Entry bubble Are You Prepared for a Major Emergency?

By: Stephanie | September 04, 2009 | Category: General

pedestrians with red background “There’s smoke coming from the Pentagon!” one of my coworkers shouted. I ran to his office window where we worked at the top of the Old Post Office Building in downtown Washington, DC, to witness black ribbons flowing from the Department of Defense building. This, after just watching the Internet’s news about the attack on the World Trade Centers that morning, September 11, 2001.

We were allowed to leave work—but I was at a loss as to how to get home since I had heard that the subway was closed. I had just moved from DC to a suburb in Maryland, and didn’t know an alternate way to get home. I ended up stuck on a gridlocked bus for four hours because I didn’t have another plan.

Are you prepared for a natural disaster, potential terrorist attack, or other major crisis? September is the sixth annual National Preparedness Month, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The companion website, Ready.gov, gives you tips on what to include in a basic emergency supply kit, and suggests ways to contact and regroup with family members in an emergency. It also offers information on a variety of emergency situations, such as influenza pandemics, wildfires, chemical threats, and winter storms, and recommends preparations for businesses as well.

Interactive features help you personalize a family emergency plan, and links take you to sign up for free emergency alerts from your local government. You also can follow Ready.gov on Twitter, or take the Readiness Quotient quiz.

USA.gov offers information on preparing for emergencies for specific groups, including people with disabilities, kids, and pets, and links to federal information on disasters and emergencies.

Since 9/11, I’ve maintained an emergency supply kit and made it a point to learn a variety of ways to get home. Do you have an emergency kit and plan?

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Entry bubble Life’s Critical Records, Chapter 1

By: Joanne | January 08, 2008 | Category: Money

I recently attended a retirement planning seminar. Retirement is many, many years away but the seminar was a real eye-opening Brown Leather Wallet With Cash, And Credit Cards.experience. I came out of the seminar feeling motivated to get some financial planning done, but the hustle and bustle of everyday life quickly pulled my attention away from the plan. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to go back to the seminar materials and take small steps forward. Hooray! I’ve accomplished my first step: the binder is open on my desk!

I’m starting by getting my records in order. The instructor gave us a list of critical records and papers (CRAP) we should keep in a binder in a safe location. Creating the binder will be my first goal. Since the binder will be in sections, I’m going to focus on one section at a time and hopefully that will make the task less daunting.

The first section of my binder is an inventory of what’s in my wallet. You don’t think of this stuff until your wallet is lost, stolen or you’re the victim of identity theft, but there are definitely times when you don’t have your wallet and you need to know what’s in there. Years ago my wallet was stolen. I quickly called my credit card companies to let them know, but I didn’t have a list of everything in my wallet and I forgot about one card. The robber didn’t have any trouble figuring out which card worked and charged hundreds and hundreds of dollars at area gas stations. From what I saw on the card statement, he took all his friends to the gas station, filled up their car and then bought them lots of cigarettes and snacks.

I finished my wallet inventory in about 15 minutes and now it’s ready to go into my CRAP binder. You never know when you’re going to need to know what’s in your wallet; don’t wait until it’s too late!

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