Everyday Preparedness

My plan for today was to post about the newest product from Shelf Reliance - Instant Brown Rice.  And I will but I'm putting that off this morning.  Our family has been super busy.  I have tons on my to do list, including blogging, but what's getting done is the essentials - dishes, laundry and putting meals on the table.  And I feel guilty.  Guilty that I'm not finding the time to clean the bathrooms, to deep clean/organize my daughters' rooms, and guilty for not writing like I want to on this blog.

So today as I was working on the essential of washing dishes, I had the thought that not only am I doing the essentials to care for my family, I'm also preparing for an emergency.  How much easier is an emergency to handle if I have clean dishes and a clean kitchen counter?  I don't have to scramble to find dishes to feed my family - or if the emergency involves extras at my table for a meal.  I have space on my counters to prepare that meal.

I also thought of all the laundry I've been doing.  If an emergency happens and I have to leave my home unexpectedly, how much easier is it going to be to gather the things I need, especially clothes, if I've kept up on my washing the clothes AND putting them away.  Whether that emergency is an evacuation or a family emergency that means we're heading out of town immediately.

It also came to mind how important it is that I find that time to straighten my girls' rooms and help them get it organized so they can maintain it.  If I needed to handle and emergency but trip over everything all over their floors as I try to put stuff together, it's only going to increase my stress.  Or if we have unexpected house guests and I have no place for them to sleep because my girls' rooms are a complete disaster. 

Last winter, my sister-in-law and her family gave us just a few hours notice they were arriving to stay overnight.  Princess Naked Toes' room is the bigger room so I decided to give them that room.  I quickly scrambled to borrow air mattresses for them to sleep on.  But there was no space on her floor to put those air mattresses.  Fortunately, I had an empty large plastic bin.  My husband and I threw everything on the floor into that bin.  Unfortunately, it took months before we even looked in it again and discovered her missing tennis shoes.  It would have been much less stressful if we were on a better regular schedule of doing those little things that can make emergencies easier to handle.

Another example from years ago.  We went to the pediatrician because of a fever and discovered my infant had a UTI.  We were sent straight to the hospital.  Friends and family helped us out by going to our home to gather what we'd need for several days at the hospital.  Fortunately, I must have been up on laundry and straightening that day because my friends had no trouble finding and gathering what I needed.

It's kind of like the saying we heard growing up - always put on clean underwear because you never know when you'll be in an accident.  Having things in order in your home is like the clean underwear.  You never know when an emergency is going to happen.  Being able to find what you need quickly and easily can greatly reduce stress and speed up your response time.

So now I'm off to do some everyday preparedness.