Welcome!
Welcome to week #7 in the “72 Hour Kit Ideas: A week by week approach” series.
This series is all about making it simple and do-able to get a 72 hour kit put together for you and your family.
Creating such a kit can be overwhelming and financially difficult to do all at once. But through this series, I’ve broken it down for you into 26 small steps! You can see all the steps here. Just take one small baby step each week and in 6 months you will have a well stocked, personalized kit!
You can even go through the series a few times over a year or two adding just the most basic supplies the first six months and then a few more “extra” supplies each time you cycle through it again.
Want even more help?
This series is also available as an e-book. Purchasing the e-book gives you a few additional benefits over just reading the free series:
- Additional details and tips
- The ability to print the entire book!
- Pictures of my own kit showing just how I pack each week.
Download “Your Own 72 Hour Kit Plan” E-Book Now!
Last Week:
I hope all of you were able to add some utensils, plates etc. to your kit last week.
Week #7: Clothing
If you (heaven forbid) ever have to face a serious natural disaster, it is likely that you will need a change of clothes. You may be bleeding or extremely dirty. Even if you aren’t, you will likely want to change your clothes at least once over a 3 day period of time.
So, this week, add clothing to your kit supplies for each person in your family.
Clothing Suggestions:
Consider the following thoughts as you decide what clothing will work best for your family.
- Keep your clothing as lightweight as is reasonable.
- Try shopping at your local thrift store.
- Bright, solid colors are smart.
- Think of what the weather will be like in the next 6 months and include appropriate clothing.
- Consider a sweatshirt and sweatpants. You could cut them off in warm weather.
- If you have children, especially young children, think of how much you expect them to grow in the next 6 months and include clothing in that size.
- Don’t forget underwear, shoes and socks!
What we have done in our family:
We have pants and long sleeve shirts (could be cut off in the summer), for each family member. We also have a change of underwear and 2 changes of socks for each family member in our kits. I keep each person’s clothes in a plastic bag so they will stay dry even in rainy weather.
We keep coats, hats, gloves and shoes in our coat closet (they take up too much room to be in the actual kit) and would actually wear these if evacuating in the winter.
How About You?
Leave me a comment and tell me what clothing you will add to your kit. What are you adding? Why?
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Week #6: Eating | Week #8: Shelter | Week #1: Packaging Your Kit | Series Into: Survival Kit Series, A Week by Week Approach |
Becky is a wildlife enthusiast and pet and livestock care expert with a diploma in canine nutrition. With over a decade of experience in animal welfare, Becky lends her expertise to Simple Family Preparedness through insightful info about pets, livestock, bee keeping, and the practicalities of homesteading.
Hi Misty!
I would add a hat for sleeping and warm fleece sox for sleeping warmth. Here’s an idea: cut sweats off and sew in a coat zipper on each for instant zip-offs!
Clever Dixean!
I am cold natured, so I keep a package or two of hand warmers in the winter months in the glove box of our cars. now there will be some in my 72 kit.
thanks
They are great for camping too Scott!
As I’m working on my kit, I am constantly thinking and rethinking my options as I’m sure everyone does…before I found your site, I wasn’t really planning a bug-out bag so now I have a few plastic bins with stuff in them and am moving to backpacks. I’ve decided I can still make those bins terribly useful, however, by putting them right next to our kits (inspired by Misty!) with all the stuff we’d take if we have time and are going by car. The bins will include at a minimum our tent, ground pads, sleeping bags, camp stove and fuel. Other things I might include are cold weather gear, snowshoes and hiking boots depending on the space I have left. In an evacuation, grabing a bin would just be one step as opposed to several things on a list/trips to the car. My bins were 6 dollars or so at Big Lots.
Great idea! I would also keep my portable toilet bucket with sanitation supplies inside.
We have a pair of lightweight trousers, a t-shirt, lightweight long-sleeved shirt (layer or protection from sun), 2 pairs socks and underwear, shoes, and a pair of work gloves for each person. Our tent is next to the bags, and I am going to see about bungeeing it to one of them. I also added an emergency rai n poncho for each person, but I still need wide-brimmed hats.