When starting out with emergency preparedness, it is hard to focus on how to get started and what to prepare for. When I started thinking about it, it was overwhelming to me and I constantly had one big blob of worry stuck in my head. What if there is a hurricane, what if there is an EMP… then swine flu hit, and what if there is a huge pandemic? Or we lose our jobs and become homeless? On and on my thoughts kept jumping around various worse case scenarios. Now that I have calmed down and started to actually focus, I have broken it down in my head to long-term and short-term emergencies.
Short term would include hurricanes, wildfires, power outage, a bad flu hitting the family, unemployment. Long term would be a large catastrophe that brings down infrastructure, such as pandemic, EMP, nuclear/terrorist attack, just to name a few, that would likely force us to leave our homes.
Next decision would be stay put or shelter in place. For short-term emergencies, we can easily stay put or “shelter in place.” For long-term emergencies, we would definitely need to bug out.
In our current situation, we have a few short-term supplies, such as food, water, lighting, camp stove, with enough items to last for about two to three weeks. Hopefully, that will be enough for this hurricane season. Because this season is predicted to be active, I would feel better if we beef up our supplies to about four weeks. Still not much, but this is what space and funds allow for now.
I included unemployment under short-term emergency; I could be wrong in that, depending on the situation. My husband and I have both lost jobs before, and it was rough, but fortunately, we found other employment within a couple of months. In the meantime, we took any work we could find, including odd jobs just to get by. To prepare for financial emergency, we are trying to save more each month, pay down debt and cut out expenses.
I would feel fortunate if short-term emergency is all we had to worry about.
I know we are very lacking on long-term emergency preparedness. But we just need to take it one step at a time, or I will feel overwhelmed and paralyzed. As long as we keep doing something everyday, I know we will eventually be in better shape.
Our next focus is on the bug out bag. Will be researching types of bags and what to pack in the coming days.
The Apartment Prepper's Blog 
In sounds like you are off to a great start, keep it up! I just recently moved from a 900 unit apartment in the North East to Texas. I always had my bug out bag next to the front door, so I could leave in a moments notice.
Thanks for stopping by!
I appreciate your focus on “baby steps.” Emergency preparation can get overwhelming, so it’s good to take just one step at a time, and know that nothing we do will be wasted effort.
In my blog at Preparation Nation, I divide emergency preparation into 3 parts: you must be ready to flee (evacuate, get out of town), freeze (shelter in place, camp out in your own home), and file (prepare an insurance claim and rebuild your financial life.) If you can grab your vital records and your “bug-out bag” (love your name for it!) you’re ready to flee. If you’ve got a good supply of food & water, you can stay put and get through power outages and storms.
I’ll be thinking of you this hurricane season!
Margaret Lukens
Preparation Nation
preparationnation.wordpress.com