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I found this at www.freecreditfixes.com and thought you might like it: Article: Emergency Lighting I’m writing this by candle light. The electric went out. Again. For the third time tonight and the second incident in a month. I have candles, but just small little votives, and only three of them. I am, of course, unprepared for this basic need. Light.  Right now I think the Boy Scouts’ motto of “Always Be Prepared” is the most brilliant thing ever. But I wasn’t a boy scout. And so I’m unprepared tonight to keep myself from running into and over everything in a dark apartment. At least I have a lighter to light the candles. I keep one for lighting my incense, which I really need to do more often. As an ex-smoker I no longer know where my several different lighters are at all times. I just have two, and one I don’t know where it is. This one I was lucky enough to have found and been using to light incense recently to show off my new incense burners.  Last time the electric went out, due to a transformer down the block blowing up, I learned the importance of keeping that lighter where I knew where to find it. Usually our blackouts don’t last that long, but we do have the. So why am I, and we as a society, so unprepared for such basic needs? I wonder if the number of people that have extra batteries and/or adapters for their cell phones and notebooks would greatly outweigh the number of people that have candles and matches and flashlights with back up batteries. My guess is, it would. The basic disaster relief recommendation is three days worth of food and supplies. I know I don’t have that. Well, I might, but not the water or candles or matches. I have a lighter. It might not make it three days. What constitutes a ‘basic need’ when we are talking about being prepared? Food and water, shelter, heat, and light. Those are some basics we need to be able to know where to obtain in an emergency and preferable before we have that emergency.  The first is food. I know missing a few days’ worth of meals wont hurt me. But we’re American’s , we gotta eat!! So some extra canned food can come in handy. And don’t for get to add a can opener and some utensils.  Storage is something to keep in mind when stocking up for an emergency. Depending on the type of ‘disaster’, our needs will be different. Obviously extra ice cream will do us no good after the first night of no electricity in the middle of summer. Not that there would be any left after the first night. Canned and dried foods are the way to go. You might also want to keep some in your trunk, along with a can opener and some utensils. And bottled water. Probably at the top of everyone’s list is bottled water. And lots of it. Buy the case just in case. Now I have quite a few bottles of water in my fridge. They are recycled bottles though, not sealed up, so I don’t know if that would make a difference or not. Probably it would, but I really just don’t know.  If you live in California and are earthquake prone you would also want to keep some extra dishes of the unbreakable variety, assuming that all your dishes will be broken in the earthquake. Also you will probably want a few weeks wroth of food and water. (maybe I’ve heard too many horror stories about earthquakes) Most of us won’t need that much, but best to “be prepared” When I was little we lived in Iowa. That’s just above Kansas, as I was aware of every year when “The Wizard of Oz” was on tv. I remember very vividly many, many times being rushed to the basement (as if I needed prompting at all) with the battery powered transistor radio.  I believe we even had a mattress down there. That was how we prepared. I was too young to know the difference between preparing for an event and the actual event. I just knew that basement with a radio or the bathtub with a mattress. I even had fantasies of making friends with the tornado, inviting it in to play, as if it were another child, and then it wouldn’t hurt us. (Please. I was five.) Battery powered items and extra batteries should probably be on everyone’s list. At least one flashlight, a radio and extra batteries for them., because it will work fine until you need it. So best to “be prepared”. Here is something I didn’t think about until it happened to me, the phone.  Without electricity, cordless phones, uncharged, wont work. Make sure you know how yours is powered. Just in case. These days having an extra battery for your cell phone may be all you need.  While the radio used to be the all important item, you may be able to get news updates on your phone. I still don’t have one, though I am considering one. Most of the people I know that do have them have about midrange services and accessories. A few are just plain phones. All could probably receive text message updates at the least. Should those be needed. Or we could just make the information getting simple and just have an old fashioned battery powered radio. Which I have. But guess who is battery-less when its needed? Just guess. So radio and flashlight with appropriate batteries and back up batteries are a must. In my unprepared glory I have neither. I do have a nifty pen that has a light in it. *If you live in Tornado Alley a mattress against the wall of the bathroom is also acceptable, especially if you are me. Taking these extra preparedness items with you on a road trip could save your life. Perhaps that’s the one disaster we are all prone to, no matter what part of the country we live in. Just remember what can, and has, happened to people that have gotten lost and were unprepared for a sudden storm. The movie “Cujo” might be a bit graphic, but I think it is an excellent example of how the unexpected can take over on the most ordinary of trips. Being prepared for as much as you can, can go a long way to make your life less stressful when a disaster happens. Even if its just having candles and matches when the lights go out. One of my candles is almost completely gone, the other two won’t last long beyond that and the wind is starting to whip them around again. So, to recap, I am completely unprepared for the basic needs that arise when a simple late summer storm wrecks a little havoc on my neighborhood. When it comes to living more simply, being prepared is an excellent place to start. It can help keep your stress level down in a time of crisis, or even just aggravation at trying to write by candle light.  http://www.freecreditfixes.com/index.php/hypnobudgets/comments/emergency_lighting/