Rung #2, Power Outage

A couple of weeks ago our power was out for about two hours. (Yes, I had paid the bill...) It was a great opportunity for me to see where we are lacking in preparedness for a power outage!When the power goes off, one of the first things we do is call the power company. The number for Northern NV outages and emergencies is 775-834-4100. They are able to tell the estimated time the power will come back on. (They were only about 15 minutes off last time.)

I like knowing how long we'll be "roughing it" and if we'll need to worry about our food or not. (Or one time we were the first to call and they didn't even know the power was out in our area!) We have a top shelf in a kitchen cupboard where we keep flashlights, lanterns, and the old-school phone just for when the power goes out. I keep my extra batteries in the fridge, which I didn't want to open when the power was off, so I've moved some of those to the power shelf.

Our fireplace works even when the power is out (which I don't quite get because we turn it on with a switch on the wall...) so we used that to keep warm downstairs.

The Red Cross has a great one-page checklist for preparing for a power outage HERE. I just printed it (be sure to print this BEFORE the power goes out) and went through the list.

After reading through the list with my husband, I'm going to be on the lookout for coolers (CVS clearanced them last year at the end of the summer), going to be making up a family phone list, going to start pricing generators (any advice?), going to be checking into carbon monoxide alarms, and going to keep this Power Outage Checklist in our preparedness binder so I'll have some how-to the next time the power is out! One tip that Pam gave me from our power outage a few weeks ago...Keep a house key on your key ring. That way if you're not home and the power goes out, you can still get in without the electric garage door! Any other tips to share?