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Post by Laurie on Feb 27, 2022 21:33:58 GMT
Whenever there is a natural disaster or state of emergency I start having anxiety over being ill prepared. I know I don’t have to worry about evacuating due to a hurricane and I am not (too) worried about being in a situation like Ukraine. A blizzard is very likely and am mostly prepared for that. I would like to have a generator because a power outage in our area happens but we have been fortunate that it hasn’t lasted over a couple of hours.
I do worry about a fire since we live on the outskirts of our town so there are fields beyond our backyard and we are in a bit of a drought. Also, the farmer that has the fields is careless. So it makes me start worrying about what I would do to get important, irreplaceable stuff out of our house.
What are the peas plans for their pictures? I do have about 10 years backed up on a hard drive with 2 copies of CD’s, one in my house and one set in my parents safe. My hard drive, albums and jump drives are scattered throughout the house. Does anyone have a plan of action?
Our cash, passports and birth certificates are in a lockbox (not fireproof) that is on the main floor of the house so after people and pets that would be the next thing I would grab.
When the world is in chaos I tend to get anxious and start worrying excessively. Typically I tend to focus on one thing that is in my control and then work on feeling that I have that under control.
I am not a doomsday prepper type of person but I can easily see myself having those tendencies and if I don’t keep it in check going down that rabbit hole.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good fire safe bag?
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zella
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by zella on Feb 27, 2022 21:47:29 GMT
I totally get it. My anxiety is ratcheting up at the moment due to the situation in the Ukraine and China (saying they will take back Taiwan). I will admit I have to be on medication for my anxiety and obsessive thoughts, and it helps. I can't help you with a fire safe bag... luckily one thing I don't worry about too much. It's hard to know what to do, isn't it?
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Post by ntsf on Feb 27, 2022 21:56:36 GMT
I don't think I would worry about a fire safe bag.. I would just make sure I had important papers and pictures backed up into the cloud and physically somewhere else.
in the oakland hills fire.. way back in the early 1990's, nothing..even fireproof safes and bags.. survived the inferno.
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Post by Zee on Feb 27, 2022 21:57:55 GMT
I don't think I'm worried about much more than herding all my pets into the car. That alone will be a whole thing.
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Post by Zee on Feb 27, 2022 21:59:25 GMT
Although, I do have an emergency duffle bag in my car with a change of clothes, toiletries, and some meds. That along with grabbing my phone and backpack would be good enough if time was limited. Like I said, I have all these animals to worry about.
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Post by Ryann on Feb 27, 2022 22:00:52 GMT
Something that I find helpful is to minimize the different places in the house where the things I would want to grab are kept. In the event of an emergency I want the quickest and most efficient path through my house before I’m able to leave.
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craftykitten
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,304
Jun 26, 2014 7:39:32 GMT
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Post by craftykitten on Feb 27, 2022 22:02:17 GMT
Could you put all the hard drives into the lockbox? That way you only have one thing to grab. I m slowly backing up all my photos to the cloud, but that takes a long time.
I think being prepared in a small way can help with anxiety, you don’t have to go full on prepper but it doesn’t hurt to have a bit of a plan.
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Post by Laurie on Feb 27, 2022 22:07:25 GMT
Although, I do have an emergency duffle bag in my car with a change of clothes, toiletries, and some meds. That along with grabbing my phone and backpack would be good enough if time was limited. Like I said, I have all these animals to worry about. Whenever we leave for an extended period of time I at some point have this worry of a fire in our house and no one there to get our cats out. I like to think they will find their way out but would they know to return to our area? I think what this stems from is I know I am a flight person and not fight When Emily was about 3 she ran off from me in a store. The little stinker was in clothing racks so I couldn’t find her. I shut down and when an employee asked me what she looked like and was wearing I shut down. Thankfully my mom was there and she is better and started ordering out directions. I am hoping if I have a plan in my head then I won’t shut down. My family would focus on getting our pets to safety. But then what do I do? I thought maybe if I had important objects in a bag it would be easy to grab but if I couldn’t go back safely that maybe I wouldn’t lose the items if the bag was fireproof. I know that with safes hey are only fireproof up to a certain heat and time. |
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Post by Zee on Feb 27, 2022 22:16:37 GMT
Although, I do have an emergency duffle bag in my car with a change of clothes, toiletries, and some meds. That along with grabbing my phone and backpack would be good enough if time was limited. Like I said, I have all these animals to worry about. Whenever we leave for an extended period of time I at some point have this worry of a fire in our house and no one there to get our cats out. I like to think they will find their way out but would they know to return to our area? I think what this stems from is I know I am a flight person and not fight When Emily was about 3 she ran off from me in a store. The little stinker was in clothing racks so I couldn’t find her. I shut down and when an employee asked me what she looked like and was wearing I shut down. Thankfully my mom was there and she is better and started ordering out directions. I am hoping if I have a plan in my head then I won’t shut down. My family would focus on getting our pets to safety. But then what do I do? I thought maybe if I had important objects in a bag it would be easy to grab but if I couldn’t go back safely that maybe I wouldn’t lose the items if the bag was fireproof. I know that with safes hey are only fireproof up to a certain heat and time. Unfortunately, I don't think much can be done if you're not at home. I have all my cat carriers under the basement steps so I would have to be able to get there and catch all my kitties. If that couldn't happen and say they got loose when firefighters came, my cats are all microchipped so hopefully someone who found them would take them to be scanned and I could be contacted. My dog I'm not as worried about, she's smart and knows where she lives. She's also microchipped and has my number on her collar. You could keep a bag with important documents near the front or back door but it's there really anything irreplaceable that you'd be able to grab quickly? I'd hate it if my art and collectibles and scrapbooks went up in flames but we can only do so much. My pets have to be my focus. Backup anything you can to the cloud and maybe you'd feel better with an emergency bag next to each exit. I also have a fire extinguisher near the basement steps/back door and on the dryer on the second floor, and an emergency ladder in the closet. And hope I never ever need to use any of it. |
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Post by Zee on Feb 27, 2022 22:18:31 GMT
Also, when I'm gone I turn on cameras inside my house so I can watch the cats. I can't do anything if I'm not actively watching, but I could text or call my neighbor if something seemed not right.
I have a Ring doorbell too.
My DH travels a lot and I do hate leaving my pets for 14 hours at a stretch when I'm working. The cameras give me a little peace of mind.
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zztop11
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,513
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Post by zztop11 on Feb 27, 2022 22:19:13 GMT
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good fire safe bag?
Amazon sells all different kinds. I have had serveral for years for years that I keep in my safe deposit box. One for jewelry, one for important papers, etc.
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Post by voltagain on Feb 27, 2022 22:47:24 GMT
What are the peas plans for their pictures? I do have about 10 years backed up on a hard drive with 2 copies of CD’s, one in my house and one set in my parents safe. My hard drive, albums and jump drives are scattered throughout the house. Does anyone have a plan of action? Our cash, passports and birth certificates are in a lockbox (not fireproof) that is on the main floor of the house so after people and pets that would be the next thing I would grab. You have a good start. I would move those precious scattered things to be less scattered if possible. Have one shelf for all albums instead of scattered in various rooms. Keep all jump drives in your laptop bag or near your main computer. Add your vehicle documents, marriage certificate and any divorce related documents you have to your lock box. Instead of jump drives consider cloud storage for keeping all that data. Around $2 a month for 100 GB of cloud storage with google. 15 GB is free. Create a panic list of things outside of the lock box you don't want to live behind. Even in most fire situations there is some advanced warning. So a list gives you a focused reminder of what to get in the car and the priority for getting it in case you do not have time to get the whole list. I have a lot of medical needs so I have two small bags with medical supplies. One bag is the meds ect I have opened and am actively using. The other bag is the meds I have on hand but haven't opened yet. I take a lot of prescription meds that arrive by mail. It is not unusual to have a month of pills in my active bag when the next three month supply arrives. I also have a stash of syringes etc for my insulin and blood testing supplies. I have a sterilite tower of drawers. One drawer has needed pet stuff (heartworm preventative, nail trimmers, muzzles and stuff. The drawer can be pulled out and dumped in a bag or just put the drawer in the car. Same with their food. I keep collapsible dog bowls in the car for travel. |
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Post by voltagain on Feb 27, 2022 23:01:01 GMT
As for bags, I just use basic bags I already own like paper shopping bags with handles, large gift bags, re-usable shopping or tourist bags I have gotten. As long as it is contained and easy to carry I am willing to use it.
My biggest most likely event is either a tornado or wildfire. During tornado season I keep my carry on suitcase packed with two complete changes of clothes, a night gown, house shoes and a pair of thicker soled shoes in case I need to walk across broken glass. That goes in the garage near my storm shelter so I can toss it in. I move my two medical bags to the top of the dryer (by the door to the garage) and dump my pet drawer into a re-usable grocery bag nest to my bags. I also keep a container of cat kibble and a few cans of food for them in the bag and a container of dog kibble. Enough to hold the three of them over for about 3 days so I can get to the store.
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Post by maryland on Feb 27, 2022 23:15:52 GMT
My husband thinks I'm crazy for having extra external hard drives outside of our house. I have one at the safe deposit box at the bank and one at my parents house ( but that's really old and not updated. I don't trust my parents not to throw it out). I am going to keep one of my small ones in the car and one at my neighbors house for safe keeping.
I don't have plans otherwise. We don't have many natural disasters here and even with 27 in. of unexpected snow several years ago, roads were cleared in 24 hrs.
But I have anxiety with leaving the house, especially on vacation. It takes me at least 10 min. to leave if I will be gone a few hours. I check all appliances, make suer things are turned off, unplugged, etc. So for me, I work to keep the house clean and decluttered, it makes it easier for me to leave quickly. Going on a trip is a lot of work for me to check the house.
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Post by Laurie on Feb 27, 2022 23:30:40 GMT
I am behind on backing up my photos so that would be a good start. Would probably calm my fears as well.
I like the idea of getting all this stuff organized better.
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Post by maryland on Feb 27, 2022 23:32:47 GMT
Another thing I do when we travel is have my neighbor check my entire house a few hours after we leave. then I have them check it again a few days later. I have several close neighbors/friends that have a copy of my house key so if I need someone to check it it is easy to find someone.
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Post by Gem Girl on Feb 28, 2022 2:22:20 GMT
My husband thinks I'm crazy for having extra external hard drives outside of our house. I have one at the safe deposit box at the bank and one at my parents house ( but that's really old and not updated. I don't trust my parents not to throw it out). I am going to keep one of my small ones in the car and one at my neighbors house for safe keeping. We've counted on the safe deposit box option, too. But, now that all the dang banks are consolidating, we keep getting notices that their branches are closing, & to come clean them out. There might be a business opportunity for somebody there in some manner or another. For us, it just means more things are going into the fireproof safe. Ugh. |
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Post by coaliesquirrel on Feb 28, 2022 12:52:14 GMT
FWIW, in the absence of available off-site or fireproof storage, the best "something I already have" alternative is to put important things in a ziplock bag in your freezer. DH (firefighter) says they often survive a fire (the contents, anyway) when nothing else does. I'm not sure it's great conditions for hard drives, but for documents, items like jewelry, etc., when you're traveling rather than evacuating (so taking it all with you doesn't work), it might be better than nothing.
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Post by dewryce on Feb 28, 2022 19:34:40 GMT
I have dreams about having to evacuate in event of different weather catastrophes; often fire which is odd because that’s not really an issue where I live. So Dh and I have had many discussions about this, about things that are most important to us to grab if we have more time than LEAVE NOW. So we both know what’s most important to each other. Even have it written down. Now…will he remember when the time comes? Probably not. I keep telling myself I’m going to make the lists super easy to read and follow and laminate them. Great. Now where do I store them that he will remember in case of emergency? Ideally a quality copy of all of our important photos will be stored off site. But until we get there they are all in the same room, in just a few sections. We keep empty sturdy laundry baskets and it would take less than 5 minutes for one of us to load them into the baskets. In my head I throw everything we want into the baskets and DH runs them out to our vehicles. Something that I find helpful is to minimize the different places in the house where the things I would want to grab are kept. In the event of an emergency I want the quickest and most efficient path through my house before I’m able to leave. Exactly this. Fortunately, it’s just naturally the way things are placed in our home, there are 3 places to grab the important, sentimental items that can’t be replaced. |
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Post by dewryce on Feb 28, 2022 19:49:56 GMT
I don't think I'm worried about much more than herding all my pets into the car. That alone will be a whole thing. Yeah, when we had pets emergencies were an entirely different thing. First priority besides each other, no question. For us, the greatest likelihood has been tornadoes. So when we were under watch we’d get out the cat carriers and put them downstairs where we planned to burrow in. Put in their favorites blankets, toys, treats. We’d bring the cats to where we were hanging out, if they weren’t already underfoot, which they usually were. And close the doors to every room. That way, worst case scenario, we could each try and grab one and run to our nest. I’ve had a lot of dreams of grabbing them while upstairs and throwing them into a pillowcase and running downstairs. If there was a warning we’d close ranks and gather in one close-able room. Them running under the bed was never an issue unless I was alone because DH could have it up in seconds. We are going to be getting a few pets in the semi-near future so this thread is good timing for things we need to start considering again. |
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MerryMom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,543
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Post by MerryMom on Mar 1, 2022 1:31:56 GMT
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Post by voltagain on Mar 1, 2022 1:52:55 GMT
I have dreams about having to evacuate in event of different weather catastrophes; often fire which is odd because that’s not really an issue where I live. So Dh and I have had many discussions about this, about things that are most important to us to grab if we have more time than LEAVE NOW. So we both know what’s most important to each other. Even have it written down. Now…will he remember when the time comes? Probably not. I keep telling myself I’m going to make the lists super easy to read and follow and laminate them. Great. Now where do I store them that he will remember in case of emergency?
Ideally a quality copy of all of our important photos will be stored off site. But until we get there they are all in the same room, in just a few sections. We keep empty sturdy laundry baskets and it would take less than 5 minutes for one of us to load them into the baskets. In my head I throw everything we want into the baskets and DH runs them out to our vehicles. Every house I can think of that I have lived in the fridge was a prominent daily seen place to hang a list. Laminate it, hang it there so he sees it many times a day and maybe if he decides he needs a cold drink or snack during an emergency he will see it again. |
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sassyangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,456
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Post by sassyangel on Mar 1, 2022 3:27:49 GMT
Get your hard drives backed up on cloud storage. If you have Amazon Prime you can back up unlimited photo storage in Amazon cloud services. Your external hard drives, should always have a cloud storage backup. www.amazon.com/b/?node=15547130011 |
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Post by brynn on Mar 1, 2022 3:29:11 GMT
Get yourself and other living creatures to safety as first priority.
Growing up, my father was terrified that a prairie fire would come rolling in from CRP fields and I would be home alone. He stressed to me that I should get in a vehicle and drive to safety. (He knew I, like his mother, would try to get the dog with me; he stressed I was the important person) Others would come to fight the fire.
In 2011, I lived in a town that knew it would be flooded within two days. It turned out to be less than 48 hours. Everyone, even those not flooded will never be the same, but we all learned material items are not as important as living things.
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Post by dewryce on Mar 2, 2022 3:05:34 GMT
I have dreams about having to evacuate in event of different weather catastrophes; often fire which is odd because that’s not really an issue where I live. So Dh and I have had many discussions about this, about things that are most important to us to grab if we have more time than LEAVE NOW. So we both know what’s most important to each other. Even have it written down. Now…will he remember when the time comes? Probably not. I keep telling myself I’m going to make the lists super easy to read and follow and laminate them. Great. Now where do I store them that he will remember in case of emergency?
Ideally a quality copy of all of our important photos will be stored off site. But until we get there they are all in the same room, in just a few sections. We keep empty sturdy laundry baskets and it would take less than 5 minutes for one of us to load them into the baskets. In my head I throw everything we want into the baskets and DH runs them out to our vehicles. Every house I can think of that I have lived in the fridge was a prominent daily seen place to hang a list. Laminate it, hang it there so he sees it many times a day and maybe if he decides he needs a cold drink or snack during an emergency he will see it again. Yeah. That might actually kill me  Even the metal measurement magnets have to hang on the side of the fridge where I won’t see them. And unfortunately, DH doesn’t ‘see’ things that are right in front of him. But you’ve made me think about it and I think if I hang it on the door inside the front closet, where he puts his current jacket, hat and light-up vest for running, it may work. Especially if I test him on it. |
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Post by voltagain on Mar 2, 2022 3:12:36 GMT
Every house I can think of that I have lived in the fridge was a prominent daily seen place to hang a list. Laminate it, hang it there so he sees it many times a day and maybe if he decides he needs a cold drink or snack during an emergency he will see it again. Yeah. That might actually kill me  Even the metal measurement magnets have to hang on the side of the fridge where I won’t see them. And unfortunately, DH doesn’t ‘see’ things that are right in front of him. But you’ve made me think about it and I think if I hang it on the door inside the front closet, where he puts his current jacket, hat and light-up vest for running, it may work. Especially if I test him on it. My "coat closet" is the back seat of my car lol Coat goes in on the first cold spell and stays there until we hit 95. If it works for him that is all that matters! |
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Post by dewryce on Mar 2, 2022 3:16:21 GMT
Yeah. That might actually kill me Even the metal measurement magnets have to hang on the side of the fridge where I won’t see them. And unfortunately, DH doesn’t ‘see’ things that are right in front of him. But you’ve made me think about it and I think if I hang it on the door inside the front closet, where he puts his current jacket, hat and light-up vest for running, it may work. Especially if I test him on it. My "coat closet" is the back seat of my car lol Coat goes in on the first cold spell and stays there until we hit 95. If it works for him that is all that matters! Yeah, we can’t even call it a coat closet, it’s a jacket closet. We are a bit farther south than you, I don’t think either one of us even owns a coat  |
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Post by Laurie on Mar 2, 2022 3:54:56 GMT
I think I would alleviate a lot of my worries if I got everything backed up and also all in one spot. I have nothing going on this weekend so I am going to work on this…I have been saying this for a long time though.
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Post by Laurie on Mar 2, 2022 3:56:53 GMT
Get yourself and other living creatures to safety as first priority. Growing up, my father was terrified that a prairie fire would come rolling in from CRP fields and I would be home alone. He stressed to me that I should get in a vehicle and drive to safety. (He knew I, like his mother, would try to get the dog with me; he stressed I was the important person) Others would come to fight the fire. In 2011, I lived in a town that knew it would be flooded within two days. It turned out to be less than 48 hours. Everyone, even those not flooded will never be the same, but we all learned material items are not as important as living things. Our pets would definitely be our first priority. |
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Even the metal measurement magnets have to hang on the side of the fridge where I won’t see them. 
Even the metal measurement magnets have to hang on the side of the fridge where I won’t see them. 