Why You Need And Should Already Have An Emergency Kit.

Posted by david | February 28, 2007

Although this post is not directly related to personal finance issues, it does have something to do with it in terms of your financial security. For a long time now, we have had emergency kits in our cars and in our home in case we suddenly had to vacate our house or got trapped away from home. After 9/11, the tsunami in Thailand and Hurricane Katrina, we figured that if it can happen to all of those people then it can happen to us, especially living here in earthquake land. We all go through life figuring that the bad stuff always happens to other people, but someday the other people could be you and you better be prepared.

I figured listing what was in our kits would help others prepare better for any kind of emergency. So away we go!

Each of us has a backpack in a closet that is packed and ready to grab and go in case of an emergency regarding our home or neighborhood. In these backpacks, we have identical items:

Cash - Each of us has a minimum of $100 in small bills if not more. If tragedy strikes, banks and other electronic payment systems may be down and if that happens, cash is king whether for food, water or gasoline.
Food - We each have MRE’s in our bags that could last us 2 weeks if we ate them sparingly. These “meals ready to eat” are loaded with carbs and calories to keep you going, and they last on average of 5 years. Also, we carry some dry cat food for the cat if he decides he wants to come with us.
Water - Besides a bunch of small water pouches (think Capri Sun or the like), we also have a bottle of water and water purification tablets if we run out of our own water and need to sterilize water from another source.
Clothing - We each have a complete change of clothes consisting of socks, underwear, sweatshirt and hat. In my bag, I also have gardening gloves in case I need to deal with something rusty or sharp. A few rain ponchos were thrown in for good measure as well.
First Aid Supplies - Band-Aids, Neosporin, gauze pads, wrapping tape, razor blades, small sewing needles, a compass, ace bandage, etc. We also have candles, lighters and matches, glow sticks, etc.
Medicine - If we have a prescription medicine, we make sure we have a bottle of it in our kit. According to my doctor, pills that are solid (not the gel liquid kind) last WAY longer than the expiration date on the bottle. So we make sure we have backup pills in the bags that will last us until we can get our hands on more. Also, we keep aspirin, benadryl and advil in there.
Personal Documents - This is where the personal finance aspect of this post comes in. In our bags, we each have a small ziploc baggie filled with photocopies of our driver’s licenses, birth certificate, marriage certificate, social security cards, a few of our credit cards and a contact list. We also put a USB thumb drive in this bag that has the same info on it as above but also has all of our financial account numbers, phone numbers, insurance cards, first aid info and local emergency information. This usb key is the key to your recovery after an incident, as it allows you to have one place where all your information is stored.
Communication - I carry the windup emergency radio that has weather and other bands, and also has a flashlight attached. My wife carries our extra cellphone along with an extra battery. We also have a solar battery charger to charge our cellphones in case the juice runs out before we can find power.
Protection - We also have mace and a rather large knife that can cut food, wires, etc etc in case we need it. You never know what may happen once the SHTF!

In our house stored in a big old WWII trunk my grandfather gave me is all of our stuff we would need if we had to stay in our house with no food, water or electricity for a while. We have a duplicate set as above, but with way more water, food, blankets, candles, cat food, an old telephone that doesnt need electricity to work and assorted other things.

Some of our friends think we are a little over the top, but I would much rather be over the top and ready than not have anything and depend on the kindness of strangers in an emergency. You do not know how people will react if something really bad happened, and I do not want to find out. I want to be completely self-sufficient and ready for anything. Living through 2 pretty big earthquakes has taught me that stuff can happen at any time, and you are never ready for it. But having the backup materials just in case is definitely a start. The way we are set up, if we lost everything, we still have everything we need to re-start our lives….we can get on the phone right away with our financial /insurance companies and get the ball rolling on any help we might need. I cannot stress enough for people to be ready….and if you still do not do anything, be sure to have backup copies of your important documents in several places. If a fire struck your residence, you might lose everything. So be sure you have a backup you can turn to to start getting your life back in order. Buy yourself a USB drive, put your docs on it, encrypt it, and throw one in your desk at work or your daily bag you carry. But that is the bare minimum; think of the people that went through Katrina and then imagine something like that happening to yourself. Would you be ready?

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