The Posh Blog

Part 2, Create Your Home Emergency Kit
As we mentioned in yesterday’s blog post September is National Preparedness Month and over the next few days we will be posting blogs on how you can be better prepared for emergencies.  Today we will focus on the first step of being prepared and that is to create your emergency kit. 

The first step in being prepared is to know the standard items you will need in the event of an emergency.  Here is the basic list that Ready.gov recommends.  

1. Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation

2. Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food

3. Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both

4. Flashlight and extra batteries

5. First aid kit

6. Whistle to signal for help

7. Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place

8. Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation

9. Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities

10. Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)

11. Local maps

12. Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger

Click here to see an expanded printable list of items you can consider adding to your emergency supply kit. 

Additional Tips:
1. You can keep your supplies in a plastic bin or in one or two large bags or totes that you can grab it you need to and take with you. 

2. You may need to keep your bins or bags in different locations of the house based on how much storage you have.  If you do this you can pin or tape a note to each bag or box indicating where the other box is located.  This way you or your loved ones will know where to look in case they forget during an emergency.

3. Keep your bag or box located in a cool dry location to extend the life of your items.  Try not to store items in a garage or attack which experiences extreme temperatures.

4. Remember water can be heavy if traveling.  You may consider packing a CamelBak water hydration pack  in your emergency kit.  These water hydration packs are typically used by cyclist and other sports enthusiast, but would work well in a situation where you needing to leave your home in the event of a disaster. 

What are you doing to be prepared?  I’d love to hear your ideas.  Leave a comment below.

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

With the recent tropical storms and hurricanes in the news lately it may come as no surprise to you that September is National Preparedness Month.  As a Professional Organizer I want to help inform you about what National Preparedness Month is, what being prepared means, and what steps you can take to make sure your family is prepared.  This will be the first blog in a four part series on National Preparedness Month. 

National Preparedness Month was created to promote emergency preparedness each September by Ready.  Ready was launched in 2003 as a national public service advertisement (PSA) with a mission to educate and inform Americans to be prepared for natural and manmade disasters.  In the following years The Department of Homeland Security expanded the Ready program to include business, kids, pets, and more. 

The Ready web-site also includes information specifically for military families, older Americans, people with disabilities and more. 

You can learn more about National Preparedness Month on the Ready web-site  or check back here over the next few days for tips on how your family can be prepared.  Tomorrow I will share tips on creating your home emergency kit. 

Here’s to being prepared,

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

Recently I was interviewed by Erin Gentry of Rubbermaid’s Adventures in Organization blog.  In the interview, I discussed such topics as what inspired me to become a Professional Organizer, the most common issue facing my clients, my biggest personal orgainzing challenge, and the one tip I would give anyone trying to get and stay organized.

You can read the whole article by clicking here.

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

I’m always looking for attractive yet functional containers for various projects or clients.  I was browsing the Restoration Hardware Baby & Child web site  the other day and I found some really neat things.  Now I know you hear “Baby & Child” and you automatically assume that this is not for you, but I would tell you don’t let a title keep you away from a really beautiful, stylish, and useful product.  Inspiration is everywhere!

Here are a few of my favorite finds:

Stuff Basket

I love the look of this industrial basket with the STUFF liner!  Obviously great in a boys room, laundry room, or even in a bathroom as shown above.  But this would also work at a lake or beach house for storing beach towels or other items.  Again, love the look!  Click here for product web-site. 

Burlap Storage Collection 
These boxes are simple and stylish and work well in a family room, home office, media room, closet, I love them for a laundry room.  The options are endless, really!  Since they do not have a bold pattern they are very versatile.  Trim color available in ivory, marine (shown), and petal (pink) click here for web-site.  Personally, I think the blue or ivory would be the most versatile. 

Large Open Box: 16″L x 6″W x 6″H.  This is the ideal size box for storing CD’s.  If you have a deep media cabinet these are perfect.  It’s difficult to find boxes that are as long as this one and you will be able to utilize most of the space in your media cabinet.  LOVE it!  May I reiterate, it is EXTREMELY difficult to find containers that are this deep and narrow to hold CD’s AND that are stylish too.  This is a FIND!

Small Closed Box: 11″L x 12″W x 10″H.  The size of this box is perfect for fitting on most bookcases or shelves.  Perfect for storing items you don’t use frequently.  These would be great on an open shelf in a laundry room or the top of a master closet for storing keepsakes.

Large Closed Box: 11″L x 16″W x 11″H.  Again, I love the look of this box.  This one is larger so it will fit on deeper shelves. 

If you are looking for just the right storage solution don’t be afraid to look in the not so common places, you never know what you might find!

Happy hunting,

Angela

Photos from rhbabyandchild.com

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

Monday morning I had a brief heart palpitating experience.  I stopped by a local coffee shop before a meeting and realized that I did not have my wallet.  I know some people lose or misplace their wallets often, but this has never happened to me!  So I went through my head recalling my recent activities and where my wallet might be.  The last place I remember making a purchase was a craft store Saturday afternoon.  That evening we had a party at my house and Sunday we went out but I never needed my wallet.  I was sure that my wallet had just been left out somewhere on accident and because of my distraction from the party I had not noticed it. 

As I was driving home from my meeting (very slowly in order to not get ticket since I did not have my wallet) I started to think the panicking thoughts.  “What if I DID lose my wallet?  What if it’s not at home?”  I know I have heard that you should make copies of your wallet contents, but I have had my reservations about that.  I think it’s because I have all my files in order so I always assumed if I lost my wallet I could always find my account numbers and the phone numbers very easily.  This is may be true, but in the event of an emergency it would be much quicker to have all these numbers in one location rather than flipping through files and going through my head to determine which cards were actually in my wallet. 

So here are two different ways you can keep track of your wallet contents so you can be pro-active in case you do lose your wallet:

1. Copy your wallet contents.  The easiest thing to do is to make a copy of the front and back of all the cards that are in your wallet.  Account numbers are typically located on the front of the card and many credit card companies include a phone number on the back of the card.  Make copies of ALL your cards including:  credit cards, bank cards, insurance cards, driver license etc.

2. Make a list or spreadsheet of your wallet contents.  Include the name of the card or type of card (example: American Express card, Blue Cross Insurance Card), the account number, the expiration if applicable, the companies phone number.  You can save this on your computer or simply write it out by hand if you do not feel comfortable having all your credit card numbers stored on your computer. 

Ideally, you should keep the copy of your wallet contents in a fire proof safe, but a simple file in your filing cabinet will work too.  Just remember where you put it and update it as you get new cards in and out.

In the event that you do lose your wallet, check the web-sites or contact all the entities (credit card companies, the Department of Motor Vehicles, Insurance, etc.) for the cards that you have lost.  Most likely they will issue you new cards with new account numbers.  If you are having anything automatically drafted from a specific account, be sure to update your information with your new account numbers. 

In case you are wondering, I did find my wallet within just a couple of minutes of arriving home! 

Here’s to being proactive!

Angela

Copyright (C) 2010 Angela Ploetz, POSH Space  www.theposhspace.com.

“It is more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly.”

– Mabel Newcomber