OK, lets imagine for a moment that we are in the middle of storm and your all tucked in for the evening watching your favorite flick and ALL OF THE SUDDEN THE POWER GOES OUT!! Will you scream out in frustration or quietly go to your preparedness supplies and continue your evening in comfort during a power outage? I’ll be doing the latter because I have made my list and bought my supplies for just such an occasion. 1.) I grab my hand crank flashlight and turn off switches throughout the condo to anything that was on before the outage. 2.) Fill empty bottles with tap water(just in case there’s a bigger issue with the water supply). 3.) Pull out a couple of strands of battery powered lights ; put one in the bathroom, one in the kitchen and keep on with me. 4.) Call to check the…
Prepper’s or soon to be preppers that live in an apartment or condo have special space challenges to contend with. I live in a one bedroom condo with my husband and two cats so I thoroughly understand the prepping challenges. Here are a few tips for the apartment prepper. Finding Space to Store your Supplies:One of the biggest challenges is trying to find space to organize your supplies. This is a REAL big concern unless you have an extra bedroom or large garage; I don’t have one, so I feel your pain. I also don’t relish the idea of storing bottles of water under my bed. Go through each room and pick one drawer or cabinet that can be dedicated to emergency supplies only. I have dedicated the following areas to my prep supplies: • Kitchen Pantry (my shelves are 24 inches deep– the bottom shelf is used…
Are your pet’s tags up to date? Are your pets micro-chipped? Remember if your pet is lost and someone finds them, their ID is the way home to you. Make a pet emergency kit and at minimum include: Pet food bottled water medications vet records current photo of your pet(s) litter and pan manual can opener food dishes collar and leash pet carrier bedding toy Identify local emergency shelters and find out which ones allow you to bring your pets with you. If no local shelter will allow you to bring your pets with you then have a backup plan. Do you have friends or family outside of the local area that would be willing to host you and your animals? NEVER leave your pet(s) behind! Most likely they won’t be able to survive on their own. If you have created an emergency pet plan that you would like to…
More and more we are reading about financial institutions and retailers being victims of security breaches. Understand nothing is 100% effective but I would like to share…. My Simple Strategy to Protect Credit Information From Unauthorized Access Freeze your credit reports It’s easy and free in most states. Here in California, it’s free to place the freeze but cost $10 for temporary lift. Placing a freeze on your credit report is one of the most effective ways to keep identity thieves from getting your information. Each of the major credit bureaus has instruction on how to place and lift a credit report freeze. Equifax – www.freeze.equifax.com Experian – www.experian.com/freeze/center.html Trans Union – www.transunion.com/securityfreeze If anyone tries to open an account using your identity, the thief won’t be able to access the report, and this should result in an automatic denial of new credit. A credit freeze may protect credit…
Much advice in the personal finance world says you should use every extra dollar to pay off debt. While that is excellent advice, I have a slightly different view on the subject. Start a small emergency fund while you’re still in debt. If your debt is from credit card spending, you first need to break the habit of using plastic. How do you do that if you are in the cycle of relying on plastic for any emergencies? Since you’ve used all your cash to pay the credit card bill, nothing is left over, and this makes it necessary to go back to the credit card when you have an out of the norm expense like a car repair or other financial emergency. It feels terrible to work on chipping away at your debt them BAM an emergency happens, and you’re forced to charge it. Rats! All your hard work…
