For most of us, preparedness starts with a handful of ordinary things we’ve been meaning to get around to anyway.
Testing the smoke alarms. Finding the flashlights. Keeping some extra water on hand. Making sure we know where to get reliable information when something is happening.
September gives us a built-in reminder to check the basics and fix some of the little gaps we’ve been ignoring. Whether it’s a power outage, bad weather, or something completely unexpected, it’s nice to have a few things squared away ahead of time.
Here’s one area to focus on each week this month:
Week 1: Check the basics at home
There are probably a few things in your house you’ve been meaning to check for months. This week is a good excuse to finally get to them.
Take 15 minutes, walk around the house, and see what needs a little attention. You may find that you’re already in pretty good shape, or you may discover that every flashlight you own somehow has dead batteries.
A few places to start:
- Test your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and replace batteries where needed
- Check how old the alarms themselves are. They don’t last forever!
- Find your flashlights and lanterns and make sure they work
- Charge any portable battery banks you keep around
- Check your fire extinguisher and make sure everyone in the house knows where it is
- Replace any overdue furnace, HVAC, air purifier, or water filters
- Give the first aid kit a quick once-over and replace anything you’ve used up or that’s expired
Week 2: Take stock of food and water
This week, think about what would make life easier if you couldn’t get to the store for a few days.
For water, a common starting point is one gallon per person, per day, for a minimum of three days. If you have that covered – great! Keep building for longer.
Households with pets, medical needs, or other circumstances may need more.
For food, look for things that are easy to store, easy to prepare, and actually likely to get eaten in your house.
A few things to check:
- Check how much drinking water you currently have on hand
- Add a few shelf-stable meals and snacks your household already eats
- Make sure you have food that can be eaten or prepared without electricity
- Find the manual can opener before you need the manual can opener
- Rotate older stored food and water into normal use. If you have too many to use, and they haven’t expired but are getting close, consider donating them to a food drive
- Check pet food, medications, diapers, and other household-specific supplies that you really wouldn’t want to run out of
Week 3: Make sure you can get local information
This week, take a few minutes to make sure you know where you’d get reliable local information if something happened.
Most of us default to our phones, which is fine until the power is out, service is spotty, or rumors start moving faster than the actual updates. Having a couple of trusted sources in mind ahead of time saves a lot of scrambling.
If you’re in Monroe County, sign up for MonroeAlert, the our official emergency notification system. Alerts can be sent by text, phone, email, or app and can include information about severe weather, public safety incidents, travel restrictions, and other local emergencies.
You can also text 333111 with your county’s name for DHSES alerts.
It’s worth having more than one way to get information too. Phones die. Power goes out. Cell service can get overloaded.
211/LIFE LINE is another local resource worth knowing. It serves Monroe and several surrounding counties and can connect residents with community resources and crisis services.
- Sign up for MonroeAlert or DHSES alerts if you haven’t already.
- Save a few important phone numbers somewhere besides your phone.
- Bookmark the National Weather Service Buffalo office for local forecasts and alerts.
- Know how to reach 211/LIFE LINE if you need help finding local resources.
- Consider keeping a battery-powered or hand-crank radio as another way to get information during a longer outage.
The main thing is to avoid relying on a single source. A little redundancy goes a long way when normal communication gets messy.
Week 4: Get to know the people around you
This week, look beyond your own household a little. Think about the people who live nearby – do you know a few of them by name? Do you have a way to contact them?
You probably already know more people nearby than you realize. Maybe it’s the neighbor you chat with while walking the dog, the person across the street with every tool imaginable, or someone down the block who always seems to know what’s going on.
A few simple things can make those connections a lot more useful when something happens:
- Introduce yourself to a neighbor you don’t know yet
- Exchange phone numbers with someone nearby
- Think about who around you might need a check-in during a longer outage or severe weather
- Pay attention to the skills and resources already around you, whether that’s first aid, tools, radios, transportation, childcare, or something else.
- Pick one preparedness skill you’d like to learn, such as CPR, first aid, weather spotting, or amateur radio
Ready Rochester also hosts Build Community, Not Bunkers workshops throughout the year for people who want to explore this more. They look at household preparedness, neighborhood connections, and how communities can work together when normal systems are disrupted.
Hint: Preparedness gear also makes great gifts!
And if your list starts getting a little expensive, remember that the holidays aren’t that far away. It’s a good time to start a preparedness wish list for yourself or someone you care about.
A solid flashlight, battery bank, weather radio, first aid kit, car emergency gear, or better water storage can all make genuinely useful gifts. They’re also the kind of things people often mean to buy for themselves and keep putting off.
And really, nothing says “I love you” quite like wanting someone to be safe, comfortable, and a little more prepared when something unexpected happens. You may be surprised how many preparedness items make easy, practical gifts people will actually use.