Back to Basics-October Challenge

Today I stood before our lovely Relief Society sisters in the capacity of "Preparedness Specialist" and gave them the October Challenge. Every month (except the last 3 months because I was out of town, and then recovering from surgery)I have been choosing a monthly theme to help us all in our preparedness efforts.

I challeneged the sisters today to acquire 4 kinds of items:
1. Water ( 1 gallon per person per day)

2. 13 gallon kitchen trash bags (for bagging toilets if there is no water to flush with)

3. Lanterns (for light...solar LED lanterns are great. You could have rechargable flourescent lanterns, battery powered lanterns or flashlights, those round touch lights, glow sticks, etc.)

4. Transistor Radio (battery or solar operated or crank operated) for keeping up with news.

If your have these 4 items in the right quantities, you are on your way to being prepared.

I deemed these the top 4 things to have:
Why?
Water...You need water to survive (you can live three weeks without food, but only 3 days (or less, depending on your age, and the weather conditions) without water.

Bags for sanitation...to bag your toilets. What if the city water system shuts down? How are you going to flush? Lift the toilet lid and put the bag in, and position the edges of the bag around the toilet, then put the lid down. It is better than sitting on a bucket.

Light! ...What if the electrictiy goes out in the middle of the night? Have a working lantern or 2 or 3 or 4 handy. We put ours next to the regular lamps, so we don't have to scurry around and try to find a lantern that has been stashed away in a closet or something.

Radio..with electricity out, you have no access to your TV or computer, so that little radio wil save the day by keeping you informed.