Week 18 - 72 Crew

This week is one of those weeks where we should have the royal buglers sounding a victory fanfare.  This is the 6th week, the last week, that we will be working on getting the bedding tied down, literally, for your 72 hour kits.  And with getting your bedding in place, that means you now have water, food, clothing and bedding in a ready-to-go container for each member of your family.  You certainly are worthy of a royal shout out to be sure!  There is still more to do, but give yourselves a pat on the back.  You've accomplished the basics here.

The optional assignment this week for those of you who would like to add a bit more comfort to your lives in a crisis is to get those foam pads (that weigh little and can be rolled up and strapped to your pack easily) to put under your sleeping bag.  With a little deal shopping, you can usually find ones that are pretty inexpensive.  It's amazing the extra comfort you can get from even 1 inch of foam.

Best wishes,
Marie

Week 17 - 72 Crew

So how is your bedding coming?  Have you identified the sleeping bags you want and have you either purchased them or have you been putting away your $5/wk/every 2 people in your family so that you can purchase them next week?  We will allot this week and next week to getting this very important part of your 72 hour kit in order.

The optional item this week is a whistle.  I think the only two criteria is that it works and it is loud.  It is one of those things you may never use, or it may become very important in locating yourself to others or to finding someone else in a crisis situation.

Or maybe you will just "whistle while you work" ;-) (It is possible that I am spending too much time on the internet watching old Once Upon a Time episodes.)

Week 16 - 72 Crew

OK...we are on the 4th (of 6) week of working on getting all those sleeping bags in place.  So keep those bags a-comin'.

In addition this week, we are going to put into the 72 kits something you probably all have around the house:  paper and a pencil.  Any kind of blank paper will be fine.  The pencil needs to be sharpened and probably a half size or stubbier pencil is best.  If you have one of those little plastic cased sharpeners around you can throw that in for good measure.  Put it all in a zip lock bag and tuck it in your kit.

Good work team.  See you next week.

Week 15 - 72 Crew

Hi again,

As promised, this week we are still working on bedding.  With our current budget plan, hopefully you are now at least half done storing the bedding needs of your 72 hour kits (or having the money squirreled away to purchase half the bedding needs now).  If you have questions or concerns, be sure to ask or comment. 

And, of course, if your bedding needs are now or already met, good on you - keep putting your $5/week/every 2 people into savings for the other needs. Or if your kit has room for it, you may want to tuck in a small travel pillow for every one.

Have a great week.  Your kit is shaping up!!

Week 14 - 72 Crew

Here we are, the 14th week of our project and the 2nd week of working on bedding.  At $5/week/every 2 people in your family, we going to be working on this a few weeks.  So please drop me a quick "Done" email as soon as you have your bedding completed.  Anyone find any good deals this week, or want to send along a quick photo of your nifty sleeping bag? 

For those of you that have your sleeping bags in place, let's toss out another optional item you can purchase and add this week:  a sewing kit.  These are the little (about 1" x 2" x 3") kits you can often find in the same section as you find your travel size bottles of shampoo and the like.  You never know when a needle and a little thread will come in handy.

Week 13 - 72 Crew

Good morning,

OK, today we start on another item that may be a bigger cash item, so we will be doing it for a few weeks.  I will need responses back from you to help determine how long we will work on it.

Today we add....a little drumroll please.......

SLEEPING BAGS

Each person in your family will need bedding.  The bedding will hopefully be lightweight, but give you the warmth and protection you will need.  If we are simply evacuating to a shelter here in TX we probably won't need a sleeping bag that is rated for -40 degrees, but again, it is worth a family discussion to decide on what kind of bedding you need/want.  Be sure it is easily transportable, that it fits easily into the container you are using for your kit or straps (be sure you have the straps) easily onto your backpacks. 

As you probably know, there is great variety in the cost of sleeping bags.  As a benchmark, I see that one of the major discount stores has some workable bags for about $16 apiece.

For those of you who already have sleeping bags, the optional item this week is an emergency blanket.  If you are not familiar with what these are, simply type in "emergency blanket" in a large store's search engine and you will see a selection.  They are usually made of something like an aluminized polyester and will reflect body heat back to you.  They can be folded up to the size of a deck of cards.  You can usually get them for under $5 apiece.

Sweet dreams,

Marie