What Preps are you doing this week? Part 13

[berbie]

A copy of all our insurance details, driving licence details and other " important to you" documents

[itsybitsy]

Picked up another 20l water carrier from Lidl today.

[Ara]

Recently decided to add some cash to my grab bag just in case my handbag is unavailable in case of having to evacuate the house quickly. They are kept at opposite ends of the house.
Suggested to sons that they might like to have a plan but one said he'd just grab his rucksack as it has his wallet in. This is the son who couldn't get into his house when there was a fire at his work and they were all evacuated. They weren't allowed into the building until the following day and his keys, coat, phone, wallet were all by his desk, most in his rucksack and he was away from his desk when the alarm sounded.

[Frnc]

Following the fires I've refocused on my 'get out of the house quickly preps'. I realised the only thing prepped is a wash kit for myself and my wife, so I've started to gather the extra bits we'd need. Spare underwear, bit of cash, a credit card, spare dog lead, bowl and some food. I want to keep it lightweight but still keep us comfortable if we did have to leave and go and stay in a hotel / friends for a while. What am I missing from my bag?

I don't tend to prep for the end of the world, more mundane every day stuff.

I've also re-stocked the pantry with long life tins etc, and increased my immediately accessible water stored to 52 litres. Should keep me, wife and doggy comfortable for a few days. I'm 500m away from a brook and I have a good water filter, so i think I could cope with an extended outage. One thing I am lacking is larger containers to fetch water from the brook.

Any medicines you need
Spare glasses/contact lenses
Books/tablets/games
Phone chargers/power packs
Emergency credit card
Toiletries

I've got the credit card, toiletries. My evac plan involves the car, which under the spare wheel well, is fully stocked with most of the extras you've listed apart from books and games, I'll add a couple. Thanks for the suggestion.

All I can suggest is think through scenarios, and what you might need. Mine includes camping gear, but if I was going to a hotel obviously I'd dump that. I don't have a car, so I prepare to use my bike or walk, in case of no public transport. It's one reason for the camping gear. You might have a car, but have to abandon it. Most of my camping gear is in one bike pannier, so I simply won't take that, if I don't need it.

If I was heading to an evacuation centre, that might involve sleeping on a floor. So I might take my air bed and sleeping bag. Both are extremely lightweight.

Paper maps and compass are essential in my opinion. Keep the map in a quality map case, with something to write/mark it. Water, obviously, filter, puri tabs, food that doesn't need cooking, toilet and wash kit(s). Maybe a small Swiss army knife. First aid kit. Waterproof jacket. Warm extra clothing in winter. Small torch and batteries. Powerbank for phone - and cable! Glasses? Sunglasses in summer. Sunscreen and maybe sun hat. This is off top of my head, my list is maybe 100 items.

[pseudonym]

Snip> bit of cash,

Break that down into:

£10 worth of each of the following:

£1 coins
50p coins
20p coins

useful in vending machines/ callboxes/parking meters

£50 in:

£5 notes
£10 notes
£20 notes

[GeraldTheBonzai]

Not a prep.
Just standing in the conservatory watching and listening to it rain...

[Kiwififer]

Not a prep.
Just standing in the conservatory watching and listening to it rain...

If you are in England, it will sound like heaven.

[Frnc]

Hammered down last night. More predicted tonight I think.

Have made a simple spreadsheet for what to wear on the bike depending on temperature and rain likelihood/amount. I have 6 temperature zones from 3° to >19°, which is 6 rows. Two columns, dry and wet.

At warmer temps, any rain less than 30% will be ignored. Also any less than 0.2 mm. At 1 mm, below 16°, I will wear waterproof shorts. It was borderline this morning, so I wore them, but not a drop fell. Was sunny. Met said 70% chance of rain, which could be off-putting, hence the emphasis on mm. Wearing the shorts is no problem anyway. I could even put them on at the last minute, even over shoes. NB, I already have padded cycling shorts on. Waterproof ones are baggy and go over.

You don't need to wear much on a bike. I wear shorts and what is basically a long sleeved t-shirt down to 13° (short sleeved > 18°).

Below that, I add a windproof top, very thin material. And either under the knee cycling shorts ('knickers'), or tracky bottoms over cycling shorts.

[GillyBee]

Following the fires I've refocused on my 'get out of the house quickly preps'. I realised the only thing prepped is a wash kit for myself and my wife, so I've started to gather the extra bits we'd need. Spare underwear, bit of cash, a credit card, spare dog lead, bowl and some food. I want to keep it lightweight but still keep us comfortable if we did have to leave and go and stay in a hotel / friends for a while. What am I missing from my bag?

I don't tend to prep for the end of the world, more mundane every day stuff.

I've also re-stocked the pantry with long life tins etc, and increased my immediately accessible water stored to 52 litres. Should keep me, wife and doggy comfortable for a few days. I'm 500m away from a brook and I have a good water filter, so i think I could cope with an extended outage. One thing I am lacking is larger containers to fetch water from the brook.

Also, yesterday I could smell burning through my upstairs window. I looked out to see my neighbour with a lit BBQ, right up against our privet hedge. I very swiftly went outside and asked if he was stupid and to move it away from the hedge! Absolutely outrageous, it was almost as if the alert the other day gave him the idea to have a BBQ.

A spare set of keys in case you run out without time to find where you put them. DItto spare phone & charger. Copies of family photos, and as many photos of your possessions as you can get. (Walk round the house) These could be uploaded to Google photos or on a USB. Copies (take photos) of all other important documents. A notebook & pen - if things have shaken you up you cant guarantee to remember everything you are told.
There used to be a great blog by a prepper who survived Hurricane Katrina. The takeaway was that if you evacuate and your house is destroyed, you can replace most things. The ones that hurt were losing the family photos and having easy access to things like your qualifications so you could get a job in a new town. And photos showing your home & possessions will make a total loss insurance claim easier.

I used to work in an office where it was clear that going back to your desk would not happen in a fire. I always kept my keys on me. They included a little key fob which held enough cash to get me home as well as a tiny torch and a tiny USB backup (encrypted) of my laptop.

[Frnc]

Following the fires I've refocused on my 'get out of the house quickly preps'. I realised the only thing prepped is a wash kit for myself and my wife, so I've started to gather the extra bits we'd need. Spare underwear, bit of cash, a credit card, spare dog lead, bowl and some food. I want to keep it lightweight but still keep us comfortable if we did have to leave and go and stay in a hotel / friends for a while. What am I missing from my bag?

I don't tend to prep for the end of the world, more mundane every day stuff.

I've also re-stocked the pantry with long life tins etc, and increased my immediately accessible water stored to 52 litres. Should keep me, wife and doggy comfortable for a few days. I'm 500m away from a brook and I have a good water filter, so i think I could cope with an extended outage. One thing I am lacking is larger containers to fetch water from the brook.

Also, yesterday I could smell burning through my upstairs window. I looked out to see my neighbour with a lit BBQ, right up against our privet hedge. I very swiftly went outside and asked if he was stupid and to move it away from the hedge! Absolutely outrageous, it was almost as if the alert the other day gave him the idea to have a BBQ.

A spare set of keys in case you run out without time to find where you put them. DItto spare phone & charger. Copies of family photos, and as many photos of your possessions as you can get. (Walk round the house) These could be uploaded to Google photos or on a USB. Copies (take photos) of all other important documents. A notebook & pen - if things have shaken you up you cant guarantee to remember everything you are told.
There used to be a great blog by a prepper who survived Hurricane Katrina. The takeaway was that if you evacuate and your house is destroyed, you can replace most things. The ones that hurt were losing the family photos and having easy access to things like your qualifications so you could get a job in a new town. And photos showing your home & possessions will make a total loss insurance claim easier.

I used to work in an office where it was clear that going back to your desk would not happen in a fire. I always kept my keys on me. They included a little key fob which held enough cash to get me home as well as a tiny torch and a tiny USB backup (encrypted) of my laptop.

If I had to evacuate now, it would take me longer to put my shoes on than find my keys, phone and wallet. If my keys aren't on me, they are hanging on my bedroom door, and that is where I normally am. Main keys that is, I have separate bike and back door keys. Main keys are on a loop of paracord, which I use like a key chain if I don't have zipped pockets.