Tips for Being Prepared

A lot of our last couple years have been spent getting prepared.  Prepared for lots of things - some are things we hopefully don't need to be prepared for, especially anytime soon - but better safe than sorry right?  Here are some great things you can do to be prepared.

Build up Food Storage - something I highly recommend.  Food storage can come in handy in times of natural disaster, bad economy, job loss, etc.  Food being one of our main necessities it is something you always need, can always use, etc.  Even if you never need it you can still use it & keep rotating the supply (using the oldest & replacing with newer items).

Have an Emergency Savings - we keep a minimum of $1,000 in our Savings Account at all times (Thank You Dave Ramsey for the tip!)  It is nice knowing you have it there in case something happens.  We only use this for true emergencies - needing new tires on the car is not an emergency, that is something we budget for - however when the transmission went out on my 2007 car we did use a couple hundred out of this & then quickly built it back up to $1,000.

Get Life Insurance - I am hoping my husband or I don't need this anytime soon but should the unthinkable happen we are prepared.  We have life insurance for both of us and all of the children.  God forbid we need to use it, but honestly you never know what will happen.  If something did happen would you want to have time to grieve or have to worry about finances?  If something happened to you do you want your family to have to worry about how to make up for your income?  You can get life insurance for a fairly low price (depending on health conditions, etc) and it is definitely worth having peace of mind.



Order Your Will - This is something we have yet to complete, but need to ASAP.  This texas last will and testament site shows some great examples of what your will should look like/include.  It also shows what your will is used for (such as specifies who you want to be the guardian of your children, manage the trust, distributes your assets, etc).  It is amazing how many times you see a family split up over trying to decide who gets what after a death.  I hope this never personally happens in my family - but I want to have a specific will just to ensure that & to also make sure I know who will be taking care of my children.

Last but not least Make a 72 hour Kit - Include 3 days worth of food/water, a first aid kit, flash light, poncho, matches/lighter, blanket.  You can search for great items to include & throw them in a backpack.  It is a great idea to have one of these in your car & a few at home as well.

Hopefully these tips will help you all get more prepared.  It never fails to amaze me the things life can throw at you - and hopefully these few tips will help make the bumps along the way seem a little bit smoother!