Just in Case (12 page)

Now, as you think about water storage and resources, is the time to discuss with your family just how important your water supply is and ways in which you can conserve water every day. In many parts of the country, warm-weather water rationing is already common. Fresh, potable water is a diminishing resource in many areas. Wars in the future may well be fought over water, as we now fight them over oil. It will be much easier to deal with a water shortage in your family if conservation is an everyday matter rather than an occasional consideration brought about by crisis.

THE OTHER NECESSITIES OF LIFE

B
RUCE AND I
are parents by birth, adoption, and foster care. Living as far from a supermarket as we do while raising a gaggle of children has taught us the importance of a well-stocked bathroom. You do not want to run out of toilet paper around here. Planning for an emergency means expanding our stock to include enough of the nonfood items our family relies on for good hygiene, health, and safety. While we could manage without some of the things on this list, life would not be as comfortable. Some items, like toilet paper, take up considerable storage space. However, since they do not need to be rotated as frequently and are not affected by temperature extremes, they can at least be stored in those out-of-the-way places that are not appropriate for food.

Many of these items are available in giant sizes at a significant savings. I would offer a word of caution, though. Some things, like shampoo, are so heavy in the largest size that they become unwieldy to lift. And my younger children mangled one tube of supersize toothpaste so badly that we had to toss it out half-f.

KITS

This list of “other necessities” is lengthy and may look intimidating at first, but you are likely already to have a good deal of what you need on hand. As you organize your belongings and assess what you have, it will be easy to acquire those things you are lacking. Much will be useful even in nonemergency situations. Putting things together in kits with a list of contents will keep your supplies organized and accessible and make keeping track of inventory a simple matter of checking your list. My preparedness notebook contains sections for each of my kits. Each family will have their own ideas about what constitutes necessary items based on their own needs and skills. There is no point in storing something you don’t know how to use or cannot envision a use for.

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