Getting Prepared for a Power Outage

I enjoy reading a lot of preparedness blogs. Preparedness Pro had and article last week called, "Thirty Minutes, Do you feel lucky today?" Basically, her article stated that stores only have enough stuff on hand for 30 minutes and then it would be all gone and would you have what you needed if that was the only amount of time you had in an emergency. That article got me thinking this weekend after we had several bad storms cutting our power off for most of the weekend starting on Friday morning. Late Friday afternoon, I noticed that we did not have much oil in our oil lamp and remembered that we only had 1 oil lamp now since my kids had broken one beyond repair. I decided to go to the Dollar General Store in the small town that I live. I felt good that I was going to be prepared with the stuff I needed for the evening to survive the dark. When we got to the store though, it was closed. Pretty much everything in our little town closed down due to no power. So, I wonder do we really have even 30 minutes? The storms and the lack of my preparedness made me know I had to get the stuff to be ready if we would have another outage like that. We went to Walmart in the next county and bought a new oil lamp and 2 bottles of oil and a flashlight. We have had trouble keeping a flashlight in our house because the kids like to play with them. The new flashlight has a home and I think it will be less likely to disappear. I know we need some more oil and maybe some more flashlights and batteries. For now though, it will have to go on a list until we get some more money. So, hopefully my little story will make you think about things you need to put on your list to be better prepared if you could not get to the store at all in an emergency.