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We’re finally getting our emergency preparations in gear after years of being essentially unprepared. (We had a few things around the house that might have helped in an emergency, but that was about it.) One thing struck me as I was putting together the list of what we will need to include: some of this stuff is pretty expensive, and hopefully none of it will ever be used.

That combination of expense and lack of perceived immediate need can make emergency items difficult to make a priority — after all, you’re spending money on things that you hope you’ll never use. And the lower your income and/or the higher your bills, the lower a priority those things might feel like (or even need to be). I know I have a tendency to do the things that seem the most pressing first, instead of the most important. But I’ve vowed to change.

We’ll be adding to our emergency supplies each month, starting with the most important items first. But how do you figure out what might be most important? It seems like disasters have just been piling up of late: tsunamis, hurricanes, wild fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc, so it depends in part on where you live. According to the American Red Cross, home fires are the most common disaster in the United States.

We are lucky to live in an area that’s relatively free of natural disasters. The biggest dangers here are probably house fires, nuclear accidents, and long term water or food shortages, so we’ll be prioritizing in that order and adding plans to purchase some of the necessary items to our spending plan each month.

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