Cluttered CorkBoard

With the Storm Season upon us..
We try to be as prepared as we can when severe weather is possible.

We were in another town running errands a couple weeks ago.. when the weather quickly took a turn, and I took these photo's with my IPhone. 
All looked fine, we went into a store and within a few minutes when we came out of the store, this is what it looked like.  

That is a Kansas sky..































Needless to say, we cut out trip short immediately.. and we left for home.

We try to be as prepared as we can when they are calling for severe weather possibilities, and I thought I would share a little with you today on how we prepare for it.

So in our preparation..  I keep a bag pretty much ready to go at all times.. We don't have a basement, but we do have an underground storm shelter in our yard..  So that is why I have a bag ready to go and try to keep it near the door on the days there are chances for severe weather/tornado's.  
(if it seems likely we may have severe weather I usually add a few things to the bag)

What I keep in our 'grab n go' bag..

-bottled water
-toiletries  (toothbrush/toothpaste/floss/soap and so on..)
-first aid kit
-extra clothes
-portable solar powered & crank weather radio/flashlight

I also mentioned that I add a few items to the 'Grab n Go' bag on the days that we know we have a chance for severe weather..   that way it is all ready!

Here is what I generally add to the bag on those days:

- Tablets (Kindle Fire/IPad)
- My Camera (& sd cards with our photo's)
- Cords/Chargers
- our family handbook (which has our important info in one spot)
  other items we might take would be: snacks, games, portable dvd player/movies, batteries, etc..

We also get our storm shelter ready on these kind of days.. and do a quick spider check. :0)

Our kids usually get a bag ready to 'grab n go' as well.. loaded with their portable electronics and whatever else they want to take.
We usually put the bags inside the shelter if it starts to look bad out, or the weather is getting bad nearby us.

However, we always have foldable chairs in our shelter, as well as a lamp, small tv, and a weather radio.   Because let's face it, we may not always be aware of the storm risk, and may not have the time to even get the 'grab n go' bag..   Which has been the case in the past, therefore we usually try to put the bags in the shelter early on when possible.

I also try to always let other family members know when we are going to the shelter.. and we keep each other posted on the weather situations.

How we stay alert is by keeping an eye on the weather and our weather radio's.
We have one in the house which will alert us whenever any severe weather is around,
and then we keep another one inside the storm shelter itself.  (as well as a portable hand crank/solar powered one that I keep in my 'grab n go' bag - which doubles as a flashlight)

We also recently signed up to receive text alerts on our cell phones, and that lets us know if there are any severe weather watches or warnings posted for our area... which is nice when you aren't at home or near a weather radio/tv..

It may seem a little extreme to some, and perhaps minimal to others.. we have been through some scary severe weather in the past few years and we didn't have to time to grab anything when it occurred.  Thankfully, we only lost a couple of barns through it, and only had a big mess to clean up..  but because of that experience we certainly try to be better prepared and better informed, and when possible place bags inside the shelter early on.

Hopefully our family will never need to have those bags in the shelter,  but when we are faced with being in the shelter.. we will have something to pass the time (games/movies/etc) and something to keep us informed (phones/radio's) as well.

So do you have a 'grab n go' bag for bad weather situations?  If so, what do you keep in it?