Emergency Preparedness Tips: Water

The very first thing you need to do when getting started on an emergency preparedness plan for you and your family is to get your drinking water supplies squared away.

It’s possible to live without food for weeks but you can only live without water for a few days before you begin to die.

If you have water you can stay healthy while you make your plan for survival. Other tips in this series will cover many areas of preparedness you need to consider.

But for now – go out and purchase enough cases of water bottles for your family for 2 weeks of drinking water. Get four water bottles for each person per day for 14 days. That’s 56 bottles per person. Most of these cases have 24 bottles in them. So a little more than 2 cases per person.

If you have 4 people in your family buy 10 cases. Get them on sale to save money. My local Walmart has water cases for less than $3.00 each.

As you can see, this is all easy to do and very inexpensive. Label each water case with the date you purchased it.

After about 6 months start rotating in a new case of water each month and using the old case. This keeps everything fresh and ready. Remember to put the date of purchase on the new water.

Keep all of your water supplies in a secure, cool and dark location.

Water for hygiene will come next, but right now get the life saving drinking water safely stored away.

Also, always keep your preparedness plans confidential. You don’t want 50 thirsty and desperate people at your door in a crisis looking for your family’s precious life saving water.

Taking this critical step in protecting your family is a major accomplishment and a great start to your family emergency preparedness plan.

How to Avoid a Sexual Assault

The best way to avoid a sexual attack is to stay awake and alert in public. Never assume that you are in a safe situation. By taking responsibility to guard your perimeter you will be able to avoid most dangerous situations for this reason: attackers are looking for easy victims.

If you have ever seen a wildlife documentary where the lions are chasing the herd of antelope – you will remember that it is always the straggling antelope that has become separated from the herd that is attacked. The lions never go after the aware and prepared antelope. Human attackers are very similar. Easy victims are always selected.

Human attackers may be the handsome date that has slipped a drug in your drink when you were not looking. Never drink anything you did not order yourself and never leave your drink unattended. Take your drink with you to the restroom. Also do not rely on a female friend to watch your drink. Watch out for yourself and don’t depend on others to protect you.

Drinking to the point of intoxication makes you the human equivalent of a straggling antelope. Don’t do it. Limit yourself to one drink  – but then switch to a non-alcoholic beverage. If you want something mood altering go for something high caffeine. This will help you remain alert and prepared to defend yourself.

If you notice that you feel uncomfortable when you are out somewhere – immediately pay attention. This is your intuition warning you to be very alert. Prepare to leave as soon as possible without putting yourself in danger. Think carefully about the best way to handle the situation and then do it. Delaying is ignoring your gut feeling which is trying to get you to act now.

When you are out in public stay in areas that have lots of other people and lots of bright lighting. Make sure that you appear confident – a woman in control and with a purpose. Look around as you walk so that potential attackers realize you are paying attention.

Walk on the side of the street facing traffic so you are able to see any vehicle that stops near you immediately. If a vehicle stops near you to ask for directions or any other reason be aware that this is how many kidnappings take place.

Vans with sliding doors are especially dangerous but every car has a trunk that you could be thrown into. Don’t let anyone get close enough to you to do this! It is better to risk being shot in the open as you run than it is to allow anyone to get you into a vehicle.

Have you ever seen a frightened cat? Did it wait around to find out any specific information about the threat? No! It ran away immediately and fast. A cat on the move is nearly impossible to catch. The lesson here is to get away from danger the second your intuition and gut feeling warn you something is wrong.

Try to dress in clothes and shoes that will allow you to run away quickly.  Carry your keys to use as a weapon. An inexpensive and useful weapon is a corkscrew with a wooden handle that you can wrap your hand around. Pepper spray is especially good to have with you ready to use. A blinding bright flashlight is good too.

Never worry about embarrassment. Better to be considered rude or paranoid than to end up a polite rape victim. Carry a cell phone and call 911 if you sense danger. Know your location at all times so you can give the dispatcher the information about where you are.

Taking responsibility for protecting your personal boundary is an effective way to avoid sexual assault. Simply by doing this you create the appearance of a well-protected woman. Any potential attackers will usually move on in search of easier victims – instead of you.

Related articles about sexual assault

• How To Avoid Date Rape (howcast.com)
• Man admits eight-hour sex attack (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Women at Arms: Another Peril in War Zones: Sexual Abuse by Fellow G.I.’s (nytimes.com)
• Suspect identified in kidnapping of Phoenix girl (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Home Security for Women Tip #1

There are many things a woman can do to stay safe at home and increase home security to avoid becoming a victim of crime.

Crime prevention for women starts with you and the decisions you make to avoid dangerous situations and prevent them from happening.

This home security tip for women might save your life:

When someone comes to your front door that you were not expecting do NOT answer it.

Have a wide angle peep hole installed in your front door so you can see who it is. Now here is the important part: You will be tempted to open the door!

Don’t do it.

Even if it looks like a person that would be okay. Anyone can get access to a uniform. A bad guy knows that a white van and a uniform type outfit will fool many people. A woman might have a man with her hiding nearby. Teenagers may be involved in neighborhood crime.

Some of the reasons a person might try to get into your home are:

To harm you in some way.

To steal from you.

To see what you have inside of your home of value.

Or all of the above.

If you did not invite someone to your home you are not required to answer the door! Pretend you are not there.

Make this a firm rule for yourself and your family so you remember. Put a note on your door to remind yourself if necessary.

In addition make sure you have a good lock on your door and use it at all times. Keeping safe is about protecting your own boundaries at all times. Learning to be aware of safety in your everyday life is a great way to take care of yourself.

Related articles about Home Security:

• Robbery prevention from Seattle Police (magnoliavoice.com)
• Pinnacle Security Offers its Top 5 Tips for Staying Safe at Home (prweb.com)
• Crime Prevention Week: November 1 – 7, 2009 (newswire.ca)

10 Ways To Enjoy The Simple Life Now

When was the last time you gave yourself permission to slow down and enjoy life’s simple pleasures? If you are like most people you get caught  up in trying to balance the many items on your to-do list and forget your own need for relaxation. In my opinion, most of the good things that make life wonderful are free or very low cost. I’m going to start with a list of 10 ideas and I will try to make this a series with another batch as I think of them. (Speaking of “batches”, homemade cookies come to mind…)

1. Observe the stars in the night sky.
2. Go to a thrift store and buy a novel.
3. Sit on your porch and read the novel.
4. Make yourself a hot cup of tea.
5. Brew some coffee and savor the smell.
6. Make sun tea.
7. Go on a walk – take your dog if you have one.
8. Go to a park and just enjoy nature.
9. Watch the sun set.
10. Take a nap.

Bonus: Rent a dollar movie and make some popcorn! Try to do the items on this list at least once every week. Can you think of other great ideas?