Weekly Tip List: May 28
1. Call your insurance company on TUESDAY to review/renew/amend your property insurance. (DO NOT WAIT! My agent told me on Thursday, May 26, that the ins companies are closing coverages daily.) Renters this means you, too! Also, property owners that lease units -- verify coverage if your occupants don't have renter's insurance.
2. Check your pets' vaccines and licenses and get them up to date. Make appointments if necessary. Make sure all pets have collars or harnesses with attached ID tags; check that your leashes and/or carriers are clean and functional. If you are in a mandatory evacuation zone, and may not be able to take your pet, locate/inspect/interview safe mainland boarding facilities.
3. Start saving clean 1-gallon milk containers for ice. Rinse them, fill 5/6 of the way, cap, and put in the freezer. If you run out of room, ask friends and neighbors if they have spare space. Saved ice helps EVERYONE.
4. Review the list of tax-free items available for sale on June 1. You have 10 days to purchase. Make sure vendors are not increasing the price by 6% (or more) based on the huge marketing effort. May be better to wait .. but not TOO LONG.
5. If ordered, and you plan to evacuate, make sure that you know where you are going. If you are going to a hotel confirm that they:
Have an emergency generator that will at least run hallway emergency lighting for 12 hours or longer
Participate in the hourly/daily emergency management conference call for refugee providers. (All decent motels/hotels participate in these 8-times-a-day calls.)
6. If you choose, start buying bottled water now to stockpile. A case weekly or occasionally purchased and stored makes it much easier than fighting for water later this summer.
7. Start stocking your canned good emergency supply. Last year I waited too late to get my stockpile of Sweet Sue Chicken & Dumplings, but I'm starting now for this year.
8. Instead of giant clear plastic storage chests to lug stuff, consider 12X12 open-side plastic "milk crate" filing cubes instead. These will stack, but best they are easier to haul up and down to powerless hotel rooms that don't have elevators running. I'm splitting a camp-sized camp chest into 6 of these.
9. Good idea to back up your PC hard drives now. Keep those tapes, CDs, or DVDs in an easy area that you can grab quickly to leave.
10. And after all that is done, get some good sunscreen and a KILLER swimsuit and HIT the BEACH!! Party hearty and don't worry about big rain storms ....
... until next week.
