The Little Things That Made Life Easier During Sandy

The Little Things That Made Life Easier During Sandy

I’ve covered some of the Big Things that were of use during Hurricane Sandy, so now I’ll cover some of the little things that helped to get us through 8 days of no power and no heat (plus an itty-bitty Nor’Easter and the lack of gasoline).

Emergency LED Lights- Energizer Rechargeable LED Flashlight came in very handy. I’ve had these for a few years. You plug them into a light socket and they sit there with a full charge just waiting for the power to go out. I had these for when we lost power during Irene. In that storm we lost power in the middle of the night and these faithfully snapped on. They might not be the brightest things but they provide enough light to get your bigger flashlights or candles. During Sandy I kept one in the bathroom and it gave enough light to do your “business” and get back to bed without fumbling in the dark. Another nice feature is you can always just grab one out of the wall and use it as a flashlight.

Head Lamps- The Streamlight LED Headlamp is a handy gadget to have around. I may have a love affair with the higher end Surefire lights but the LED Headlamp was my go to light during the power outage. I donned the light every night when it was time to shut down the generator and bring it in. It was just way easier to have 2 hands free when I was dragging the generator out of the backyard and into the garage.

Key Chain- A non gear related tip but still a good one is to have all of your important keys in one spot. I had the keys to backdoor, garage, gates, and padlocks all on one key chain and lanyard.  Even though we were lucky enough not to be in one of the real bad areas I tried to keep my security up. There was to many stories of stolen generators and gas from Hurricane Irene for me to let my guard down during this one. My advice is to keep them in the same spot until the crisis has passed.

Hand Crank Emergency Radio- Ambient Weather WR-111A Emergency Solar Hand Crank AM/FM/NOAA Digital Radio, Flashlight, Cell Phone Charger with NOAA Certified Weather Alert & Cables that is a heck of a long link for a small but really useful emergency radio. This thing does it all in one convenient package. We found it to come in handy when the generator was off as it was nice to plug an Ipod into it and have some tunes. I used to catch up on all my favorite podcasts while the power was off.

These little tips and gadgets made life a whole lot easier during the power outage. I’ll be adding more of these as I think of them along with a more in-depth look at living on generator power, emergency heating with a wood stove, and eating well during a crisis.

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