Comments on: Water: Don’t Be Without It

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:33:29 +0000

So true … you never think about what it would be like to not have water until it happens. I’ve live in Hurricane Country for a year now, but we have NO emergency water! With hurricane season almost here, stocking up on an emergency water supply is definitely on my must-do list now. Thanks for the great advice!

By: meg

meg — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:46:05 +0000

Oh yeah! I never would’ve even thought about the water heater. Good tip!

By: smallnotebook

smallnotebook — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:48:11 +0000

Lisa, what an experience. It’s hard to imagine that many days without power.

Laura, I waited months to finally sew buttons on this week. You can definitely wait a couple days.

By: Jill

Jill — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:21:15 +0000

We’ve been meaning to do this FOREVAH! I’m going to Costco tomorrow, so I might as well pick up an extra flat of bottled water. And now that I’ve edited the contents of my pantry, I might even have room to store it.

Thanks for this reminder, Rachel.

By: Lisa Medley

Lisa Medley — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:57:05 +0000

Two years ago January, we were out of power for 12 days due to an ice storm. It was awful. I was not a happy camper and I generally really like to camp…just not in my house. We filled the bathtubs, pitchers, water coolers etc. before the power went out just in case. It lasted several days but then of course we eventually used it up. About day 6 Bryon hooked up our generator to our well pump and we refilled everything again. We now have several gallons of water in the garage just in case. Luckily for us we have a big pond full of water in our backyard if things get really crazy. It’s full of catfish and perch, but I’d drink it in a pinch. I’m glad I don’t live in the city to have to compete with people for water and fight my way through Wal-Mart for it. It’s good to be prepared.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:08:45 +0000

Good tip Rachel..I never even thought of this.

On a side note I have 3 pairs of trousers all with hems that need sewing. I’ve been putting it off and putting it off and I knew you were going to have mending as a ‘prepare’ step in your sidebar one day, i knew there would be no escape from doing them this month …can I have until the weekend do them..pleaseee

By: Andrea

Andrea — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:25:54 +0000

There are checklists everywhere about what you need to have on hand but one thing I learned at a recent training was thinking about keeping a change of clothes and shoes right next to your bed at night in case you need to jump up and run out of the house.

Something people always forget to have is cash on hand. In a true emergency you won’t have access to your ATM and people won’t be accepting your checks.

If you’ve got space, keep all your emergency water, food and supplies in a large, clean, rolling garbage can with a lid outside your house. Most likely nobody will bother your garbage can. It is a great way to store this stuff and the can will come in handy during a real emergency as well. Especially if you need to stockpile water! Plus it will be outside so if you have to rush out you won’t have to be worrying about grabbing anything out of some closet or a garage. If you need to travel the can will roll. Clearly this is preparing for an extreme emergency, not a normal power outage.

By: KS

KS — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:58:04 +0000

This is so timely for me because I live in an area that was affected by the Chino Hills earthquake on July 29. My parents live several miles away from me, and their hot water heater started leaking due to earthquake damage and had to be replaced.

One expert interviewed on the radio said that in the event of a major earthquake, our normal water supply would unavailable for several weeks. I do need to store some bottled water. Thank you for the information.

By: Dana

Dana — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:43:56 +0000

You know, I’ve never even thought about storing water. How sad is that? I remember before Y2K we bought a bunch of cases.
Thanks for the reminder!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:31:02 +0000

We have water stored…I agree with you it’s a good idea. Also, just a tip, I have read that if you aerate stored water before you drink it that it will taste better.