I'm in the middle of reading The Millionaire Next Door for an executive summit I am attending tomorrow. It has led me to ponder on what financial preparation means to people today. If an emergency happened to you today, would you have cash on hand to purchase items that will probably have spiked in price?
Do you have your money in investment vehicles that are helping you weather the temporary inflation from food and gas? How will your investments fare when deflation hits and the value of real estate plummets? The stock markets have officially reached bear territory by going down more than 20%. Investors keep hoping for an uptick based on today's reports while ignoring the overall indicators that credit saturation has been reached. Do you have your fingers in your ears, or your head in the sand?
What will it take for people to be prepared for financial hardship? Does it always have to end miserably for those who have personal emergencies before they wake up to the reality that life is not always prosperous? Can you take the lemons of today and make lemon torte because you saw what was coming and were ready for it?
I hope so, but I will be discussing this further as I continue to discuss physical preparation.
- Mark
Value is based on perception.
Showing posts with label emergencies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emergencies. Show all posts
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Smoke On The Horizon
I remember summers in northern California as a teenager. They were a lot like the one California is having now. We pulled a hose to the top of the house and attached it to the Rainbird sprinkler we had attached to the peak of the roof. We made sure the clothes in our two emergency trunks were still the right sizes and checked on other items that might have gone stale since the prior summer. Summer in the woods was a real learning experience.
I really learned to appreciate fire crews. One summer we had an OES fire truck parked between our house and my grandparent's home. We had a 16' x 33' Doughboy swimming pool that held 16,000 gallons of water. The firefighters said that we had about 17 minutes of protection for our homes and that we wouldn't have any trees left, but the houses would still be standing if the fire got to our road. They also noted that we would most likely not have any neighbors left since they had no ready source of water, so there was only one other fire unit on our road, and it was just a tanker truck that had no means of spraying the business next to it.
Luckily, they never had to use any of our water, but it was a comfort to know that they were ready and willing to assist. They also got to eat my grandmother's apple cake and get some much needed rest.
A couple of years later, I was home alone when I heard a truck coming down our cinder road a lot faster than the posted speed limit of 15 MPH. I looked out to see a tanker truck from our "local" volunteer fire deparment racing toward one of our driveways. I calmly walked over to our pool, opened the gate and motioned them back to the pool.
They probably thought I was psychic since the gate was open before they got there, but I knew that sooner or later the day would come that they needed our water. The sad thing was that they were getting water to control a house fire from a home that was already burned to the ground about six miles away. We had the only known supply of water in the vicinity. There were a lot of people who lived between our home and the one that burned, but we were the only ones who had thought ahead for such an emergency. The gate had been put in soley for such an event.
I learned a lot that day about the need to be self-sufficient in an emergency. I guess it stuck. There may come a day when I will need to lean on someone else because my preparation wasn't quite enough, or the disaster was too overwhelming for my resources, but being prepared takes away a lot of the anxiety I see in the faces of neighbors and friends when emergency scenarios are discussed.
- Mark
Value is based on perception.
I really learned to appreciate fire crews. One summer we had an OES fire truck parked between our house and my grandparent's home. We had a 16' x 33' Doughboy swimming pool that held 16,000 gallons of water. The firefighters said that we had about 17 minutes of protection for our homes and that we wouldn't have any trees left, but the houses would still be standing if the fire got to our road. They also noted that we would most likely not have any neighbors left since they had no ready source of water, so there was only one other fire unit on our road, and it was just a tanker truck that had no means of spraying the business next to it.
Luckily, they never had to use any of our water, but it was a comfort to know that they were ready and willing to assist. They also got to eat my grandmother's apple cake and get some much needed rest.
A couple of years later, I was home alone when I heard a truck coming down our cinder road a lot faster than the posted speed limit of 15 MPH. I looked out to see a tanker truck from our "local" volunteer fire deparment racing toward one of our driveways. I calmly walked over to our pool, opened the gate and motioned them back to the pool.
They probably thought I was psychic since the gate was open before they got there, but I knew that sooner or later the day would come that they needed our water. The sad thing was that they were getting water to control a house fire from a home that was already burned to the ground about six miles away. We had the only known supply of water in the vicinity. There were a lot of people who lived between our home and the one that burned, but we were the only ones who had thought ahead for such an emergency. The gate had been put in soley for such an event.
I learned a lot that day about the need to be self-sufficient in an emergency. I guess it stuck. There may come a day when I will need to lean on someone else because my preparation wasn't quite enough, or the disaster was too overwhelming for my resources, but being prepared takes away a lot of the anxiety I see in the faces of neighbors and friends when emergency scenarios are discussed.
- Mark
Value is based on perception.
Friday, July 11, 2008
I Thought That Fit You
Have you ever gone somewhere with a baby or toddler only to realize too late that you forgot a diaper and wipes? I've only done that twice in the last three months. On a very short term basis, you can deal with the problem, but what if the problem lasted for days?
Having the right supplies in your 72-hour kit can be crucial for your family to endure the hopefully short term hardship. Can you do without diapers? Yes, but it won't be pleasant. Can you do without clean clothes? Yes, but you may end up battling illness because of the lack of proper clothing.
What about those who have clothing in their kits? When was the last time you checked the sizing of the clothes? I'm not just talking about how well the kids fit in after growing. Adults in the country tend to grow over time too. Do those pants you put in the kit five years ago really fit today? have you been dieting successfully? If so, I hope you have a belt in the kit.
Take time to inventory regularly. Get clothing that will work in the kit. Don't let food go stale or rotten. Be mindful that your kit should reflect you today.
- Mark
Value is based on perception.
Having the right supplies in your 72-hour kit can be crucial for your family to endure the hopefully short term hardship. Can you do without diapers? Yes, but it won't be pleasant. Can you do without clean clothes? Yes, but you may end up battling illness because of the lack of proper clothing.
What about those who have clothing in their kits? When was the last time you checked the sizing of the clothes? I'm not just talking about how well the kids fit in after growing. Adults in the country tend to grow over time too. Do those pants you put in the kit five years ago really fit today? have you been dieting successfully? If so, I hope you have a belt in the kit.
Take time to inventory regularly. Get clothing that will work in the kit. Don't let food go stale or rotten. Be mindful that your kit should reflect you today.
- Mark
Value is based on perception.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
After dealing with my youngest throwing up sporadically for three days, I wonder how well we will do in real emergencies. My wife could barely deal with the smell tonight. I guess my hay fever isn't so bad after all since I can't smell it.
This got me thinking about what I have in my 72 hour kits. I have a pretty good first aid kit, but I don't have any Pepto or Imodium. I'm going to have to add that to my kit. Think about it. You are dealing with a disaster, there is no aid available, and you or your kids have diarrhea or are throwing up. Not only is it unpleasant, it could become life threatening.
How much water do you need in a kit? The American Red Cross recommends a gallon per day, but if you have to hoof it out of Dodge, are you going to be able to carry that much, especially if you have to carry for children too? My wife and I each have four liters in our packs, and my older children have at least two liters. Why liters you ask? That bottle of soda you finished off just needs a soapy rinse and some hot water put into it and you have a safe bottle of water. Probably better than the bottled water from the store. One word of advise. Don't use anything but a clear bottle. It is not that other bottles won't work, but you can't see what's growing in it if it isn't clear.
For water storage in your home, you can also use these bottles as a cheap alternative to more expensive water containers. Don't store them directly on concrete. The lime in the concrete will leach into the container. I use the boxes the bottles come in to stack them, and I got some second hand rubber tiles to cover the floor in my storage room to create an extra buffer.
- Mark
Value is based on perception.
This got me thinking about what I have in my 72 hour kits. I have a pretty good first aid kit, but I don't have any Pepto or Imodium. I'm going to have to add that to my kit. Think about it. You are dealing with a disaster, there is no aid available, and you or your kids have diarrhea or are throwing up. Not only is it unpleasant, it could become life threatening.
How much water do you need in a kit? The American Red Cross recommends a gallon per day, but if you have to hoof it out of Dodge, are you going to be able to carry that much, especially if you have to carry for children too? My wife and I each have four liters in our packs, and my older children have at least two liters. Why liters you ask? That bottle of soda you finished off just needs a soapy rinse and some hot water put into it and you have a safe bottle of water. Probably better than the bottled water from the store. One word of advise. Don't use anything but a clear bottle. It is not that other bottles won't work, but you can't see what's growing in it if it isn't clear.
For water storage in your home, you can also use these bottles as a cheap alternative to more expensive water containers. Don't store them directly on concrete. The lime in the concrete will leach into the container. I use the boxes the bottles come in to stack them, and I got some second hand rubber tiles to cover the floor in my storage room to create an extra buffer.
- Mark
Value is based on perception.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
What's the Emergency Today?
Too often we think that an emergency is going to be a major disaster for everyone, but sometimes the emergency that you need to be prepared for is just your own. Local emergencies get really nasty when they only effect you.
What would you do if you had a fire that only partially destroyed your home? What if a water line broke, or the plumbing backed up? What if your spouse became ill suddenly and you had to fend not only for yourself, but also for her and your children for several days? How often have you just worried about an earthquake, wild fire, or hurricane?
Emergency preparedness is a mindset, not just physical preparation. Having a plan is probably more important than having stuff ready to go. Without the plan, where are you going, besides insane? Try to take of five children for several days without their normal caregiver and you may quickly learn what an emergency is like.
Even if the emergency is different than what you have planned for, the preparation you have made mentally will pay dividends. Having and knowing your plan will bring a sense of structure and hopefully some peace when things go wrong. Having worked through what you might need to do can help calm you when things happen, even though you didn't necessarily plan for the current emergency.
What would you do if you had a fire that only partially destroyed your home? What if a water line broke, or the plumbing backed up? What if your spouse became ill suddenly and you had to fend not only for yourself, but also for her and your children for several days? How often have you just worried about an earthquake, wild fire, or hurricane?
Emergency preparedness is a mindset, not just physical preparation. Having a plan is probably more important than having stuff ready to go. Without the plan, where are you going, besides insane? Try to take of five children for several days without their normal caregiver and you may quickly learn what an emergency is like.
Even if the emergency is different than what you have planned for, the preparation you have made mentally will pay dividends. Having and knowing your plan will bring a sense of structure and hopefully some peace when things go wrong. Having worked through what you might need to do can help calm you when things happen, even though you didn't necessarily plan for the current emergency.
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