72-Hour Kit Wednesday - Sleeping Bags

What cold nasty weather we are having. It seems to me that a large portion of the States are suffering from the cold or severe weather right now. Many other countries are struggling too. Our thermometer registered -9º last night and it is located in a pretty secluded place so I know it was probably colder than that. I can’t even imagine being forced from our home by an emergency in these kind of temperatures and hope it would never happen but it is certainly best to be prepared.

Our item for this week is sleeping bags. My personal opinion is that every person in the family should have their own sleeping bag as part of their 72 hour kits. If you live in a colder climate, it is worth the investment to buy a bag that is rated for the cold. You will pay more but it is so important to prepare to sleep warm. Besides, if you are a camper, you may already have a bag for each person. Begin checking prices now. Ask if and when the good bags go on sale and shop around. Check with Emergency essentials or any other camping or preparedness stores and see when their best deals are.

We bought our bags which I believe are rated to be good to well below zero – can’t even imagine sleeping in that – and got them on sale. Still not cheap but less money than not on sale. It make take some time to accumulate bags for all your family members but in the event of a disaster, even if you took shelter in a school or a church, you would still want a good bag for each family member.

If you don’t have bags for everyone and can’t afford to get them all at once, set a goal to accumulate one a month or every other month until you get them. Work them into your budget and start price shopping. I think in extreme cold it would be wise to also have some extra gloves, socks and even stocking caps for sleeping. These could be rolled up inside the bags so that they are there when you need them. Check now for discount prices on the one-size-fits-all gloves and stocking caps as they are being closed out in many stores to make room for spring and summer items and I found some at only $.35 a pair last week. Grab some now and put them away for an emergency.