Being Thrifty in Emergencies

With all the damage Hurricane Ike caused and the hurricane season still in full swing, I thought it might be useful to talk about being thrifty when you are faced with an emergency. While you can’t be completely prepared and you may still really have problems sticking to your budget, there are thrifty things you can do to help with hurricane preparedness.

Plan Ahead for Evacuation 

One of the biggest expenses is housing. If you can’t live in your home for six weeks and you have to rent a suite in an extended stay hotel, you’ll be out some major money. However, if you set up an agreement with a sun loving friend who lives in an area that is quite chilly in the winter, you can camp out in your friend’s spare bedroom when you need to evacuate and your friend can enjoy a few weeks of winter warmth at your place after the hurricane season is over.

If your contact in another area is a family member, you may want to go a bit further and store a duplicate set of all of your photos, copies of all important papers and a  few other essentials in a storage container that you keep in your family member’s house. This way, you can really leave quickly when the order to evacuate comes and you will still know that your memories are safe.

For people who plan to head to a shelter instead of a family member’s or friend’s  home, some pre-planning for pets is essential. You don’t want to rack up a big bill at a dog kennel because you didn’t investigate your county’s ability to handle the pets of evacuees and discovered that there were no provisions for pets when you arrived at the shelter.

Create an Emergency Fund

Since you can’t prepare for everything that happens during an emergency, it is a smart idea to stow some cash in an emergency fund whenever you have a chance. Just a dollar or two a week can add up to a useful amount over the course of a few years. Being able to pay for an emergency car repair or a hotel room without breaking your carefully balanced budget is a nice feeling.

Prepare Your Home and Possessions

Having to replace all your windows, insulation and drywall because you didn’t board up your windows is a very costly mistake. If you know a hurricane is probably heading your way and you have enough time to prepare, it is a smart idea to secure the house and yard before the evacuation order is given. You may also want to move belongings off of low shelves and unplug anything that doesn’t have to run while you are gone.

It is a smart idea to take care of any tree issues you’ve been putting off, too. It’ll save money in the long run if a tree is cut down by professionals instead of blowing down, since it won’t take out wires or damage your home if a good arborist removes it.

Make Preparations for Non-Evacuation Situations

We were without electricity for a week after a hurricane blew through several years ago. I sure was glad we had a supply of clean water, non-perishable food and a generator. There isn’t much sense in stocking a freezer and then not having a back up electrical source to keep all that food from spoiling!

Do you have any tips for being thrifty in emergencies?

Photo by  PALMER W. COOK