Time again for Three things on Thursday.

I have something a little different today for three things on Thursday/ planning for emergencies.

This week, I did not buy or prepare anything for the evacuation kits, any supplies, not a single thing was added.  Instead I have been working on:
1) de-cluttering the basement
2) cleaning the basement
3) organizing the basement

...but I still think it applies to Thursday's "chat".  We have an unfinished basement, and all of our extra "junk" seems to accumulate there.  Baby stuff, kid stuff, craft stuff, "we'll need this some day" stuff...you know what I mean, right?  The thing is, it still needs to serve as our "shelter in place" since it is below ground.

During the spring, we actually need it more than you would think.  One of my children is terrified of tornadoes and severe thunder storms (severe to him, that is).  In the spring, every time there is a storm, we all have to go down to the basement until he deems it OK to come back out again.  The problem is that with all the junk down there, there is little space left for us.  Plus, we had some work done on the house and there is still construction debris all over the basement.  So this past week, and over the next week at least (hey, it's a big big job) I am getting rid of all kinds of stuff we really don't need any more, cleaning it properly, and organizing what is left.  Hopefully, by spring time, when we have to go down there for the next tornado watch, it will be a lot more comfortable.

By the time I am done, there should be a place for everybody to sit, all of the emergency supplies should be together in one area, hopefully everything will be up off the floor (the four houses on either side of us get spring time flooding - we are up a little higher, so we haven't yet, but why take the chance), and hopefully there will even be a little space left over for putting out candles or lanterns the next time we have to go down there to wait out a storm.

Incidentally, my child's fear of tornadoes is what got me started preparing for emergencies in the first place - kind of by accident.  Every single time it rained, every single time there was a lot of wind, he would panic (he might have been about 3 or 4 when this started).  We started collecting supplies under the basement stairs - blankets and pillows, flashlights, juice - just simple things that make a child more comfortable, and like magic the panic disappeared.  He still worries, and we still have to go wait out the storm in the basement, but nothing like the panic attacks he would get before.  In fact, many of the things in our emergency stash were his idea, we've just kept adding to it.

So, here's my question of the day - what do your kids think are must-haves in the emergency stash?