Emergency Essentials is giving away a free $10 Gift card to ALL who add one of their blog buttons to their blog. We did and so we’ll be getting our $10 soon. Yippy!

Click here for more info on how to win your $10 gift card. They have several items which are less than $10 and therefore would be free if you didn’t want to spend any extra. So it’s totally worth it. Only catch is that only 1 gift card per household will be sent out. So, if you have like 5 blogs (who would ever have more than 1 anyways?), then they will only send you 1 gift card.

Good luck and happy blogging!

Supplies Needed:

• 5-gallon bucket with lid (cut hole in middle of lid for plunger handle to fit through)
• Toilet plunger (brand-new, clean)
• Store in bucket:
• Liquid laundry detergent
• Stain remover/stain stick
• Vinegar (add 1/2 cup to rinse water) helps remove soap
• Rope (for clothes line)
• Clothes pins

To Use:

1. Empty contents of bucket.
2. Place water, small amount of detergent, and clothes in bucket.
3. Move plunger up and down for a few minutes or until clothes are clean.
4. Remove soapy clothes and ring them out.
5. Dump out soapy water (on your garden or lawn.)
6. Place soapy clothes in bucket and fill with clear, clean water.
7. Add 1/2 cup vinegar to rinse water.
8. Move plunger up and down to rinse clothing.
9. Wring out clothes and hang to dry.

Conserve water - use rinse water for next load of laundry.

NOTE: You could store two 5-gallon buckets, stack one inside of the other. Use one bucket for the soapy water and the other for the rinse water. You may be able to wash and rinse a couple of batches of clothes without changing the soapy water depending on how dirty the clothes are.

As found on: http://preparednessnibblesandbits.blogspot.com

The following was seen on: PrepareTodayNewsletter.com
Written By Valerie Phillips from: PennyPinching-Grandma.com
Food prices are going up. But here are lots of ways — 101 of them — to shave off pennies, dimes and dollars from your food costs. Not every tip fits every situation. A vat-size container of salad dressing is cheaper per ounce, but not if it sits in a single person’s fridge for months on end. Remember, the most expensive food you can buy is the food that goes to waste.

TIPS TO SAVE SOME CASH!

1. For a week, track what your family actually spends on food. Don’t forget to include work lunches, restaurant meals, vending-machine snacks and convenience store stops. These add up quickly. (Make sure you always have a little notebook on hand to note your expenses.)
2. Have a plan. Jot down simple dinner menus for the week, using the weekly grocery store ads so you can take advantage of what’s on sale that week. Having a plan ends the 5 p.m. “what’s for dinner?” plight.
3. Make a shopping list from your menu. Having the ingredients you need for the week eliminates extra trips to the supermarket, where more incidental items can end up in your grocery cart. (In this day and age, these little trips also cost a lot of expensive gas.)
4. To save time, compile a basic shopping list of things you usually buy on a weekly basis, such as milk, lettuce, etc. Organize the list by the store layout and make lots of copies. Then each week it’s just a matter of penciling in the extra ingredients from your menu.
5. Get out of the dinner rut. Check out cookbooks or magazines from the library or attend local cooking classes for new ideas. (The cooking classes are a great idea, if they are free. Start watching the Food Channel for great ideas.)
7. Consider making from scratch many of the things you usually buy in prepared form, such as brownies or salad dressing.
8. Time is a valuable resource. It’s usually not worth the time, or gasoline to hopscotch from store to store to save a few dollars.
9. Consider the advantages when you choose where to shop. Some stores offer credit cards with rebates, discounts on gasoline, special coupons and so on.
10. Club warehouses can save money, but be judicious. Can you use 18 cartons of yogurt at a time? Often you can find similar good buys and a better selection at a regular grocery store
11. Sometimes you’re lured into buying things that lose their appeal and end up sitting on the shelf. To cure yourself of impulse shopping, every so often force yourself to make a meal out of those items in the cupboard.
12. Consider group strategies. A neighborhood group or extended family might save by buying in bulk directly from wholesalers and farmers.
14. Statistics indicate that people buy more when they are hungry or accompanied by others, especially children. However, grocery shopping can be a good learning experience for kids; let them find all the coupon foods and comparison shop with you.
21. To maximize coupon savings, use resources such as Pinchingyourpennies.com, the Grocery Guru at www.gurusdeals.com, or Couponsense.com, which help you to coordinate coupons with sales at local grocery stores. By using the coupon with the sale price, you can get items for a fraction of the cost. (There is also a coupon site on Grandma.)
24. Be wise about coupons. Sometimes a brand name with a coupon is still more expensive than a generic brand. And resist buying things you may not use just because you have a coupon.
28. One reason people avoid buying cheaper bagged cereal is because they’re hard to store and pour. Store them in a plastic pitcher with a pour spout. (Be careful with this tip, sometimes the cereal will go rancid if left too long.)
29. Consider how much you can save by cooking whole grains for breakfast instead of cold breakfast cereal. Homer Cook of Layton said as a welfare volunteer, he helped a single mother of three cut her breakfast costs from $1,000 per year to $58 peryear by cooking cracked wheat based on Honeyville Grain prices.
34. Bake a batch of muffins from scratch for on-the-go breakfasts. Even if you use a mix, you’ll still save over bakery prices.
38. A pound bag of chopped iceberg lettuce salad costs more; about $2, than a head of iceberg lettuce. Approximately $1 per pound, that you clean and chop yourself. But if bagged salad greens keep you from buying restaurant salads, there’s still a savings.
40. Grow your favorite herbs year-round in your kitchen window. It’s convenient to be able to cut a few sprigs as needed, and packets of fresh herbs can cost $1.50-$2 in grocery stores.
59. Take a cue from restaurant chefs who can make a small portion of meat or chicken look plentiful. They slice it thinly and fan out the slices on top of a mound of rice or potatoes.
60. Tough cuts of meat are usually cheaper. Place a beef brisket in you slow cooker in the morning and by dinner time you’ll have tender beef, and a tantalizing aroma in your kitchen.
67. What to do with the last of the jam or jelly jar: Pour in some milk, refrigerate for a little while to loosen the jam stuck to the jar sides, and shake into a flavored drink.
68. Generic brands can save money. But try one can first before you invest in a whole case to make sure it appeals to your family.
70. Invest in a popcorn popper. You can make 10 times as much popcorn for the same price as microwave popcorn. A three-pack box of microwave popcorn yields about 10 1/2 cups of popcorn for $2 to $3, depending on the brand. A $1.99 bag of regular popcorn yields 113 cups. You’ll have to add you own butter and salt, but you have more control over the amounts.
72. Break the soda pop habit. If you normally drink a can per day, at 50 cents per can, you could pocket more than $180 a year.
74. If you like the look of designer bottled water, buy it once and keep refilling with tap water, which is free. Many bottled waters cost more per gallon than gasoline. (This tip is excellent!!)
77. Keep an eye on your pantry inventory so you use up all the pancake mix or corn syrup before buying more.
79. Post a “must use” list on the fridge to remind yourself of the half-empty can of pineapple, three hot dogs, etc. that will go bad quickly.
81. Use and rotate your food storage. If you aren’t using it, it is basically a waste of space and money. Rule of thumb: Store what you use and use what you store.
82. Use smaller plates. Studies show that when people are served on larger plates, they take larger servings, whether they’re really hungry or not.
84. Pack a lunch for the next day from dinner leftovers instead of eating out.
87. Have meatless Monday meals.
92. Use the dishwasher only when completely full. Washing dishes by hand can cost more than one load in the dishwasher. Let the dishes air-dry rather than using the “dry” cycle.
94. Use gift certificates soon after getting them. Many have expiration dates.
bottles of water
99. At fast-food restaurants, order a kids’ meal for yourself; if there’s no age limit. Most of the time, you’re getting a more appropriate portion of food, and a toy to boot!
101. If you feel you can’t afford to tip, choose a fast-food or fast-casual eatery where tipping isn’t expected. In sit-down restaurants, servers’ salaries are less than minimum wage. Tips make up the difference.
These were the tips we found most helpful. Click here to read the entire 101 list.

Just wanted to let you all know that the October newsletter is now available to view or download online.

We’ve included 11 Alternate Methods for Cooking your food in case of emergency or just for fun.

Click here to view all Newsletters

Here are some sites with specific products, which we have found that sell Earthquake Safety products to keep your valuables in place and to protect you from falling objects in your home. We have not ordered from any of these retailers as of yet so we can not provide accurate feedback about the retailers. Please do your own research to make sure they are reputable companies to purchase from or simply search for similar products from your favorite well known stores.

What stuff should I secure and How?

Other sites:

http://www.worksafetech.com/pages/PH.html
http://quakesecure.com/pichang.cfm
http://www.survivalsuppliers.com/products/earthquake_products/fasteners.html

This is the coolest free service I have found.

Food needed for 1 adult for 1 year.

Grains - 279 lbs.
Legumes - 60 lbs.
Milk Group - 16 lbs.
Sugars - 62 lbs.
Fats and Oils - 10 quarts
Water (2 weeks) - 14 gal.
Baking Powder - 1 lbs.
Baking Soda - 1 lbs.
Dry Yeast - 0.5 lbs.
Salt - 8 lbs.

Go to TrackMyFoodStorage.com to find out what your family’s total would be in detail. Their basic package is FREE and will manage your food storage! You can enter each child and their ages and see what you must store for them for 1 year. Post a comment here and let me know if you like this service or have tried it out.

P.S. The food (in the #10 cans) they sell on their site is 2 maybe 3 times as much as you could get it from the Lindon Cannery, so just keep that in mind when ordering your food. But, at least you can select to Pick-up your order in Orem so you don’t have to pay shipping.

Nifty little gadgets called bed risers can provide an unseen storage place. They’re quite reasonably priced too. Personally if you don’t mind their weight, I prefer to use Cinder Blocks. I think they are even less than the bed risers.

In addition to risers you’ll also need a number of low boxes or flats, choose a size that meets your needs, and perhaps a length of PVC pipe.

#1 - RISERS
Some queen and king sized beds actually have six legs when you count the center supports so be sure and check before determining how many sets of risers you’ll need to give your bed the necessary clearance. If you don’t have enough risers to go around it often works to use paperback novels or an old telephone book under the center support leg at the head of the bed to make up the height difference. Please note, if you elevate the bed beyond a certain point you’ll get a whole new understanding of the phrase ‘climb into bed’!

#2 - BOXES or FLATS
In the picture above: lined up behind each box you do see are three or four more you don’t see. It’s kind of like a little cardboard choo choo that goes in under the bed on one side and comes out the other; that way the oldest items are always in front. In business it’s referred to as First In, First Out or FIFO. Each row is dedicated to just one item. The exception is at the foot if there’s a center support leg that gets in the way, *limited quantity items are just slid under from the foot of the bed until they almost touch the first row of boxes that go from left to right. (*Limited quantity items: Some items don’t get used often enough or are too small to justify having their own row.)

#3 - PVC PIPE
The length of PVC pipe reaches the width of the bed and is placed on the floor in front of the legs at the head of the bed so that the flats don’t get hung up as they are pushed passed.

#4 - FOOD
Whatever canned goods appeal to your taste buds can be stuck in a flat and started on their happy journey from one side of the bed to the other. If you shop at a warehouse store your multi-can packs already come boxed or shrink-wrapped and don’t need to be placed in a flat. All cases and shrink-wrapped, multi-can packs get dated on the outside. Single purchased cans and packages are each dated with permanent marker and placed in flats. However, because of FIFO you always know your oldest cans are at the front of the line. This makes it so much easier to stay on top of rotating your canned goods. HINT: You can turn cases and shrink-wrapped cans on their side (if you have enough overhead clearance), doing so will open up enough room for an additional row.

#5 - FOODSTUFFS “UNDERCOVER”
You’ll most likely need to buy or make a longer dust ruffle for your bed - but it’s worth it for the peace of mind knowing that what’s under the bed will save your life.

Keep copies of important records such as site maps, building plans, insurance policies, contact and identification records, computer backups and other priority documents in a waterproof, fireproof portable container. Click here to see more details on Amazon.

Remember: This is just a suggestion, make sure you research this for your personal/family needs.

Around Aug. 2006 the ward selected 2 First Aid Kits which could be ordered for a discounted rate. If you weren’t in the ward at that time or didn’t get one and would like to order the kits here is the info below.

73 pc Now 81 pieces! All Purpose Emergency First Aid Kit. FAO-130 ~ You can buy it online at acehardware.com for $9.49 or first-aid-product.com for $9.99

158 pc Now 200 pieces! Large All Purpose First Aid Kit. FAO-134 ~ You can buy it online at acehardware.com for $16.79 or first-aid-product.com for $15.99

Remember: We’re just providing this info as a suggestion or help for you. You can make your own decisions on what would best fit the needs of your family.
continue reading "First Aid Kits from 2006"

This water filtration kit was something the ward was ordering in bulk the end of 2006. If you weren’t able to get one then, here’s the info below. It’s lightweight, can be packed in a survival kit and can filter approximately 26 gallons of water.

Bota Of Boulder H2On Demand - Water Filtration system. You can order it online at everestgear.com for $9.09, outdoorcooking.com for $8.99 or buckscountyoutfitters.com for $10

Remember, this is just a product suggestion and we don’t know the service or delivery times for the sites mentioned above. Please use your discretion when ordering online. We’ve personally never tried one of these either, if you have please comment and let us know how you liked or didn’t like it.