Prepping Tips for Spring
Interested in prepping tips for spring? When was the last time that you checked your hand-crank radio to make sure that it still worked? Or for that matter, what about all of your smoke detectors around our home? There’s a whole slew of spring cleaning and projects that need to be done to your home to make sure your family is prepared for whatever may come your way as the seasons change. Keep reading to find out other prepping tips that you should definitely consider getting a jump on this spring. If you’re done with the late winter weather and ready for warmer weather to be here, then go ahead and check out these prepping tips for spring.
Please wear gloves when needed: Garden Gloves
Prepping Tips for Spring
Make Sure Your Emergency Plan is Up to Date
When it comes to emergencies, it’s always a great idea to have important contact information set aside if you need to reach someone following the event. The problem is, people often move or sometimes change their numbers so you need to make sure that all of your contact information is up to date. Away From Home Emergency Plan For Kids
A good family emergency plan is pretty extensive and covers much of what we’ll discuss in this post. Be vigilant and you should feel more confident that your family is prepared for a variety of events and protected from extreme risks.
Restock Your First Aid Kit
I’d be willing to bet that most families have a first aid kit, but the problem is that when accidents happen and you need a bandaid or antiseptic wipe to clean a wound, you forget to replace them. This is especially true for those of you with younger children that seem to need a bandaid almost every other day.
So when you’re really dealing with a crisis on your hands, there’s the possibility that you won’t have the first aid essentials that you need. That’s why this spring before the busy summer months hit is the perfect opportunity for you to take inventory of what you have and then replace what’s needed. First Aid Kits-What You Need To Survive
Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet
Just like with food, prescriptions, and over-the-counter medicines do expire. So, it’s important to clean out your medicine cabinet and check the dates. If anything has expired, throw it away and make sure to replace it with something that you can use in case of an emergency. Spring season is the perfect time of year to clean out your medicine cabinet. First Aid & Medicine
Give Your Car a Good Tune-Up
Your car is probably one of the most important tools you have when it comes to surviving an emergency situation. That being said, if your car isn’t properly maintained then during a crisis, you may find yourself stranded in the middle of nowhere. Spring is the perfect time to take your car into the shop for regular maintenance like oil changes, tire rotation, and any other tune-ups necessary.
In many places, salt and sand are put on the roads to help melt the snow and ice and also so cars and trucks can have better traction. The challenge is, that salt can have a detrimental effect on your car’s undercarriage. Unless you’ve been good about keeping your car clean during the winter, now is a great time to perform a thorough cleaning inside and out. A pressure washer is great for cleaning the floor in your garage, but also the underside of that family vehicle.
Don’t let yourself get stuck with faulty tools! If you do lawn care on your property, you may also want to check your lawn mower for a tune-up and a new blade! How to Survive in a Stranded Car During Winter
Get Bulbs and Seeds Ready for Planting Season – Clean Up Your Yard
As temperatures warm up, you may want to take advantage of the opportunity to plant food for future meals. You can start by getting bulbs and those special seeds ready for planting season. Buy bulbs early on and keep them in a cool, dry place until the weather is warm enough for you to start prepping your garden. Then, come springtime you’ll be ready to get growing! Go ahead and check your garden beds, do any garden prep and a soil test, and start planting beds of your favorite vegetables! How To Prepare Gardens For Spring Planting
Garden prepping may include using your tiller to get the soil turned over and ready for those amendments your nursery said to add. This is a good time to add the goodies from that compost pile since organic matter is a great fertilizer. Consider an annual aerating treatment using a coring aerator so your lawn gets a quick start from spring storms and warm sun. If it’s been a few years, you may want to consider a dethatch effort for the lawn too.
Spring is also a good time to clean up your yard from things that may have blown in during winter storms. If you didn’t trim the trees and shrubs last fall, now would be a good time to do that too. Cleaning out window wells and around downspouts can help prevent basement flooding from surprise leaks from gutters.
Also, don’t forget to test the plumbing in your sprinkler system. You don’t want to find out that your garden and flower beds are planted and ready to go but you don’t have any way to keep them wet. Test them all now and do any repairs necessary. Sometimes valves are broken during winter due to poor drainage, so be prepared to learn some handyman or handy-women chores.
Store Up Some Extra Water
In an emergency situation, having access to clean drinking water is essential. That’s why preppers should always make sure they have plenty of bottled water stored away in case of a crisis. But if you find that your storage tanks are running low this spring then now is the time to restock with as much clean drinking water as possible so you’re ready when disaster strikes. Creative Water Storage Solutions for Emergencies
Hopefully, you have a tickler system for your larger water tanks that will alert you when it’s time to drain and replace the water. If you only treat them with unscented bleach, you’re looking at that drain and replace process every six months. If you use what I recommend, WaterPreserver, then you can go five years, well worth the investment.
It is also a good time to make sure each filter for your water purification system(s) are up to snuff. Maybe you’ve had to use them a few times and they are near the end of their useful life. If you don’t have spares ready, go get some new filters now.
Be Sure to Have Plenty of Light Sources
It happens to almost all of us at least once a year, but for whatever reason, the power seems to flicker and then go out when it’s dark out. Am I right? This spring, be sure that you have enough batteries for your flashlights or lanterns, along with candles and matches for backup. You don’t want to be left fumbling around in the dark because that is no fun. Supplies Needed for a Power Outage
I strongly suggest you invest in solar-powered flashlights and lanterns. I have some solar-powered flashlights on my window sills being charged all the time. It is so convenient and I don’t have to worry if those extra batteries I’m storing will really work as planned.
More Prepping Tips For Spring
Check Your Emergency Food Supply
Even though your emergency supply is probably mostly full of non-perishable foods, it doesn’t mean that they’re going to last forever. They still have dates on them! Now is as good a time as any to make sure that you’re not running into a lot of expiration date issues. Go ahead and remove any cans that are dented or no longer in good condition.
Another thing that you should be doing regularly, is always making sure that you rotate the new products that you’ve purchased from the grocery store by placing those items behind your older foods. Invaluable Tools Necessary for Transporting Emergency Supplies
It’s a good idea to perform an inventory at least annually so you can replenish depleted and outdated foods in your emergency stash. That inventory checklist is an important part of your family emergency plan, so if you haven’t put one together, don’t wait until it’s too late!
Replace Batteries in Alarms Around Your Home
Did you know that 3 in 5 deaths that have taken place during a house fire were in homes that didn’t have a properly functioning smoke alarm? This is why you should test your alarms regularly and change the batteries at least once a year. Again, spring is a great time to do that! But don’t stop with your smoke detectors. You also need to test your carbon monoxide and radon detectors and replace the batteries as well. How To Store Your Batteries
Check Your Fire Extinguisher
It’s recommended that you have a fire extinguisher on every level of your home as part of the tools and hardware we need to be properly prepared. The average fire extinguisher is good for about 10 to 12 years, so if it’s at that point, it’s best to replace it. However, most will need to be recharged about every 6 years. You can tell if your fire extinguisher is still good or not by looking at the pressure gauge that’s on it. If it’s green, you’re good, but if it’s red, it won’t be of much use to you in an actual emergency. If you’re going to keep your home in tip-top shape, then checking your fire extinguisher is super important. Fire Extinguishers: More Important than a Gun?
Clean Out Those Rain Gutters
This one probably goes without saying, but the fall season dumps a ton of leaves that seem to always find their way into a home’s rain gutter system. But there still may be some of you who think that keeping your gutters clean is not really a big deal. Let me tell you, failing to clean them out has the potential of causing major water damage to your home.
So, when the weather gets warmer outside, be sure to head up on that ladder and try and get rid of all those nasty wet leaves! The last thing you want is for your house to become a water-logged mess. This is one of the most important prepping tips for spring. What Would Mold Do To You?
Test Your Emergency Equipment
It’s very common for emergency prepping equipment to stop working when all it’s done is sit there for so long. Springtime usually includes weeks of a stormy season, the time when you are more likely to need your emergency equipment to work. That’s why every spring you should make sure that your flashlight batteries are still working, that your hand-crank radio is still functioning properly, and that other emergency gear like a generator that you have is ready to go. You’ll have to figure out the best way and the best times to test your emergency equipment.
Time to Clean Your Shed and Patio Furniture
If you’re like me, you’re really looking forward to some quality time outside. That includes some quiet time sitting on the patio lounges and chairs during spring and summer. Those cushions are probably covered with dust and even mildew from those windy and stormy fall and winter days.
You also need to make sure your shed is cleaned out and ready to store those summertime tools and yard equipment. As mentioned, test out the mower, but also the edger and trimmer equipment you use. Most of us also have a yard blower and/or vacuum we count on all summer long. It’s also a great time to de-clutter and get rid of things you don’t need or don’t work. No reason to hold on to things beyond their useful life.
One of the most important “appliances” we need during the pending summer months is our air conditioner. Sometimes referred to an HVAC system, your AC should be checked out at least annually just like your furnace. Spring is a good time to have a professional check it out and have them clean out the whole unit so it’s ready to go when those hot days arrive.
More Tips for Spring
Final Word
Overall, prepping for emergencies doesn’t have to be an all-year-round project. Sometimes taking just a few steps during the spring can make a world of difference if something goes wrong. From making sure your emergency plan is up to date, to restocking first aid kits and checking batteries in alarms around your home, there are many ways you can prepare for potential disasters this season. What are some other prepping tips for spring that you do in and around your home every spring? May God Bless this world, Linda
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