The storm came, you lost power and you were working on your computer. You’ve probably just lost your work if your program doesn’t have an auto save, because who remembers to save every 2 minutes? You try the phone, and it’s down. The TV is down. Your cell phone sits unusable because you forgot recharge it last night. So…what caused it. You can’t call the electric company because the phone is down. But even though you might not have phone service and you might not have power, you might still have wifi. But if you’re just relying on being plugged into the wall, you’ve got no options.
Do you know you have a last minute power option? If you had an “Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS)” you have gained a few precious minutes of battery backup. You have time to shut down programs  you were using (and save whatever work might have been there). You have a few minutes to send out emergency emails to people who need to know. You can check the weather to see how the storm is progressing, see if it’s local or not, see if you need to evacuate. You can still check last minute news or info. And yes, you can still check into Facebook!
We recently purchased a UPS for our home, and hooked it up to the main computer that runs my business and the telephone. This way, if we get a power outage (which we get pretty often), I have a few minutes to save whatever work I’m doing, check in, and even place a call to my husband if need be.
But if it were something more than a simple power outage from a transformer down or there is rain 3 counties over, I have a small backup of power to be able to check how far reaching this is. That’s enough time to send a message to my Dad or inlaws if it’s a local event so that they can be updated, or enough time to get any relevant news that might still be available.
For about $50, you can get a decent UPS on sale at most computer stores or through Amazon, and it’s a simple hook up to put in. The prices can go higher, but we’re happy with what this one offers us.
We’re happy with the peace of mind it gives us for our every day kinds of emergencies. And after the most recent power outage, we put it into use, and it was brilliant!
Tom is a Marketing & Communications graduate interested in nature, gardening, agriculture, and traveling. For the last decade, Tom has turned his hobbies into a full-time job, creating useful resources and guides for all our readers. If he is not working on his next article, you will find Tom spending quality time with family or taking care of his own back garden.
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