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How to Create a Natural Disaster Survival Plan

October 4, 2016 0

Hello, Friends! Emergency preparedness has been on my mind, since Hurricane Matthew is quickly approaching. We have lived through several category 1,2 and 3 hurricanes before, so I know how important it is to be prepared.

This week, the mister and I have been updating our family’s natural disaster survival plan, kit, and backpacks. I thought if I walk you through my process, it could be of service to some of you out there. First, I wrote a new natural disaster survival plan – this is especially important for us, since this is the first major storm we have experienced since we moved back to Florida. Read on to learn how to create your own natural disaster survival plan.

1. Review, Update + Practice
First things first, once a year you should sit down to review, update and practice your natural disaster survival plan. This is the one way that you will be able to make the necessary updates to the plan and practice makes perfect. Everyone in your family should have a role when it comes to your plan, including the kids. Some examples include choosing a designated place to meet if your family becomes separated and establishing an out-of-state emergency contact, someone everyone in your family can contact to say “I am OK! if you become separated. Please have your children memorize this number in case their cell phone goes dead.

2. Should I Stay or Should I Go Now? 
If you know about the disaster ahead of time – in cases such as; hurricanes and volcanoes, you need to quickly decide if you plan to stay or evacuate. If you live in the area that is going to be directly hit by the natural disaster, it is best to leave as soon as possible. However, leaving doesn’t mean you have to hop on an airplane or drive hundreds of miles. You usually only have to drive several miles to get out of harms way – you don’t want to get stuck on the freeway or at the airport during a natural disaster. For example, the last time we lived in Florida, when we heard that Katrina (category 1 at the time) was headed our way (we lived on the beach at that time), we grabbed our hurricane kit and backpacks and drove to a hotel (that accepted dogs) outside of the cone.  Always better safe than sorry.

3. Have a Last Resort Plan
If you decide to stay during the natural disaster and then for some reason you have to leave your home at the last minute, you need to know where to go. Have a list of shelters in close proximity that you can get to quickly and have an emergency preparedness kit and backpacks (for each member of your family) ready to grab and go, including blankets/pillows, food, change of clothing, toiletries, water, medicines, and other survival items.

4. If You Plan to Stay – Stay and Prepare
Do not wait until the natural disaster is knocking on door to prepare. For natural disasters such as hurricanes, install your hurricane shutters immediately. If you have a generator, replace the oil/gasoline and make sure you have enough to keep your generating going for several days, make sure the generator is in working order. (Remember to only run the generator outside and away from your home, this is very important, many folks have died due to carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning). If you need a very long extension cord, make sure to pick on up immediately. If you need supplies to board up your home, get them now. Choose a safe room in your home that has no windows and that can shelter your family if your homes outer structure breaks apart. Great examples are inside bathrooms, closets or stairwells. Choose an out of state emergency contact, someone everyone in your family can call to say “I am OK” if you become separated from your family.

5. Prepare for Special Needs Family Members + Pets
If you have a family member that has special medical needs, contact your local emergency management department to find the local special care shelter. If you need to take a family member to the shelter, make sure that you pack enough food, water, medicines, and supplies for each person for at least three days. If you have pets, take careful consideration on what you will do if you have to go to a shelter or evacuate. Many shelters will NOT allow pets – please have alternate ideas ready in case you have to leave.

6. Prepare Your Home
After you have made all of the necessary accommodations to protect your home from the natural disaster – contact your insurance company to find out what disasters and damages your policy covers. Determine whether you need to add more coverage protection and ask yourself, would my insurance cover the costs to rebuild my home from ground zero if necessary?

7. Prepare Your Survival Kit and Backpacks 
You should have a natural disaster backpack for each member of your family. We have dedicated backpacks that are packed with all of the essentials necessary to sustain each of us and our dogs (Noodles and Olive) for at least 3 days. Included in each of our packs a blanket/pillow, two changes of clothing, toiletries, first aid kit, bug spray, flashlight, hat, vital documents, credit cards, cash, notepad/pencil, a book, card games, rain gear, and our hiking boots. We also have separate large survival kits that house our food, water, Swiss army knives, tent, paper goods/plastic cutlery, rope, solar powered radio/flashlight, extra batteries, tape, garbage bags, wipes and other supplies that will be necessary, if we have to grab and go we are prepared.

If you are in the path of Hurricane Matthew, please prepare now if you haven’t already! It is always better to be safe than sorry. Stay safe everyone!

photo via Rick McCharles

Seventeen

October 2, 2016 0

seventeen

TODAY is our 17th wedding anniversary! Hooray! Seventeen amazing years. Jayson and I have experienced many wonderful things together. During our time together we have lived in TWELVE different homes, in FOUR different states. We have loved SIX sweet dogs and ONE beautiful son! Through thick and thin, our marriage has strengthened and our friendship grown. I feel very lucky to be married to my best friend. Jayson makes me laugh every SINGLE day and always makes me feel special, beautiful, and loved. It’s pretty wonderful to get to spend your time with someone you enjoy so much. Happy seventeen years Mr. Lyon – I love you!

Reduce your Home Heating with a Hybrid Heating System

October 15, 2015 0

Reduce your Home Heating with a Hybrid Heating System

The eco-minded are always on the hunt for ways to reduce consumption. Hybrid heating systems are a really interesting way to lower consumption and your home heating bill at the same time. It’s an interesting concept, particularly the way that the automation does the eco watching for you.

Most of us choose either an electric heat pump or a gas boiler to heat our homes. However, the new hybrid systems are an intriguing fresh option. A Hybrid heat system reacts to changing temperatures and automatically adjusts to the most efficient energy saving method available to heat (or cool) a home. It combines a furnace with a heat pump, rather than an air conditioner and it’s very much a fuel-saving alternative to traditional heating and cooling systems.

Electric and gas each have some benefits, but there are drawbacks that make it difficult to ensure you have a truly energy-efficient heating system in your home. At lower temperatures, gas boilers are more efficient than electric heat pumps. However, when you only need a small boost in heat, the electric heat pump uses less energy than firing up the entire boiler for just a short period of time. The new hybrid solution gives you the best of both the gas and the electric worlds.

An example of a hybrid solution is the Daikin Altherma hybrid heat pump. It has new technology that automatically selects the most energy efficient method for heating your home. It automatically evaluates the outdoor temperature and your heating demands and switches between either the electric heat pump or your gas boiler.

Unlike the human brain, which is easily distracted and forgetful, these new solutions do the thinking for you, and these hybrids provide options for you that you wouldn’t have in a normal system. They make the shift between electric and gas to optimize for the most eco – and economical – settings for your home.

When the temperature is mild, the heat pump is more than sufficient to heat your home without the need to fire up the boiler. Once the outside temperature drops to a chillier season, the boiler begins to provide additional heating. When the outside temperature gets very low, the boiler operates alone. The system always conserves energy by providing the most efficient heat for the current conditions.

It’s gratifying to see that in some parts of the world, governments are recognizing and rewarding the environmental benefits of innovations like these new hybrid heating systems. In the UK, there’s a Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) that pays residents who switch to hybrid systems 7.3p/kWh for each unit of renewable heat that they produce. (But UK residents, take note: you’re only eligible if you have your Daikin Altherma hybrid heat pump or another similar hybrid system installed by an MCS accredited installer such as Calor.)

I hope that we’ll continue to hear about new environmentally-conscious technology like these hybrid heating systems from lpg suppliers. It reminds me of cars that use both a conventional internal combustion engine and also a high voltage electric motor.

Have you got a hybrid system in your home? How do you like the system? I’d love to hear about it!

6 Eco-Friendly Lunchbox Essentials for Green Kids

August 26, 2015 0

Now that the kids are back at school – you are probably testing out the new lunchbox. If you are like me, it can be hard to find the perfect lunchbox essentials. We have had a hard time with the lunch bag being too small, containers leaking, water bottles that won’t fit inside the lunchbox and even worse, the lost lunchbox. Over the years, we have fine tuned Eben’s lunchbox and have found 6 essentials that we highly recommend – all of them are eco-friendly too, read on to check them out!

1. Large Reusable Insulated Lunch Bag $35
Over the years we have tried out quite a few eco-friendly lunchboxes, the key is a lunchbox that is insulated and large enough to hold everything including a water bottle. For Eben it also helps if it has a handle to carry it by – since adding another bag to his shoulder isn’t an optimal option. I love this one printed with EAT on the front. Such a fun statement at lunchtime!

2. Hen House Lunchbox Napkins (6) $25
Reusable fabric napkins are a must for the lunchbox – these fabulously designed ones from Hen House Linens add a pop of color and whimsy to the lunchbox. We loves our and have found them to be super durable too.

3. Contigo Reusable Water Bottle $25
I adore Contigo products – I am a huge fan of the reusable water bottles and coffee mugs. These are large enough to hold a sizable lunchbox drink for Eben, keep his drink cold and they don’t leak! They also have a fantastic kids line with insulted food jars perfect for soup or chili on a cool fall day.

4. Island Picnic Reusable Organic Cotton Snack Packs $17
Pretzels and Popcorn and Nuts – oh my! These organic snack packs are the perfect size for packing those back to school treats! I pack Eben a couple of snacks every day and these are perfect for keeping the snacks together!

5. Wean Green Reusable Glass Lunch Cubes $6-12
These are by far my favorite reusable lunch containers, we use them every-single-day. They come in an assortment of sizes that fit perfectly inside a lunchbox, are made from non-leaching glass and the lock seal means no leaks EVER.

6. SwaggerTags $4
Never worry about a lost lunchbox again – Swaggertags are a fantastic way to identify your child’s lunchbox without giving too much information away (you have to open them to see the identification – the outside is customized by you with any photo!) They come in a selection of fun colors too and are guaranteed to not fall off. Perfection!

What is a must have for your child’s lunchbox? I would love to hear – leave your comment below!

6 Time Saving and Eco-Friendly Back to School Organizing Tips

August 17, 2015 0

bux

As a parent, I feel that one of the most important tips for back to school is being organized. I have shared a lot of my tips in the past, however, there are still so many other tips that I haven’t mentioned. Most of these tips are very simple and will save you time, energy, money – and in the long run will save the environment too. Read on to learn my 6 favorite back to school organizing secrets – get organized now so the first day of school will run smoothly!

#1: Get Yourself Ready First!
Tip number one is the most important tip that I can give you – get yourself ready first! If you try to get your children and yourself ready at the same time each morning – you are going to be overwhelmed. When Eben was younger, I would get up a couple of hours before he did – while it may seem early, I was able to exercise, tidy up the house, shower and get myself ready – all before he woke up. I never felt stressed when something popped up – because I was ready, and I could jump in to help fix any of the morning mishaps. (and believe me, over the years, there were plenty!)

Back to School Tip #1 – get yourself ready before your child gets up!

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#2: Build Chores In!
All children should have chores. Chores are great on so many levels, they teach children responsibility, pride of ownership, it builds character, and what Mom couldn’t use a little extra help around the house. It doesn’t have to be a long list of chores, instead it can consist of making their bed, feed and take care of animals, tidying their bedroom and packing up their supplies for school. After school, you can add in a few more – walking the dog, unloading and loading the dishwasher, setting the table and helping pick up the house.

#3: Snack Station!
Giving your child easy access to the best, healthy snacks for school is easy when you incorporate a snack station in your pantry and refrigerator. When Eben was younger,  we had a pantry snack station and a refrigerator snack station (you can see the lunchbox packing station here). It helped a lot too – because now that Eben is a teenager, he is pretty good at picking healthy snacks on his own.

Give your child easy access to healthy snacks by incorporating a snack station in your fridge.

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#4: Breakfast is Ready!
Eben is not a cereal type of kid – he doesn’t like cereal, any cereal. Period. However, we don’t always have time or feel like whipping up a hot breakfast in the morning. Our solution, we make them ahead of time and either refrigerator or freeze them. This way he always gets his choice of his favorite breakfast items (these items are always healthier than a boxed cereal anyhow) and it makes for a quick and yummy breakfast time, with foods he will actually eat. And of course I also keep the refrigerator stocked with his favorite fruits and organic yogurt to go with breakfast too.

#5: Lunch is Ready!
If you have a lot of lunches to pack in the morning and find yourself spending too much time on it, consider packing your lunches the night before. Consider making a little more dinner, and packing the leftovers for your child’s lunch. Eben always loved this because he would have much rather had shish-ka-bobs, or a homemade soup for lunch over a sandwich any day! It is also a great way to give your child’s lunchbox menu a lot of diversity, the lunch is ready to go and your child is more likely to eat their lunch everyday.

#6: Bag the Equipment!
When Eben was younger, he had swimming as his P.E. activity – instead of running around every Friday morning looking for his swimsuit, swim shirt, goggles, sunscreen, and towel – I packed everything together in a bag and it stayed there. When he brought home the wet clothes on Friday afternoon, I would toss the entire bag in the laundry room and wash and repack the swimming bag for the following week. Then, it would go on a designated hook in our mudroom and would be ready to go. This same tip can be used for any sport or activity that your child has particular clothing for – just pack it and forget it.

What eco-friendly and time-saving secrets do you have for back to school?
Please leave your comment below – they support us all in living a greener lifestyle.

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