I’ve been thinking a lot about the tornadoes, tsunamis, floods, fires, and earthquakes of late. My husband and I have been talking about how they are happening more and more frequently and closer and closer to home. While we’ve always had a 72 hour kit and just re-vamped it a few months ago, we’ve wondered how we would really respond in such a situation.
So, I pose the same question(s) to you:
What would you grab if you had 30 minutes warning?
What if you had 10 minutes warning?
What if you only had moments?
We created a to-do list for each of the above time limits, prioritized it and then split it between Nathan and I. We each just start working down our list until we have to leave. We’ve assumed that if we had 10 minutes notice or more we would be able to leave in our van. If we only had moments, it would be on foot. We also regularly keep extra food, a mini-72 hr kit, a few blankets and small bills in our van. We are actually going to time ourselves sometime over the next few weeks to be sure we can get through everthing on our lists in the allotted time. I’ll let you know how that goes!
Below are our lists. I’d love to hear your plans / suggestions!
My List:
- Shoes on
- Kid’s shoes on
- Turn on movie for kids
- Purse, Nathan’s wallet, keys and cell phone in van
- Folder of important papers / original documents in van
- External hard drive in van
- Extra flashlight / candles in van
- Extra snack food (crackers, a few cans of THRIVE fruit, nuts) in bag in van
- Kid’s sippy cups filled with milk and in van
- Cooler filled with milk, cheese and fresh fruit & frozen water jugs in van
- Camera in van
- Kid’s pillows, blankies and 1 stuffed animal each in their carseats
- Small suitcase with an extra changes of clothes, extra diapers & wipes, and diaper cream in van
- A bag of toys, coloring books and crayons in van
- Shoes on
- Shut off gas using our gas shut off tool
- 72 hr kits in van
- Four 5-gallon water jugs in van
- Four 24-pack water bottles in van
- Fire extinguisher in van
- Tent in van
- Camp Stove in van
- Extra blankets in van
- Pack and Play in van
- Guitar in van
- Portable DVD player set up in van with a few extra DVDs
- 5-10 preselected books (they are all next to each other on a bookshelf) in van
My List:
- Shoes on
- Kid’s shoes on
- Turn on movie for kids
- Purse, Nathan’s wallet, keys and cell phone in van
- Folder of important papers / original documents in van
- External hard drive in van
- Extra flashlight / candles in van
Nathan’s List:
- Shoes on
- Shut off gas using our gas shut off tool
- 72 hr kits in van
- Four 5-gallon water jugs in van
- Four 24-pack water bottles in van
- Fire extinguisher in van
- Tent in van
My List:
- Abigail’s shoes on
- Own shoes on
- Strap Bethany to me in front carrier
- Put 72 hr kit on me
- Hold / keep track of Bethany / Jacob
- Grab, purse & cell
Nathan’s List:
- Boy’s Shoes on
- Own Shoes on
- Get 72 kits on boys
- Get own 72 hr kit on
- Hold / keep track of Abigail & Joseph
- Grab wallet and cell
Thanks for sharing your preparedness list. I've been wanting to make up an emergency supply stash and plan for my family. This will be a good reference.
Katie,
You are welcome. I hope it helps with your plans! Let me know if I can help in any other way, and thanks for stopping by!
Just found your blog via Pinterest and am IN LOVE! I love how organized and easy to navigate your site is, and I love how you’ve simplified and organized emergency prepping for people like me! I’ve signed up for emails and can’t wait to see what you have in store. I’m diving in head first and can’t wait to be fully prepared!
Thank you Stephanie! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it and will be happy to have you back often (-:
Wonderful ideas. We have grown children but we will be using these ideas soom.
Thank you Debbie. Good luck!
Hey Misty, I recommend printing each of your lists for you and Cory on separate pages so you can each grab your list and do your separate duties. It would be hard for you and Cory to look on the same list when you’re going in separate directions.
Great point Cameron! We have a couple lists printed in various places in the house, but we should keep 2 copies at each place. Fabulous idea!
This is great! I used to be a flight attendant, and we had emergency checklists we would always carry in the event of an incident. They were set up in such a way that you did the most essential things first, such as informing passengers of what is happening, demostrating the brace position, showing Able Bodied Passengers how to open the doors in the event we are unable to do so, etc. right on down the list to removing curtains, strapping in and shouting commands. The idea was to get through as many items as possible in the allotted time (as dictated by the Captain) and then get to safety.
I never thought to do that in my own home! I’m going to start working on this right now! Thanks for the reminder!
Thanks for that perspective Kelley! I actually got the idea from the airlines b/c they always tell you to “secure your own mask before helping others!” (-:
hey, was just reading your list. one thing we do, that might cut down on time/frenzy. I got some of those space bag things, and a rubbermaid bin, and in the bin, is 2 changes of clothes for each of the family members, blankets, canned food items, 72 hour kits, and extra prescription medications, as well as a can of formula for each of the kids on formula. the bin lives in the cargo area of my SUV. if for whatever reason the bin must be removed from the car, it is placed right next to the door, to be returned to the car ASAP. we also have an “emergency shelf” right next to the garage door, where we keep the water, camping gear, and other items we might need to cycle to keep from going bad, so it’s all in one place should anything happen. just thought it would be something to pass along
Fabulous idea TJ! Our “emergency shelf” is right next to the car as well and we keep our 72 hr kits in our van, but I’d never thought about having a “extra” bin with other stuff we’d want to take if we could. Thanks for taking the time to share! I love all the ideas we get from each other here!
*saw this on Pinterest* If I only had moments all that would matter is; grabbing photos, documents, and taking my husband’s hand and leaving. PHOTOS #1 ALWAYS! If you don’t have memories of good times and loved ones, you lose hope and sanity.
Yes VJ! We’ve got all our photos on our external hard drive and my husband does a fabulous job of keeping them all downloaded and up to date. That is the #1 reason why that hard drive is so important to us!
Hey Misty! This is a life saver! (literally!!
) Thank you so much for posting all of this wonderful information! I am (at this very moment) working on my family’s very own ICE book as I’m calling it 
i was wondering though if you have posted a template for the cover sheet? I would like to keep with the same color and theme for all the sheets (it’s the OCD coming out again ><) If you have one available, even just the one you have on your computer that you've used for your book, would you mind emailing me a copy? (without your personal info of course).
Thanks so much!!!
Amanda
Of course Amanda! I will email it right now!
Sorry this reply took so long, I’ve had some issues with the comments on my site the last few days.
Is this template posted somewhere on your site? If not, I would love a copy as well; working on my book currently… we live in a high hurricane area, which has recently seen quite a few tornadoes. I have a “kit” but all your info has helped immensely!!
Thanks so much for all the ideas!!
Cat
It isn’t on the site Cat. I should add it! But I will email it to you right now. (-:
Can I get a copy of the cover sheet too?
Could I also have a copy of the cover sheet? We live in CA and your prep is an outstanding resource for the totally creative me who plans things only in my head and never executes them. THANK YOU. Also, is there a place to download everything into one single download?
Will you send me a copy of the cover sheet too? Same OCD-ness here – I would like it to look the same. Thanks!
Could I got the template also? A group of us are working on getting our books together. Thank you for all of your information and hard work to help us be prepared also.
Hey Misty! Thank you so much for posting all of this wonderful information! I was wondering if you have posted a template for the cover sheet as well? If not do you think you would be able to email one to me? That would be nice to keep the same flow throughout the book
This is a wonderful thing to have on hand. Thanks for the time & effort you took to create such a lifesaving plan for emergencies! I know this will come in handy for my family.
Thanks,
Angela
I found you through pinterest and I am so thankful I did!!! After the start of the HIgh Park Wildfire in CO it has hit pretty close to home and we have started preparing for emergencies in our own home. And thanks to your post we have some much needed help! So from one Mother to another, Thank you!!!
And yes I am with Amanda, I would love the cover sheet so I can keep the same theme…I’m one of those OCD (CDO, ha, ha!) moms. Thank you!
You are so welcome Annie! Thanks for your kind comments!
make sure you make a plan for your animals too. We live on a small farm. Our plan includes put leashes on the dogs, put cats in the kennel, put rabbits in the kennel, grab bird cage (all these go in van), put brooder in the back of the truck and fill with as many poultry as we can grab, leash the goats and tie down in the back of truck, get feed from garage into truck.
Great tips Tanya! I don’t have any animals, so they aren’t on my list, but for those that do, that is very important!
And sorry for my slow response. I’ve been on vacation!
just wanted to mention that I am completing my evacuation notebook as I am watching the news on the Waldo canyon fire that is burning through Colorado Springs (100 miles from me). Nothing like a natural disaster to motivate me to finish what should have been done a long time ago. Thank you for posting these great PDF’s.
You are welcome Tanya! I hope all calms down for Colorado Springs soon!
Thank you so much for all of this great information. Being more prepared has been weighing on my mind a lot lately and this will really help me check it off of my list. Found you on Pinterest (love that site). I’m with everyone else, could you please send your cover page? Thank you for inspiring us all to be prepared!
Sorry for my slow response. I’ve been on vacation!
Yes, I will send you the cover sheet!
I found you on Pinterest, and I’m thrilled. I was just in Green Mountain Falls, CO during the evacuations for the Waldo Canyon Fire. While I was just a visitor and could fit everything in my suitcase, it was sobering to see my inlaws stressed about what to take with them. I would love to get a copy of your cover sheet…I am one of those that like everything to match. Thanks in advance!!!
Sorry for my slow response. I’ve been on vacation!
Yes, I will send you the cover sheet!
And, yes, the wildwires are very, very sobering!
THANK YOU, you’ve shared so much fabulous information! We’ve have quite a few evacuations in our ares due to fires in the last few weeks and I’m feeling overwhelmingly underprepared, as are others I’ve talked to in our area. I’m working on getting my book and lists ready, so I can share them at an upcomming Relief Society meeting. Do you mind if I share your site? Also, I’d love a copy of the cover page template since, I too, love things to match. Thank you so much, Monica
I would love if you shared the site Monica! Thank you! And I will email you a template right now. I’m sorry it took me so long. We just got back from vacation and found out we will be moving to Utah in 2 weeks. Life just doesn’t slow down! (-:
Thanks so much! This along with other information on your site is so helpful. My husband and I always just said our plan was to get to my parents house. Now we have a way of knowing what our responsibilities are to make it there.
Here’s praying that none of this ever needs to be used! But so thankful it’s there just in case.
I truly hope that you don’t have to use it either Crystal, but the peace of mind is priceless. Glad to have you here!
Here I am another person asking for you to email me the cover sheet? I guess you should put it on this post. Thanks!
Yes, I should….it is just a lot quicker to send out an email, so I keep telling myself I will do it soon, but I don’t get to it…we are in the middle of moving states right now so I will get to it…later!! haha. (-: But I will email it to you now!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this! I have things here and there for emergency situations but to have a whole binder dedicated to it? FABULOUSNESS!
After a trip to the beach this past weekend, we have decided to move there – in 5 months! While we are super excited about this, we are both very aware of the potential hurricane evacuations we could face. This binder (as well as a kit) will be done before we even get there!! I, too, would love a template of your cover page!
I’m glad it has been so helpful! I will send you teh cover page! (-:
can I please have a copy of your coverpage?
Thank you in advance
I found (and will now stalk) your blog through Pinterest. Such mixed emotions! Being prepared is critical, and provides a sense of relief… yet the fear and reality of such a time is terrifies me. BRAVO on you doing this and making it so simple for the rest of us to get it together! Can you please email the word template of the evacuation plan? Thank you so much!!!
Yes, mixed emotions is how I often feel. I try VERY hard not be motivated myself (or motivate others) out of fear, but it is tough!
Hi, Misty! I love this idea, and was wondering if you could possibly email me a copy of your cover sheet? Thanks in advance!
Just another thought for parents of small children. Having waterproof name tags to pin on your child’s clothing before you evacuate. I can’t imagine the terror of being separated from my kids and knowing that if they were found, they would have no way of telling someone their name or personal information to help us find them again. We’ve planned on a tag with their name, DOB, our names and phone numbers and a non local relative’s name and phone number.
Great idea Kathy! Thanks!
I very much appreciate this post! I am a stickler about preparedness and have been telling my fiancé for months that we need to practice our evacuation routine.. Even the most prepared person can still fall victim to panic when the time comes, so I think it is so important to familiarize yourself with your evacuation plan!
I looove your idea of planning for different time sensitivities too, I hadn’t even thought of that, or about prioritizing what needs to come with us, first and foremost, if time only allows us so many minutes!
Thanks!
I’m so glad you’ve found it helpful Kelly!
Thank you so much for all the amazing ideas and sharing your wonderful templates! I am new to the bigger picture of emergency preparedness and am still trying to pull it together.
As a mother of 3 adorable, very young boys I am afraid I would freeze up in an emergency evacuation and not know what to do. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your evacuation plan!!! I was wondering if you would be so kind as to email me a copy of your evacuation plan in a word document format? I like things to match too, it’s the OCD in me kicking in. Huge thank you again!
Just curious how important a guitar is into leaving due to disaster or emergency — love the organization/lists.. Do you ever “practice” for events like those?
Obviously a guitar is not essential, but it is a very sentimental item to my husband and if we had the time we would grab it.
And yes, we do “practice”…usually about every 6-9 months.
I did something similar to this years ago after I heard an interview with a woman who was evacuated because of a fire. She had just minutes to get out and one of the things she grabbed was her hairdryer… and she left behind photo albums. She had no idea why.
I’m updating my list now that my kids are slightly older AND I never thought of splitting the list between my husband and myself!
Thank you!
THanks for sharing that! I always wonder how I might actually react!
I found you through pinterest, and of all the great things I have found there, your information is wonderful! You have such useful, life saving info. We already do a lot of the things you have here, but you have them organized in a way to get out quickly, I will be working to revamp our things asap. Thank you so much for all you do – this really is great
I’m so glad that you’ve found it helpful Stacey! Thanks for letting me know!
I found your site on Pinterest. I love your list! My son is working on the Boy Scout emergency preparedness merit badge and needs to make a kit. I think this list is a must add.
I am a single Mom and both my kids are teens. I plan to make us each a list for 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour and 1 day. We get lots of tornado’s here so everything needs to be in the basement. I love the comment someone made about having an extra box. It takes a lot of time to carry stuff up from downstairs. I think an extra box would help out.
I am a photographer so photos are a must for me. I plan to keep a extra copy of all my favorite photos and scan important documents on a flash drive in my 72 hour backpack kit. Put the flash drive in a water proof cell phone box with your name, phone number, email address. They cost $5 at Walmart. This way if its raining or the bag gets dropped in water you will still have it.
If I only can grab two things it would be my purse and my backpack kit. I plan to keep a copy of the Boy Scout First Aid merit badge book in my kit. It has a lot of simple ways to treat big first aid problems.
Thanks again for your amazing list and website.
You are so welcome Kay! I’m glad you’ve found it helpful!
Hi!
What a Great resource! I would love to have the template for the family evacuation plan!
Would you email a copy to me?