Saving Your Cents ™

***The above image is from www.weather.com and the threat levels are as of this morning Thursday 9/2/10. Note the purple and red areas which are high to extreme levels!  Pay attention to those alert/threat levels and check the weather.com website frequently for any changes.  Another good resource for information  is NOAA.  Further many flights are being changed or cancelled – a fabulous website to check en route flight status in www.flightaware.com***

Earl is a great reason as to why it’s important to stockpile.  However, if your are on the East Coast, forget couponing right now and get what you need ASAP.  Am very concerned for everyone there and personally have family in coastal Rhode Island all the way up to Nova Scotia.  Living on the Gulf Coast myself, I have experienced several strong hurricanes including Ike two years ago – do not ignore them.   Don’t just hope that it will go somewhere else! Be prepared.

Living thru a direct hit from Ike, here are some important suggestions as to what to have and do now:

If you are in the potentially affected coastal areas – put away anything outside your home, including hoses and LEAVE.  Apparently, taping windows doesn’t help so boarding them up is better.  There are lots of hurricane clips to hold plywood on windows.  Sandbag around vulnerable areas. 

During Ike, there were horrific stories of those who stayed on Bolivar Island, Texas - people and pets were washed out to sea and which could have been completely avoided.   PLEASE don’t leave any pets behind.  Am always shocked to hear when people do that.  Bolivar was completely wiped out and Ike was a strong Cat 2.  Earl is a Cat 4 right now!!!

For those inland, but close and if you stay, plan for extended power outages and possibly the loss of water (friends of ours were out of water for two weeks as backup power for there water pumping stations was lost).  Nothing like using buckets of water out of your pool to flush the toilets.  Gas up all cars and do any last minute grocery shopping NOW.  There were runs on gas stations and grocery stores all over Houston and it took days for many stores to get backup and running.  Even if a store has good backup power, many stores may not have enough employees to reopen.

Get cash NOW.  Electrical outages mean credit cards and ATM machines can’t run.

Generator, gas, gas cans and lots of electrical cables - this is a MUST HAVE – you can run you refrigerator, computers, lights and very importantly your coffee maker!  NEVER keep your generator inside, but DO keep it chained up.  Generators tend to be stolen during times like these.

Chain saw – especially good to have if you have a lot of trees around you.

Supplies – lots of disposables plates, forks, cups, paper towels, toilet paper, etc.

Canned non-perishable foods, tuna pouches, bread and lots of bottled water.  If you have a generator and can run your fridge then you may be in good shape for perishable items.

Gas/propane cylinders or charcoal if you have a portable barbeque – these are fantastic for cooking if you have an electrical cooktop.  For those that have gas cooktop or hard-line built in gas grill you are already ahead of the game.

Make sure all your laundry is done ahead of the storm.  It will pile up fast, especially if you have children. 

Children - have things for them to do.  Talk to them and keep calm in front of them.  If you stress, they’ll stress.

Flashlights, lots of all extra batteries, candles and lighters….

Aircard for internet service if your normal internet service goes out – this may or may not happen but best to be prepared.  It may not work very well though especially in the first few days as the wireless sytems may have reduced capacity along with high demand.  Be prepared for terrible wireless service – cell towers will be damaged and FEMA /local officials demand first rights to any available wireless lines.  Expect calls that are cutoff – that’s likely the government taking instant demand of the line you were on.  Note from Katrina survivors – texting works fairly well in emergencies and doesn’t have much delay.

Homeowners insurance – make sure your payments are up-to-date NOW.  Those inland will experience more of a wind event and trees do fall on houses – it happened to neighbors all around us.  A wind event is likley covered by your homeowners insurance.  If you are on the Coast, you are out of luck getting flood insurance – take everything of value and items that can’t be replaced - i.e. all photos, jewelry, etc. when you leave.  Take lots of photos of your property in case something happens and you are insured. 

If you stay, check-in with all your neighbors and find out what everyone else is doing.  If you live in an area that’s devastated, sadly you may expect looting.  I wish people would behave themselves!  Authorities may or may not be able to protect your area.  During Hurricane Rita, we and many neighbors knew our neighborhood was being cased beforehand for such.  Just be aware of your surroundings and check-in with the elderly often.  No need to do anything rash and keep in mind that most property isn’t worth fighting over. 

If you are dependent on air conditioning, a window unit is great to have and can be run on a generator.

Don’t forget MEDICATIONS & EXTRA PET FOOD.

Lastly, if you have a pool consider lowering the water a few inches in case you get a lot of rain -but be careful not to lower it below your skimmer in case you don’t lose electricity and it’s on an automatic timer.   Put lots of Chlorine in it as you may not be able to run your filter for many days.  I suggest checking with a pool store or your pool guy on prepping it for the storm.  If your local stores are already closed., call a Leslie’s or Warehouse Pool Supply anywhere else in the South (they are used to hurricanes and prepping pools for such)

If you have anything else to share on this, please place a comment on this post s soon as possible.

BEST OF LUCK TO THE EAST COAST!

Cindy