Originally published in January 2020 - so while some things have changed (like KK no longer using formula), the bones of this blogpost remain the same.
i briefly mentioned a glimmer of this on instagram and immediately was flooded with, “wait, wait. can you share more?”
so here we are, you lovely humans.
as always, let me start by saying this is just what works for us. if you have a better system that you love - great! I’m just sharing what i love. take anything you love, leave whatever doesn’t serve you. you do you, boo!
ready?
I asked myself: “What am I preparing for?”
I asked myself, “What specifically am I preparing for? What worries me? What scares me? What annoys me? What irritates me? Can these potential (or probable) situations be avoided (and if so, how?)? And how can these unavoidable situations be made more comfortable?” to pinpoint what would personally make me feel better to have on hand. And because we all have different anxieties with different familial (and housing) situations in different areas of the country, your list of answers might look way different than mine. And that’s okay.
here’s my list:
minor household inconveniences
because it doesn’t just have to be natural disasters we’re preparing for, you know
and because a lot of times those things purchased to avoid minor day-to-day inconveniences also happen to be really, really handy to have on hand in terms of a bigger emergency. like that extra bag of dog food and extra toilet paper.
a lot of this has been done in the last year when KK joined us, as I realized I could no longer quickly run out to the store like I used to be able to. And, our shopping primarily occurs through weekly grocery delivery and as-needed amazon purchases, so I rarely find myself at a store and therefore miss out on the convenience of just picking up something last minute.
and between living in the boonies and living on Brett’s income, we don’t really have the ability to do two-hour delivery of something we need, so in that sense your list of potential minor inconveniences might also look super different from mine. (a lot of people also love Amazon Subscribe and Save, but we really only use it for vitamins.)
illness/injuries
baby poop situations
again, it doesn’t have to be natural disasters we’re preparing for here
car trouble
power outages
prolonged time spent at home
pandemic, natural disaster, whatever
this’ll just be a general-emergency section, if you will
evacuating our home
could be that we have a power outage but my parent’s cozy house down the road doesn’t, could be that we have a minor annoyance and need to hang out somewhere else for a night, or could be that we have something more severe like a fire, gas leak, or whatever
Cool! Now that I know specifically what makes me annoyed/irritated/nervous/worried, I can think about what would be suuuuper nice to have in our home to make us more prepared-ish.
I say ish because while I’d like to think we’re pretty prepared for the unknown, you and I both know we can’t prepare for everything. But by having a fairly stocked home with a few specific systems, I feel calmer facing life’s little (and big) hiccups. And that alone is 1000% worth it to me.
So let’s break it down what I have for each category.
minor household inconveniences
extras of household goods we always use
even before the panic-shopping of March happened, I liked to have an extra of anything we always use. toilet paper, dishwasher detergent, tampons, etc. mainly because, if it’s bad weather or simply I’m tired, I don’t want to have to rush out and get some. I’d rather just leisurely add it to our next grocery order. (but yeah, these extras are also nice in the face of a pandemic when shelves are empty.) having extras on hand also helps give me peace of mind should our budget be tighter one month or if we unexpectedly had a loss in income. (I keep an eye on sales for these things, too.)
i keep our grocery ordering app on my phone so that I can easily add things to our cart throughout the week as I notice that we’re low on or out of. something.
this is also why part of my baby prep was just acquiring extras of these things to have on hand - I knew I wouldn’t want to deal with running out of anything while also navigating the newborn phase. but more importantly, I was trying to minimize costs for that fourth trimester, as I didn’t know what unexpected things would pop up with a new baby. so i tried to stock up on some things I knew we’d need ahead of time.
we’re currently making sure we’re stocked up on household things before I get pregnant again, as last time I felt so sick and tired and could barely handle anything. and mainly because we blew our budget that first trimester trying to accommodate my food aversions and horrendous nausea, so I’m trying to minimize other household costs where I can in preparation for that treasure of a season, ha.
extra diapers + extra formula
I’m slowly working on having an extra box of diapers in each size. (As KK grows to a new size, I order an extra box of diapers in that size to keep in our stash.) again, I do this simply because I hate the inconvenience of realizing oh my gosh, we only have one diaper left. but this is also handy should we have some sort of emergency or natural disaster or whatever. (and because KK is going to be the oldest of what I hope is four kids, so having a stash of emergency diapers in each size would be niiiice.)
and again, although the extra formula will be so nice to have in an emergency, the derivation of why we have it is because I didn’t realize we were out and I instead had to make a late-night trip to the store when I was already exhausted (and when all I really wanted to do was sit on my couch and rest). and, to make matters worse, I had to purchase suuuuper expensive formula that was a different brand than what we usually use, as ours was nowhere to be found. so the stash of back-up formula was born.
hi, hello, these provided me SO MUCH peace of mind during the huge winter storm of February 2021 when roads were impassable, a state of disaster was declared, grocery stores were a nightmare (or closed altogether due to power outages), and everyone was ordered to stay home for daysssss. same goes for the dog food below.
extra dog food
kept in a cool, dark closet in this container, this extra bag literally came to be because I was veryyyy pregnant in March 2020 as Texas announced it was shutting down. and I hated that I had to go to Costco amongst the angry toilet paper mobs, simply because our beloved dog food is Costco-brand and we were O-U-T. (I stress ate three Costco croissants in the parking lot afterwards.) it was then I swore we’d always have a back-up bag. (and again, although this stems out of my avoidance of a minor inconvenience, it also would serve us very well in a true emergency.)
in January when I check our emergency stash, I make sure to cycle out our extra dog food and formula (etc) and then replace it with a new set of extras. (does that makes sense?) this way we avoid having expired things in our emergency stash, because what good is that?
google home products
brett once told me I could decorate however I wanted, as long as he had plenty of comfy seating, plenty of dinners, and plenty of Google Home products (and technically he asked for “plenty of” one more thing, but I’m omitting that one and you can just let your imagination run wild). to which I said, YES YES WHERE DO I SIGN. so here we are.
but I will admit, slowly acquiring what I think is every possible Google Home product out there has been really nice. (we usually buy one with our black friday fund.) our smart doorbell allows us to turn off the chime so that the dogs don’t bark and wake KK, allows us to see who’s at our door, and allows us video footage of if a package was stolen. our smart lightbulbs allow us to turn on (or dim) lights with just our voice — which was SO nice when KK was brand new and nursing at 2am. our google home app let’s us see our cameras, turn on our lights, adjust the thermostate, etc all without being home. and our cameras show footage for if we would ever need to show police or insurance of an unfortunate incident. etc. etc. etc.
brett wants me to clarify he has phillips hue lightbulbs. SO SORRY, THIS IS NOT MY WHEELHOUSE.
hooks
hear me out. having hooks in several spots in our home frees up a ton of mental energy for me. by automatically having a place to store that wet towel and that dog leash and that baby bathtub and that robe, it keeps things off my floor and out of random, overwhelming piles of clutter. by minimizing the aforementioned piles of clutter, I have 1) a better idea of our inventory and what we do/do not have, and 2) i have more mental capacity for problem solving because I’m not overwhelmed by piles, so therefore I’m less likely to be sent over the edge should we have a, say, first aid issue. you see? starting with hooks may seem small and insignificant, but having hooks (and therefore a place for everything) sets a reallyyyy solid foundation for our prepared-ish home.
side note: my favorite sources for hooks are home depot and anthropologie. we’re actually about to put a double decker set of these hooks in our hallway and two sheets of pegboard in a closet.
household systems
similar to hooks, let’s clear up some mental space and create designated spots for things. for me, i truly could only fathom the idea of wrapping my head around true emergency preparation once I felt the little day-to-day things were managed, if that makes sense.
(maybe I’m backwards, and that’s okay. it just wasn’t until I took care of tackling these mundane-ish adult things that I had enough room to breathe to think clearly about, say, that space over there would make a really nice spot for our first aid stuff. and what would we if and when we lose power? and hey, maybe let’s work on getting some extra water?)
my favorite systems:
create a space (digital or physical) that works for you to file allllll those lurking papers you get in adulthood. by creating a space for these things, there’s no more drama of “Where is that paper about the XYZ?” which again clears up so much mental space you didn’t know was being overtaken. here's our system.
create a system for papers and things that are important and need to be dealt with…but you just don’t feel like dealing with them right this instance. for me it’s a box on my desk. no more, “where is that receipt/piece of mail/important notice/gift card…?” it’s in the box.
create a system for storing allllll those things you only need seasonally. like, we only use our heart-shaped kitchen tools in February, for example. and I only use our fall-themed books in the…fall. here’s our system we love. less random piles of seasonal decor taking up shelf space = more space for our extra diapers.
create system for laundry that works for you. there, i said it. I didn’t realize how much of a stressor laundry could be until i automated ours. now I assign certain days to laundry. towel tuesday and fresh sheets friday, for example. no more laundry drama. no more feeling like I was “behind” and no more feeling stressed that the laundry was overwhelming. bam, more mental space freed up.
our whiteboard system. a clear and concise system to let Brett know how he can help me with adult/household/life/emergency things. like in march, he changes out the batteries in the smoke detectors for me. please and thank you.
living food storage
i know there are plenty of ways to do food storage (and you do whatever works best for you), but basically we just keep extras of things we already use anyway. (mel called this a living food storage, and lord knows I agree with everything she says.) we have big jars of beans and rice and pasta, extra Fritos, extra butter and shredded cheese in the freezer, plenty of extra baking things like yeast and flower and cornmeal, extra cans of chicken broth and green beans, etc. so that I rarely am completely out of something that warrants a separate run to the store, but also we’re prepared in more dire situations. (even if the dire situation is just that our grocery budget is lowwwww for the rest of the month.)
what i’m working on: at some point I’d like to make a list of two weeks of emergency meals I could make - just for my own peace of mind and for simplicity, but also to ensure we always have those ingredients. because while I have plenty of extra components right now, I’m not sure how many meals could actually be made. (and i want to reevaluate what we could actually make - and how - should there be a prolonged power outage.)
i also keep a few powdered things like powdered milk, powdered buttermilk, powdered cheese (if anything, the cheese is so good on popcorn and to make your own boxed mac and cheese) on hand. I like to use them in recipes, I like to use them in a pinch, and I also like the reassurance they provide.
garage freezer
our garage freezer stays relatively full, between my love for both freezing leftovers and doubling a recipe just to freeze half. add in our weekly snack dinner saturday, my costco membership (for the smoothie fruit and frozen foods alone!), and the fact that brett grills meat every Sunday so I like to buy meat in bulk on sale when possible, and you’ve got yourself a pretty stocked freezer.
and while this is nice from a “I’m tired and I don’t feel like cooking what’s on the menu plan, so let’s grab this XYZ from the freezer instead” standpoint, it also helps me plan cheaper weekly menu plans when some months are tighter than others. and in more of an emergency situation - like if we had a job loss or like in March when grocery stores were a nightmare - our living food storage and our garage freezer would be absolute gemstones.
here’s a peek inside our freezer. or see my “freezer” highlight on my instagram.
note: when we had the rolling blackouts in the Huge Winter Storm of February 2021, it was nice reheating frozen soups on our gas stovetop, and taking the frozen loves of bread + frozen slices of cheese to make grilled cheese. and, when we still had power, but didn’t want to brave the crazy grocery store situations, we menu planned a few days based strictly off what we had in the freezer. huge, huge help that freezer was. and because I was already royally freaking out about the logistics of getting flowers for a wedding that week, it was nice that food worries weren’t added on top of that.
weekly soup + sandwich night
okay, i promise this one makes sense - just give me a second. we instilled a night every week where we have sandwiches - read more about the seven reasons why we love it here. now, not only is this suuuper nice on a day-to-day basis, as we always have stuff in the fridge for a quick lunch or I’m too tired to cook options. But ALSO. that week in Texas I just mentioned? we ate sandwiches and soups and chips for days. it was SUCH A RELIEF that we already had all that on hand.
similarly, having a night every single week where we eat some sort of snack foods - cheese and crackers, appetizers, frozen chicken nuggets, taquitos, fish sticks - not only helps me get a break from cooking every week, but it’s also sooooo nice to always have this stuff always on hand. it makes for an easy lunch when I’m tired, it makes for an easy dinner when I don’t feel well, and - again with that infamous week in February - our Snack Dinner Saturday stash was incredible. from, “okay, we don’t have power, do you want some cheese and crackers and fruit for dinner?” to “oh my gosh we have power for an hour!! quick, throw some chicken nuggets in the oven!!” either way, we didn’t have to go try and make it to a grocery store with the awful roads, food shortages, and long, long lines, and that in itself was gold.
fire extinguisher
pretty self explanatory as to why (and definitely more severe of a reason than “minor houshold inconvenience”), but I will say we used to have it in a pretty far-off cabinet because “we’ll never need this why do we have this lololololol!” then we actually could’ve benefited from it being close-by a few months back due an, ahem, unfortunate Grill and Chill incident, and since then it’s been in a convenient, yet kid-safe spot.
plenty of kitchen rags, dish towels, soft cloths (for KK, for cleaning), and linen napkins
enough so that I only have to wash these on Tuesdays, enough that we never run out, and enough that we hardly ever tap into our paper towel supply.
although these are reallyyyy nice from a smoothly-running-our-household standpoint, they were AMAZING during that whole paper-good-shortage in March.
we also have a stash of old towels, handy for spills, leaks, and our Snowpocolypse + Save the Freezing Pipes Debacle of 2021.
also, also, we keep allll the soft cloths + spray bottles of water in our rolling cart near our dinner table. while it used to be our nursing cart (read about it and our other postpartum saviors here), we now affectionately call it KK’s eating cart. see a photo here.
jug of vinegar, bag of baking soda, jug of hydrogen peroxide, jug of bleach, big bottle of dish soap
I didn’t even purposefully acquire these. One day I just looked up and I had all in our laundry room. And it occurred to me, the majority of our cleaning/sanitizing/stain issues are remedied with one of these jewels. And, like the other things mentioned above, although these are for totally mundane things (like cleaning our oven), they are also pretty nice to have on hand in a more emergency situation.
tape. lots of tape.
packing tape, duct tape, clear tape, masking tape. again, we have it all.
because if we need to return something to Amazon or I want to wrap a birthday care package for a dear friend, I detest finding out then and there I’m out of tape.
we store it all in our two-person desk (an ikea hack!) behind our couch
gift wrap
hi, hello. one of the biggest, most helpful things I ever did for myself was invest in a pile of streamlined, simplified gift wrap I love. so we hung a door rack on a closet door, and I bought a few of my favorite gift wrapping staples. and while this might seem trivial, whenever I do need to wrap a gift - which, let’s be real, is inevitable between holidays, baby showers, and birthday parties - I’m always so happy to have done this.
these, these, and these gift bags (I also use these for my business)
plain wrapping paper like this (could also be used for future crafts, projects)
custom gift tags from my sister’s shop
we have a few that say “a gift from haley wynn” or “a gift from julie kaye” so that all we have to do is tie it on the bag - works for birthday gifts, meal trains, anything!
note: I keep our Christmas wrapping paper in this organizer in our attic with the rest of our Christmas stuff.
stationery + envelopes + stamps
because I don’t need envelopes or stamps all that often, but I’m so glad I have them when I do.
i personally love love love personalized stationery. it makes me so darn happy. so i put a little money away each month, and in the month of March I splurge on a new set of personalized notepads, notecards, stationery, address labels, whatever. simply because it makes me so happy, and simply because my birthday is in March. it’s the most wonderful annual tradition that brings me so much joy. and, as an added perk, I’m always prepared to write a note, for dear loved ones, dear neighbors, and dear clients.
see my full list of how I celebrate my birthday here
rain shoes + cold, cold weather shoes
because while I’m normally in Birkenstocks year round, having a pair of rainboots I love and a pair of cold/snow shoes I love makes that inclement weather so much less irritating. (and, I’m less likely to fall. so there’s that bonus.)
extra charcoal for brett’s grill
again, this is mainly because we never want to get to a sunday grill and chill and realize we’re completely out of charcoal, so we like to keep a spare bag around. but this also would come in handy for more of an emergency situation, like a power outage.
note: during a power outage, we cook with our gas stovetop. but it’s nice to have the grill as an option as well.
babyproofing goodies
okay, this is more of an “important thing” rather than a “minor household inconvenience,” but wanted to mention this stuff regardless. and KK - at the time of publication - is almost 8 months old, so don’t send me hate mail that this isn’t a comprehensive list yet.
cabinet locks
baby gates
life insurance
again, file this under “actual important things,” not “minor inconveniences.”
we depend on brett’s income. should something happen to him, KK and I would be greatly affected, not only emotionally, but also financially. the minute we got a twenty-year term life insurance policy on him of 10x his annual income, I felt such a sense of calm.
(we’re getting a policy on me soon as well.)
bag o sunscreen
in our guest bath, we store all our beach towels. and next to that pile of beach towels is our Bag O Sunscreen. it’s a smallish, clear, leakproof, water resistant toiletry bag (similar to this), and in it I keep our collection of sunscreen, ready to grab for the pool/beach/camping/hikes/wherever.
a yearly list
truly some household inconveniences can simply be avoided by remembering to take care of (or take inventory of) what we already have. so let’s create a list and write out each month. now think about, what are some things you’d like to do (or would be suuuper helpful to do) during certain months of the year? appointments, chores, tasks, celebrations, traditions, holidays, anniversaries, etc? which month(s) would you like to check some household things or check the expiration dates of things in your emergency stash? write it all down. brain dump it all.
here’s my list - I reference it a few times in this post. because what good is having some, say, food for an emergency, if it all expires without you remembering to use it up and replace it?
also helpful for me are weekly and monthly lists. this post explains it more.
disposable plates/bowls/utensils
in a tub in our garage (and the sealed, waterproof kind of tub like this, so that no dust or yucky stuff settles in there), I have our collection of paper plates, paper bowls, and disposable utensils. while this was fantastic for postpartum, I also love having allll our disposable eating stuff corralled in one portable tub for camping, for when family visits, and for emergencies.
like, hi. that nightmare of a week in texas in February 2021 where our state couldn’t handle the severe, freezing weather so all the power went out and our water supply was cut? our disposable dishes were CLUTCH.
anddd we discovered we actually still have the leftover napkins from my bridal shower from four years ago in this box.
“if haley dies” document
brett and I have a shared Google Sheets document titled, “if haley dies” with our info to a myriad of household-related information (mainly because I don’t even think Brett could tell you the name of our vision insurance company, KK’s dentist, or our dog groomer, for example). swipe through this post to read more about it!
online photo storage
between our Google Photos and my seasonal photo books, I don’t worry about losing all of our precious family photos in the event something happened to my phone (or our home). here’s a full blogpost on our simple photo system that works for us.
I’m working on adding treasured childhood photos to our Google Photos as well.
And, I’m also working on creating a video of me walking through our home to keep in Google Photos as well, should something happen to our home and we need to reference the video for insurance purposes.
a budget
creating a monthly budget that not only gives me permission to spend on things we highly prioritize, but it also reminds me to, you know, live below our means and tuck some money away for rainy days. it completely streamlines our household.
ALSO. we add a littleeee each month to the following categories in our budget: Dog Fund, Car Fund, Home Expenses Fund, and Emergency Fund. because while we can’t prepare for everything, having a little extra money set aside in each of these accounts should something unexpected happen helps us sleep better in the meantime.
we’re slowlyyyy working on building up an emergency fund of six months of expenses. we live on brett’s income entirely (and then whatever I bring in from weddings/instagram goes toward our current financial goal, like adding to these funds) so it can seem overwhelming at times since it’s a slowwww process, but even adding a spare $10 or $50 here and there helps us feel more prepared for the unexpected.
see this post for more on our budget.
illness/injuries
a stocked medicine and first aid cabinet
I took a couple of lazy susans and I used a few shelves of our linen closet to make a pretty solid first aid and medicine situation. I’ll even pin good resources I receive at the doctor - namely pregnancy and baby things - to the closet wall for easy reference. I just truly want everything in one centralized location. (Again, I love a place for everything.)
want to see this closet? see this post.
I absolutely loathe realizing while sick/injured/in pain that we’re out of XYZ, so every March and September I check to see what is low and/or expired and I replenish. Tummy medicines, pain relievers, baby medicine, dog tape, dog cone, gauze, allergy stuff, first aid creams, cotton swabs, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, cold and flu stuff, shower bombs, saline spray, migraine stick, sting kit, pregnancy-safe meds, etc etc etc. We have it all. (We especially have a ton of bandages and gauze, given the number of injuries Brett sustains in the yard, or I sustain working as a wedding florist.)
In our bathroom I keep my beloved stash of nursing and postpartum recovery stuff. See my full list of postpartum favorites here - I was 10000% grateful to be so prepared in this department.
cpr/first aid class + reference materials
Brett and I are taking an online class with the Red Cross - it mainly was to take a CPR class for infants/kids, but then it turned into, “Hey, we should really learn some first aid basics, too.” I also ordered the first aid and CPR reference materials for our first aid closet should something happen and there’s no service/wifi/whatever.
Edited to add: we’re currently looking into taking a CPR class with my whole family.
heating pads + ice packs
we have plenty of these gemstones in all shapes and sizes, mainly acquired from years of menstrual cramps, post-birth uterine cramps (ouch!), pulled neck muscles, bad pregnancy headaches, tweaked backs, and sore nursing boobs.
also also lots of trusty tiger balm (and the patches) and our trusty theracane.
side note: i used to have chronic neck/back pain from continuously tweaking my trap muscle. wearing a weighted vest on my daily walks reallyyyy helped, as doing a slowwww, weighted walk really allows our overused trap muscle - the one used to carry our head and the one that gets kindaaa spicy looking down at a computer/baby/stove/whatever - to rest and reset.
sprite, ginger ale, and sparkling water
i have no explanation other than I always have these on hand for tummy/pregnancy issues
lemon drops + starburst
the only things in my pregnancy that quelled my nausea. so now I’m never without.
read more about my pregnancy + my pregnancy favorites here
baby poop situations
a stocked diaper bag
I have a tote with this organizational insert, so it’s easy to keep all my stuff and alllll the baby stuff organized.
(I have a purse highlight on my Instagram that shows a tour, also.)
ready? I keep in my purse: wallet, car keys, phone + kindle app, mask + extra mask, nail polish*, pens, roll on of my perfume, sunglasses, chapstickS, granola bar for me, ritz pb crackers for me, applesauce pouches, sunscreen stick, tylenol, immodium**, aquaphor, hand sanitizer, baby tylenol, baby benedryl, baby blanket, travel white noise machine, baby sling***
*I really only wear one nail polish color, so I keep it in my purse. That way I never have to remember to grab it before heading out to a pedicure with my mom or sisters.
**Apparently I have a solid fear of tummy troubles in public, since I have immodium in both my car and my purse. It’s fine. Call me if you have issues - I have us all covered.
***I keep my favorite baby carrier in my car (more on that in a second), but I keep my baby ring sling in my purse, just in case I’m away from my car and KK would benefit from being held. (Like recently, we were at a restaurant and she was overtired and loudddd. So I pulled out the sling, wore her, tied the white noise machine to the sling, and she was asleep in two minutes, while I was able to finish enjoying a lunch with my mom.)
a stocked changing station in the car
in the back of my car (I have a Subaru Outback with a hatchback), I keep this lovelyyy changing station. In the pockets I have tons of extra diapers, aquaphor, baby bum brush, poop bags, plenty of baby wipes, hand sanitizer, antibacterial wipes, extra clothes for me, and extra clothes for KK. best thing I prepped while pregnant.
see my baby prep blogpost and my postpartum favorites blogpost for more.
extra clothes for both KK and me in the car
just wanted to emphasize this again. babies are messy. darling, but messy.
two changing stations in the home
baby poop is inevitable. having two separate, stocked changing stations in our home makes it so much more convenient and pleasant for us. (yes, pleasant. i said it.)
see my baby prep blogpost and my postpartum favorites blogpost for links to our favorite things.
car trouble (but also minor inconveniences, part II)
seatbelt cutter + window breaker
umbrella
car trouble stuff
so, we have a few solid toys for car trouble woes. (like this emergency flat tire sealant, this tire gauge, this portable air pump, and these jumper cables.) and while brett knows how to use them all, I do not. and I have not learned since alllll sorts of family live nearby, so if for some both brett and roadside assistance are not easily reached, I have probably half a dozen people that I could also call. so out of laziness, I never learned. I need to learn asap.
extra pair of shoes for me
being in texas, I’m often in sandals. so I keep a comfy pair of tennis shoes and socks in my car, justttt in case.
a stack of towels
could be an emergency pool towel, could mop up bodily function issues from baby/dogs. (ickk.)
one of my favorite lanterns
the best things ever
I check my car stash of stuff in March and September, see if anything in the first aid kit is low/expired, if wipes are dried out, if flashlight batteries need to be changed, if the console needs to be cleaned out, etc.
first aid kit + tylenol + immodium, dog tape
extra dog leashes, extra dog collars with our phone number, poop bags, collapsible dog bowl
atlases + maps
should for whatever reason service or gps not be available
extra applesauce pouches
these work in a pinch when KK is (or I am) hangry
extra iphone charger
roll of paper towels, spray bottle of water
disinfecting wipes
chapstick
antibacterial wipes + hand sanitizer
extra baby blankets + baby toys
this is my favorite all-time baby carrier. i wear it allllll the time and it’s so freaking comfortable. (like, I wore four month old KK for hours while helping my sister move.) but instead of keeping the carrier in our home, I keep it in my car. that way, if I need it at home, I grab it from the car. if I need it at my parents’ house, I grab it from the car. if I need it at Costco, I grab it from the car. if I need it for the doctor appointment, I grab it from the car. if I need it wherever I am, I grab it from the car.
edited to add: I still use this today when KK is 18 months old. in fact, we just used it last week to walk around a store when Brett needed to return something. the fact that KK is as large as she is (I’m 5’10” so KK is tallllll) and I was able to carry her comfortably is impressive. this carrier was worth every penny.
power outages
a good supply of batteries
because both we and KK sleep with white noise. and i still need us to sleep well even during a power outage.
flashlights, lanterns, headlamps, lighters, waterproof matches, emergency candles, whatever
I keep these all in a certain convenient spot - affectionately known as the Bag O Flashlights. I also keep some in our cars, Brett has one in our stroller, and Brett has some by the back door. But at the very least, we know there’s a easy-to-grab bag of them in one spot. Because if the power is out, I’m not searching around my dark house, okay?
edited to add: during our week of power outages, these lanterns were amazing. holy cow.
noa radio with bright light + power bank + solar power bank + our power bank we take on trips
also kept in the aforementioned door rack, along with the travel white noise machines.
note: this list definitely still has room for improvement, but I’m just sharing what we have now.
prolonged time spent at home
we already have a solid foundation for being able to stay at home comfortably in the face of a natural disaster, pandemic, etc with many of the things we keep on hand anyway listed under the “minor inconveniences” section of this post, but we also have:
extra water
I’m currently working on replenishing our stash of extra water. The past few grocery orders I’ve just added two to four gallons of water each time. Easy peasy.
Edited to add: that mess in Texas in February where our water supply was cut off? You couldn’t find water anywhere in our area. People were panicking. People were trying to melt snow. I cannot emphasize how grateful I was that we had water, as well as a few emergency bottles of premade formula.
additional water storage
Let me emphasize again: you do whatever works best for you. I recently purchased this guy for my peace of mind.
premade formula + baby food pouches, if applicable
again, this came in suuuuper handy when our water supply was cut off and our power went in and out. I didn’t want to waste our emergency water making formula if I didn’t have to. And while KK usually eats what we eat, having some backup pouches of baby food for this time was so helpful.
disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizer, Wet Ones, plenty of baby wipes
again, during the power outages + lack of water situation that one time in Texas, having these things were so nice. I wish I had had some sort of bathing/face cleaning wipes (and maybe dry shampoo) as well, but I’ve learned for next time.
five gallon buckets
technically these are used for my floral design business, but they also provide peace of mind for an emergency. like, when we had to let our faucets drip for DAYS in February 2021, we caught all the water in these buckets. which ended up being more brilliant than we ever imagined, given that our water supply was completely cut off two days later.
emergency tub
I wanted a spot for alllll the little possible emergency things that you hopefully never have to use, but you kinda want in one easy location, just in case? we grabbed a tub at Target, and we keep the tub in our location where we’d go to if we were at risk for a tornado. that way the emergency things can be easily accessed at home during this time, but also just as easily be accessed for a camping weekend, a hiking excursion, a road trip, or an evacuation situation*.
see more about Emergency Tub here.
evacuating our home
a big ol suitcase
so, I keep our true emergency supplies in the above tub. i keep it separate, yet still accessible/portable (and maybe i’ll end up regretting this), because realistically speaking, if we were in an evacuation situation, it most likely would be that we are having to leave our home and either seek refuge at my parents’ home, my sister’s apartment, or a hotel. and should that occur and we were able to gather the bag I had prepacked, I would be awfully peeved if I found that the aforementioned bag had only survival, outdoorsy things like waterproof matches, a utility knife, a poncho. because like, hi, I’m sitting in another person’s home, not the middle of a forest. give me a comfy change of clothes and a phone charger and a blankie, please and thank you. so the tub of emergency stuff stays portable, yet separate.
and really, you must know: this all started because we had a power outage. and heard that my parents’ home seven minutes away still had power and guest room with a big, cozy king bed and a crib. so we were like oh yes, let’s go there. but i quickly learned packing in the dark AND while taking care of a child is not for the weak of heart. I couldn’t do it. and I was like MY WORD, this isn’t even an emergency situation? what if we actually had to evacuate because of, say, a nearby fire? or some other time-sensitive reason?
so my prepacked suitcase was born. (and yes, I know there’s a chance we still couldn’t even grab the suitcase in a true emergency situation, but I feel better knowing it’s there just in case.) the prepacked suitcase sits right next to the Tub O Emergency Supplies. the hope is that by having it all corralled into one spot in the front closet, they’d be easiest to grab in a time sensitive situation. and so that we have more energy coercing dogs and babies into the car.
basically it’s a big ol rolling suitcase, and it’s packed as though KK, Brett, the dogs, and I had to get in the car and stay somewhere else for a hot minute. (and it could even be that we’re going to my parents overnight due to some small inconvenience, as grabbing this bag is easier than packing from scratch OR it could be that we’re having to actual evacuate our home for whatever serious reason. it works for either scenario.)
read more about our evacuation bag here.
Whew! Are you still there? That was a novel of a brain dump if I’ve ever seen one.
So there ya have it, all the things we currently like to have or like to do so that we feel more prepared. Because while we can’t control everything life throws at us, having a few things on hand and having a few systems in place makes me feel better.
And I say do whatever makes you feel better, whatever makes you happy. Do whatever works for you!
Forever grateful for you and your kind words.
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