Moving into a new home is a great time to create or revisit your emergency preparedness. So, here are 12 ways to be more prepared in the event of an emergency:

1. First, get to know your new home, and locate the breaker box, gas shutoff, and water shutoff. If there were ever a fire or flooding, these are important locations to be familiar with.
2. Have three gallons of water per person, stored where you can get to it if needed. For reference, a good goal for your emergency plan is to have enough for three days or 72 hours.
3. Have a three-day supply of nonperishable food. For example, your stocked pantry probably has canned and packaged foods. Simply rotate through these to avoid expiration, and consider how much it would take to feed your family for three days.

   

4. Be sure to own a can opener. For some, cans aren’t a common use in cooking, but if your emergency foods are in cans, be sure to have a can opener.
5. Learn how to make bread! If you don’t know, phone a friend or YouTube simple bread recipes. Remember, most bread ingredients can be bought in bulk and kept in the pantry.

   

6. Purchase flashlights with extra batteries for the main areas, and each bedroom, if the power was to ever go out. To take it further, if you want to light a room, put a flashlight up to a jug of water for an instant lantern.
7. Have a sleeping bag or heavy blanket and pillow for each member of the family, that they know is their blanket to grab in the event of an evacuation.
8. Try “double purchasing.” Save yourself trips to the store by buying two of any necessities. For example, two tubes of toothpaste, two containers of hand soap, two toothbrushes, or even two things of diapers or wipes when you have little ones.

   

9. Invest in a few card games and board games. A lot of our entertainment comes digitally. To mediate that, have a few fun games to grab if the power goes out, and make some quality time of it.
10. Don’t forget your pets! Be sure to have a gallon of water per pet, per day, in your 72 hour supply. An extra bag of pet food will also be important.

    

11. Have a small amount of cash on hand if credit or debit services were ever to be unavailable.
12. Finally, know who you would reach out to, and how you would reach them in an emergency. For example, do you have an elderly neighbor who would be important to check on in an emergency? Specifically, have phone numbers of parents and grandparents, or key friends and family on a list so you don’t have to rely on saved cellphone contacts.

Preparedness is a gradual process. Just like building a home is in stages, so is becoming more prepared.

At New Village, we care about the safety of every one of our homeowners. With that, take the opportunity of moving into your new home to look at your emergency preparedness.