Daily Preparedness

Are you ready to rumble? For those of you who are SERIOUS about saving yourselves time, money, energy (your’s, renewable, fossil fuel–whatever type you worry about), frustration and stress –come on and join the team! It is time to sign up for the X-Games Of Grocery Shopping!

The first step, of course, like any great sport, is training. You don’t just grab a golf club and immediately become Tiger Woods. Oh no, it takes thought, practice, patience and a bit of know how–in other words training. Unlike Tiger though, you don’t need to be born with a great talent to rid yourself of the waste most of us experience when dealing with the never-ending need to feed ourselves and our family.

This week, we will concentrate on visualization. No, not really–just getting ready to grocery shop. Getting ready? Don’t you just grab your wallet and go? Uh, not if you want to do it well. You must learn the fundamentals of the ‘game’ and then apply them to ensure success on the course/field/court/whatever.

The recipe for successful grocery planning includes these ingredients (go gather them):

Paper

Pencil

Perpetual Grocery List (if that is Greek to you, A PGL is a list you put on the ‘frig & everyone marks down when they need something or use up the last of something)

Your calendar, Blackberry, iPhone or whatever you use to organize your time (if you don’t have one, you really should get one right now!)

Grocery store ads

Your budget–do you know how much you can spend?

Prescriptions that need to be filled (if you use the grocery pharmacy and why wouldn’t you?)

A clipboard or something to put your list on so that it doesn’t end up at the bottom of the grocery cart

A quick peak in the ‘frig & pantry to notice things that are missing, old, growing fungus or nearly empty–add those to your PGL. Don’t forget basic non-food items such as toilet paper, facial tissue, plastic bags, etc. Throw out anything that has gone past its prime. This will allow you to start fresh when you come home from the grocery store. Salvage anything you can and add it to your menu before it goes bad!

Once you have gathered together the Preparation Recipe, you are ready to tear into making The List. True champions have advanced the PGL to a standardized list of commonly purchased items, preferably divided by appropriate sections of your favorite grocery store or at least by categories. This Gold Medal Level PGL is the ultimate in organization! If you frequent the same grocery store for most of your shopping, ask the service desk for a store map. Use this to prepare your customized PGL.

Another benefit of maintaining a PGL is that you can have someone else pick up items for you! This is especially helpful if you purchase specialty items from different stores. For instance, you might purchase organic peanut butter at just one store. If you know you need it, you can pick it up when you drive by that store. Or better yet–get someone else to do it on their way home! (Delegation is a very fine art)

Grab your calendar. Do you have any commitments coming up that will require the purchase of special items? Remember things like Johnny’s turn to bring snacks to soccer, Bertha’s Baby shower for which you said you’d make your famous spinach dip, that church potluck or a field trip requiring a packed lunch. Look two weeks in advance–further if you are REALLY organized!

With those commitments in mind, begin to look over the grocery store ads to see if anything is on sale that might fulfill those requirements. For instance, Johnny’s soccer snacks–ah ha ABC market has oranges on sale. And double ah ha–they also have graham crackers on sale! And you have a coupon for those. Mark both items on your list and put a small ‘c’ next to the graham crackers to remind you that you have a coupon. We’ll discuss how to protect those advanced purchases later–but keep a sharpie on hand in case you speed ahead of our tutorial. (Hint: You’ll want to mark those special purchases so they don’t get eaten too early)

As you peruse the sale ads, think through menu ideas. You do think about menus ahead of time, don’t you?? If chicken breasts are on sale, plan dinners around chicken breasts. What do you need to make your family’s favorite chicken cacciatore? Add whatever ingredients you are lacking to your list and put the menu idea on your calendar! You are now one step closer to being Super Organized!

Next, think about basic storage items that might be on sale. Which can you stock up on? Where will you put them? For instance, you don’t want to buy more frozen food than you have room for, so make certain you have the space for it! And the budget to cover it! Buying on sale can really rack up savings if you plan accordingly as well as extend your food storage plan.

Consult your calendar again for holidays coming up. What special foods do you need? Why not buy your Easter candy when it first comes out and then hide it from the little ones? If the tykes can’t read, just write on your calendar where you put it.

Ask family members if there is anything they need or activities they have failed to tell you about. With a bit of training, they will learn that if something they need doesn’t make it on the list in time, they will exercise their patience muscles or figure out how to get to the store themselves.

Once your list is fairly well finalized, check for coupons and attach those to the clipboard with your list. Be sure to add the small ‘c’ next to items that you have a coupon for. This will help you remember to check for a specific brand or size.

Attach any prescriptions that need to be filled. If you need to call in refills, do it far enough in advance that they’ll be ready for you.

Before going any further, be certain that your list coincides with your budget. It is pointless to spend more than you can afford as debt never saved anyone money.

Place the clipboard with your reusable grocery bags if you use them. If you are preparing a day in advance, put everything in the car or near the door where you won’t walk off without it. What would happen if Lance Armstrong forgot his bike? Tour de Oops??

You are now ready, primed, trained and set to enter the contest. Next week, we’ll ramp up your training a notch and GO TO THE GROCERY STORE well armed, toned, fit and ready to SAVE!

From the ever-helpful folks at FEMA comes this reminder that the peanut butter recall may very well involve foods you have stored for emergencies and/or long-term storage. Check out their list and follow the link to stay up-to-date on products included:

Currently the United States is in the midst of one of the largest food recalls in American history. As Americans dig through their cabinets and refrigerators to remove potentially contaminated food associated with the recent peanut recall, we would like to also remind citizens to open and check their Emergency Preparedness Kits to remove any potentially harmful items from these also.

Because peanut products are often recommended as staples in Emergency Preparedness Kits due to their long shell life and because they are a good source of protein, we encourage all kit owners to look at their kits to ensure food products are not on the peanut recall list. Please keep in mind that the peanut product recall extends beyond peanut-flavored products. The following are some examples of foods also included in the recall that may contain peanuts:

• Granola
• Snack bars
• Crackers
• Cereal
• Trail Mix
• Cookies
• Noodles
• Dog treats

A full list of recalled peanut products and what individuals should do with recalled items can be found on the Food and Drug Administration’s Web site, http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm.

In addition to checking for peanut-related items, please be sure to check for other items in your kit that may have expired, including medications, food and pet food, water, and other recalled items. The U.S. government provides information on unsafe, hazardous, or defective products ranging from consumer products, food, medicine, and cosmetics at www.recalls.gov.

Ensuring family and neighbors are prepared is an essential step in helping communities during and after an emergency. Families should have an Emergency Preparedness Kit in all locations that are frequented often, including homes, offices, schools, cars and day care facilities. These kits should hold a variety of essential items that are needed during a disaster, such as a flashlight, radio, cash, clothing, protective equipment, medicines, and of course food and water. For a complete list of Emergency Preparedness Kit recommended items, please visit http://www.fema.gov/plan/prepare/supplykit.shtm.

Citizen Corps Councils and Partners: Councils and partners should remind their communities about the importance of maintaining and constructing an Emergency Preparedness Kit and consider hosting public preparedness training sessions to ensure that information about kits is reaching the community. In addition, Councils and partners should consider adding a link to the FDA Web sites along with information on the recall on peanut products to any Web pages or documents that refer to community preparedness or Emergency Preparedness Kit preparation.

This news story and other Community Preparedness news, including Citizen Corps Bulletins, can be found on our website at http://www.citizencorps.gov/.

Sincerely,

The National Office of Citizen Corps
FEMA Community Preparedness Division

Among the nightmares that can keep parents awake at night and vigilant during the day are the many ‘what if?’ scenarios our minds can imagine or those that we never imagined but face unexpectedly. For instance, ‘What if I am suddenly disabled while at home with my young children?’ or ‘What if I am in an accident and no one is at home after school?’ or ‘I don’t want to wake the baby in order to run to the store, leaving my 10-year-old in charge, and an accident occurs?’ or ‘What if my child is frightened by a babysitter?’…..and the list goes on and on and on!

Though no one is going to be able to imagine every possible scenario (or if they do they might just go nuts), but we can all take sensible steps to prepare ourselves, our homes and our children for the vast majority of ‘what if’ occurrences that we may face. And so, without further ado, here are the Top Ten things every parent should do to prevent or mitigate the damage of many childhood ‘what ifs’:

The first and foremost rule should be to child-proof your home. Take common sense precautions to keep medications and dangerous items out of your child’s reach. There are plenty of online and printed resources to help you effectively and inexpensively prevent accidents within your home!  Don’t neglect the outside of your home either. Be certain that play equipment is safe, well maintained, that protective equipment such as bike helmets are used and that your children ALWAYS utilize safety restraints in a moving vehicle!

Secondly, keep your home organized in a way that reduces accidents and would allow anyone attempting to help you or your children find what is needed. Keep phones where you can find them–many families ‘lose’ their cordless phones countless times a day.

Third, post a list of critical phone numbers very close to your main phone. If you live in a multi-story home, keep a list on each level. Program your phone to speed dial work numbers, a trusted neighbor and cell phone numbers for yourself, your spouse and a close family member or trusted friend. Keep the critical numbers in the first few numbers so that your child will be able to understand that all they need to do is dial 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 to get help.

Fourth, teach your child to dial 911 as soon as they are able to. Teach them carefully that this is for emergencies, what an emergency is and roll play calling these special ‘heroes’. Be sure to teach them that once they dial 911, not to hang up but to talk to the hero on the other end of the phone. As soon as possible, teach your child their full name. After they memorize that, add the city the live in and their parent’s name. Next comes their address and phone number.

Fifth, teach your children that any time they feel uncomfortable with someone or something that is going on, they should call you or anyone on the speed dial list. Do not dismiss their feelings of uneasiness, fear or trepidation. Children often have an uncanny ability to sense when they are in danger. Allow them to attempt to verbalize why someone makes them uncomfortable, why they are afraid of someone or what makes them uneasy. They may not be able to tell you precisely, but listen to them carefully and do your own further research. Listen to your children, talk them daily and keep the lines of communication open.

Sixth, be certain that you know the applicable laws for leaving children alone or under the care of another child. In many localities, it is ILLEGAL to leave a child under the age of 12 alone. In some counties, children must be 7 years old to be left alone in their own backyard. Every jurisdiction has ordinances or laws regarding children left alone at home, in a car, playground, park or public building. If you break these laws, you risk fines, prosecution and supervision of all the way to removal of your children by child protective services. At any age and regardless of local law, be certain that any child you leave alone is well trained in safety procedures, how to use the phone, who to open the door to, what to do and not to do, is responsible and well prepared to deal with what could happen. Any child left to supervise other children (again know your local ordinances!) should be mature enough to supervise, protect, control, appropriately discipline and react to any emergency that may occur.

Seventh, teach your children who they can turn to for help. If no one is home, what do they do? You might consider providing your child with a key to your house (if they meet the criteria above) to be used in emergencies. At the least, identify neighbors that they can turn to for help. If they walk home, identify ’safe houses’ along their path. Consider giving your child a simple, pay-by-the-minute or prepaid cell phone for emergencies. Don’t forget to teach them who to turn to if they are lost in a mall, at church or other public place.

Eighth, when you leave your child with a sitter that you have thoroughly checked out, be sure to talk to your child afterwards. Encourage them to tell you what they did while you were gone, how they liked the sitter and if they would like the sitter to return. Teach your children that they can call you at any time! Don’t hesitate to call home while you are gone, speaking to your child or return home unexpectedly.

Ninth, teach your children how to evacuate in the case of a fire. Have an outdoor meeting point that the entire family will run to if they leave the home.

Tenth, teach your children basic ’survival skills’. In addition to dialing the phone, teach them how to lock the doors, have them visit the fire station for fire safety training, take them to meet McGruff the crime dog and learn from him, teach them to prepare simple food for themselves, and basic first aid. Get them swim lessons, CPR, babysitting training (even if they aren’t going to babysit because these courses usually cover basic 1st aid, etc.) Encourage participation in scout programs that teach valuable skills. Teach them to pick up after themselves. Help them develop self-confidence in their abilities, skills and talents! These can all be fun activities that do NOT instill fear in children.

Though we cannot prevent all unfortunate accidents, disasters or injury, these few consistently applied principles will prevent many tragedies and help mitigate those that we cannot stop!

Okay, so I just opened an email account and there were (no kidding here) 525 pieces of spam email. FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE! Thankfully, my fifth grade teacher had the foresight to teach me to speed read. 525! ! !

Most of you aren’t going to see that much spam in a month, but I seemed to have hit the Spam-o-rama Sweepstakes. How does all of that spam propogate?

One of the easiest ways to Spam-a-friend is to send everyone you know the latest touching story, beautiful graphic or ’sure to be true’ urban legend. You hit the forward button and then dump load your entire address book into the ’send to’ box, hit send and know that you have enlightened half of the civilized world. But wait, have you really? Most likely no!

First, check out any ‘fact’ with snopes.com or other site that tracks the latest ‘Bill Gates is going to pay you to send emails’ or ‘Aliens really did land in NYC’ postings. If the information is truly valid and you are certain your friends can’t live without it, DO NOT SIMPLY forward the email. Many of these emails are sent out by spammers who can ‘collect’ every email address you pass on. Yep, they really, really can. And then your friends can thank you when their in box is filled with offers for things they never needed to know exist, obscenities and all other manner of unsightly spam!

Instead, if you really want to pass on information to a friend, copy only the contents of the email. DO NOT include any previous email addresses. ‘Paste’ the information into a new email and send it to your friends. But, first, ask yourself if your ‘friend’ will appreciate the mail.

SCAMS: Email in-boxes are overflowing everyday with urgent messages from banks, mortgage lenders, insurance companies and government agencies urging the recipient to click on the handy dandy imbedded hyperlink which leads straight to their website where your attention is urgently needed. Once at the website, you will merely enter your account information, password and then save yourself from certain doom. Right? WRONG! ! ! The vast majority of these are ‘phishing’ emails which hope you will follow their dim-witted instructions, provide your account information and then sit happily by while your identity, funds, accounts, etc. are pilfered by the highway bandits of the information highway.

How then do you tell which emails are legit and which aren’t? The first rule of thumb is; if in doubt, don’t!  Look for mis-spelled words, logos that are slightly off, emails from banks you don’t even have accounts with and a sense of supreme urgency that you act NOW!

The second rule is; DO NOT use a hyperlink in an email. A hyperlink is the ‘click here’ type button or highlighted word that takes you from the email to a website. If you believe the email may be legitimate (from a company you know that you have provided your email address to), simply close down your email program. Open a new browser window and type in the web address of the company that you have used previously. DO NOT use the web address provided in the email. Or better yet, pull out your ‘What If’ notebook, look up the company’s phone number and call them. (AGAIN, DO NOT call a number provided within the email!) Let them know that you have received an email claiming to be from them, what it says and have a customer service rep check on the status of your account.

Most large companies have fraud departments and they may want you to forward the email to them. If requested, do so as soon as possible. eBay and Amazon both have established ’spoof’ addresses which you can send suspicious email to.

Beyond the nuisance factor of in-boxes polluted with nonsense, computer virus’ which can do significant damage are often passed by email. Unsuspecting ‘friends’ pass on a lovely image, touching attachment or serious warning hoping to protect their friends. Instead of helping, they pass on a virus which can wipe out their hard drive, fry the entire system or ’spy’ on them in order to retrieve valuable information. Why take the risk? (To knowingly pass on a virus is a serious crime.)

Do everyone you know a favor, practice safe email sending! Let’s not waste each other’s precious time, risk forwarding a virus or provide ‘phishers’ with one more email address that they can hope to victimize. Email is truly a miracle form of communication—use it wisely and well!

P.S. Linda, our every-faithful reader forwarded a few more hints to me that are too good not to include:

1. If you are sending an email to more than one person, always use the BCC option. This hides the additional emails from the group.

2. Ever get those emails urging you to sign an ‘online’ petition? DON’T! ! The completed petition’s only value is to a professional spammer who will pay bucks to harvest all of those lovely email addresses. Not only will the spammer reap the addresses, he/she will know which cause is important to you. If you want to have your voice heard, write a letter, send an email, shoot off a fax or simply call the group you are trying to impress. A big list of email addresses will NOT impress an elected official, corporation or civic entity.

3. Remember that every address you receive or send an email to is most likely stored. When you simply hit ‘forward’ every email address listed in that email is going to be stored. All it takes is one individual computer getting a virus and then sending it out to ALL of those stored addresses.

4. Again, before forwarding the latest urban legend, AMBER alert, virus alert, etc. check it out on snopes.com. They are pretty up to date and accurate!

Thanks again, Linda, you are a great reader and contributor