedule.   You can have a joyful season and not feel like tearing your hair out every day, but it takes some prioritizing, some planning ahead, and some letting go of the impossible Norman Rockwell ideal.  (Not that I don’t love Norman Rockwell!  For a bit of visual nostalgia, watch this YouTube video created by  bestbonjon with music by Bach about Norman Rockwell’s Christmas paintings or see it below. 

One of my favorite Christmas stories is How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss.   If you don’t own the book (and you should--it’s a GREAT addition to any Holiday book collection), you can find the text for the story at this fun website for children  . The line I like is when the Whos in Whoville are singing even though the Grinch stole all the trappings of Christmas:

The Grinch by Dr. Seuss, photo Google images

“And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"
And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"” (Seuss)

Christmas is and should be a “little bit more”.  Good luck in simplifying and finding the true joy. 

Norman Rockwell Christmas Pictures uploaded by bestbonjon 2010
 

Works Cited

Scott, E. (2009, December 07). Holiday Perfectionism. Retrieved November 25, 2011r, from about.com: http://stress.about.com/od/holidaysurvivalguide/a/holiday_perfectionism.htm

Seuss, D. (n.d.). How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Retrieved November 25, 2011, from Xmas Fun.com: http://xmasfun.com/stories/Grinch/Text.asp.

Preparedness Principles

Preparedness Principles Larry Salsbury

I have had people ask me where to find all the preparedness information they need in one certain place.  I can suggest good web sites (and I certainly intend to as time goes on and as web sites impress me), but web sites have a very distinct disadvantage:  if the power is out, you can’t access them.  So I have to strongly suggest that a hard copy of information in your hand is your best option.  I don’t intend to turn this blog into a hard sell, but in all honesty, the best manual for preparedness is written by yours truly.  Preparedness Principles published by Cedar Fort  and available through many bookstores or my own website is the best preparedness book on the market.  I wanted to tell you about it upfront because I expect many of my future posts will contain information from within its pages.  I’m really proud of it and it received many good comments and reviews. For example, Ken Kraudy, the Emergency Management Coordinator for Sandy, Utah (http://sandy.utah.gov/government/emergency-management.html), had this to say: “Preparedness Principles provides a refreshing, comprehensive approach and up-to-date, detailed information for anyone who is really serious about being prepared for emergencies and disasters. (Salsbury)
 

Works Cited

Salsbury, B. G. (2009). Preparedness Principles. Springville: Horizon Publishers.

About Me

About Me

Hi. I am Barbara Salsbury and I am completely, totally, absolutely devoted to the principle of being personally prepared.  It has been my focus and drive since I was a teenager.  When other teenage girls had hope chests filled with linens and china, my hope chest (an old army trunk) was filled with canned goods and burlap bags of grain.  I have spent my life learning and teaching preparedness principles in any way I can, in any arena I can, to every person I can.  If I had my way, every person in the world would have a supply of food in their pantry, a little money set aside for a rainy day, some equipment on hand in case of a disaster, and the understanding of why these things are so important and what to do with them.  Then every person would be able to sleep more soundly at night and have a little less to worry about.  I’ve written books, and newsletters, given innumerable lectures, and done television and radio shows for years on this subject that is so dear to my heart.  Blogging is the next step to getting the word out to an increasingly technology-savvy world.  I hope you’ll come here often for information and inspiration on how you can be better prepared.  I hope to tie current world and national events to preparedness principles so you get a big picture on how necessary preparedness is and how it can benefit you. I’ll give you new and fun ideas of how to make preparedness enjoyable and easy.  And I hope you’ll share your good ideas with me. If you’ve done something that worked for you, let us know. We can inspire each other.