When the power goes out at your house, do you find yourself scrambling for that flashlight you just knew you put in the drawer two years ago, just in case? Or can you put your hands directly on a fully charged flashlight in 3 steps, or a box of matches and emergency candles, or other lighting device within a few easy steps, with no fumbling, and with no worries that it won’t work?
This emergency quick tip comes up because we did have a power outage this week. I was already in bed and the power went out. I opened my side table drawer, knowing that I had a flashlight at the ready so that we could begin to figure out what we needed to do next. But….why couldn’t I feel it? I know it’s there, I just checked it a week ago. I fumbled around in the drawer and still couldn’t find it.
One of my kids came into the room with their handy-dandy finger flashlights, to come check on me, and I had to borrow his to find mine! It was right there, just stuck between a tube of hand cream, a tv remote, my sewing scissors (and why weren’t they in my sewing box?) and other assorted junk that’s accumulated there over time. The flashlight just didn’t stand out.
I know, that if I’m in the living room or kitchen, I have a flashlight within about 4 steps of anywhere I am. In my bedroom, even if I couldn’t find a flashlight on my bed table, there is the lantern next to hubby’s side of the bed. In the kitchen, we also have an emergency lighting box in a cupboard. If we’re in our yard, there are an assortment of solar landscape lights that we can grab in case we’re heading into garage in the dark. The children have a light on their bed, tucked between their bed frame and mattress, they have lights on their dresser top (but that does mean crawling across their junkyard heap of a bedroom floor – which is a safety hazard of its own!) We have a flashlight hanging on the towel rack, one in the linen closet, and one at the front door. Is that overkill? I dunno, but I’d rather spend a little money to make sure we can see than scrambling around looking for lighting in an emergency.
We also have a couple of oil lamps that can then be brought down from their storage place to light the room, as well as a couple of camping lanterns, and a whole host of emergency candles with holders that can light our way once we settle ourselves into knowing what caused the outage.
It is important that you check your emergency lighting regularly. Even though you put a fresh battery in recently, there’s a chance the flashlight could have been turned on by being jostled, and ran out of juice. There’s a chance a circuit broke, and it just doesn’t work anymore. We check our lights on the first day of every month.
And as a quick tip part b, you can use your smart phone or reading device for light, too! I’ve whipped out my kindle before to give me a little extra light before! (and yes, our area has frequent power outages because it’s an older neighborhood that needs to be completely ‘rewired’)
Here are some of the fun lighting pieces we use:
fingertip LED lights for an emergency
These lights are really bright, and are perfect for our kids not only for playing with in the dark, but also using in an emergency. Just one was brighter than many of the smaller flashlights we keep around the house. They also make great stocking stuffers!
glow in the dark emergency flashlight
We have these hanging in our bathrooms and in desk drawers.
hanging, waterproof flashlight and room light
This light hangs on our son’s bunk bed. He uses it for when he gets up in the night, and it is his go-to light when the power goes out. We really like how bright it is and the fact that it’s a multi-function light.
We received this as a gift from a friend for Christmas that we keep in the hallway. Love it.
Of course, we have standard, awesome flashlights and lanterns, but those two are fun pieces we add, especially for the children.
Are you sure that you can find the emergency lighting measures you have in your house in the event of a power outage?
See more Emergency Preparedness Quick Tips here
