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.
Well, I just found your website and already love it. So….I guess my task for the week will be to read the archives and start at baby step one!!
We already have ponchos in our kits but recently purchased some emergency blankets (the foil type ones) because they are good for a number of different things, including a quick shelter. We are looking in to adding a small tent for something a little more durable. Also, we are gearing up for the cold weather and just swapped out our extra warm weather clothes for our cold wethe clothes.
My husband and I both have a change of clothes in our pack, but with winter coming on strong here in the north, I’m realizing I need to consider investing in some thermal clothing instead of just jeans and tees. We also still need ponchos… I think I’ll just add garbage bags for now. For shelter, we have a tube tent and extra rope, just in case.
We have 2 black, large. yard, and leaf garbage bags in everyones packs. The little ones also have a poncho and emergency blanket. We need to get new tents since both of ours finally fell apart during our last camping trip this summer.
I have all our clothes vacuumed sealed in a small space bag. Got them cheap from Walmart, everything is super flat and will stay dry
Another suggestion for clothing (this is what we do) would be to pack a pair of sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt. This way if it’s cold your protected, but if it’s hot you just cut them turning them into shorts and short sleeve shirt. Everyone should have something sharp to cut them with I hope, so this shouldn’t be a problem.
Great idea Brooke! I will add it to the post.
I have just discovered this site! Love it! We already have very basic 72hr kits but this is a great resource for making them better. We have a tent to be carried separate from our backpacks, but I love the idea of adding a tarp or two to the packs so that we will have something even if the tent is too heavy. For the clothing, I just went to a second hand store and picked up stuff for really cheap!
Also…I thought I’d share what I give for wedding gifts…seems unrelated but bear with me. Couples always get loads of stuff they don’t need or want, so I give a 72hr pack. Even if they don’t want it, they sure do need it. And it’s something that people just starting out don’t often think of. (Great for college kids, or housewarming or even a baby shower)
My Mom actually gave me a 3 month supply of food storage for a wedding gift Mary and it was one of my very favorite things! I’m glad to hear there are others out there doing a similar thing!
We plan to add clothes to our survival pack. I think goodwill will be a great place to find clothes since we dont have extra. I plan on adding different sizes for the baby since i will not know how big she will be at the time of possible use. We also plan on adding tarps to our pack. Such a great idea! We already have ponchos in place that actually fold up relatively small so it saves some space in our pack. 🙂
Ponchos are great for that: useful & compact!
Rain gear is a must to keep my family dry in inclement weather. We all remember what Mary Poppins said about children who get their feet wet, right? But aside from rain gear, sun protection is near the top of the importance scale. My family is full of fair-skinned people and having our skin and eyes protected from the sun is a must. It is all too easy to become ill from sun exposure without even realizing it.
I do have sunscreen etc in other posts, but I think it belongs better here Ashley! I will add it. Thanks!
I really appreciate this site! I just shared it with my RS at our emergency preparedness activity we had tonight, I look forward to getting started with your help!
Thanks for sharing it Megan! I really appreciate that!
We have one 6 man tent. I want to get a smaller one for our kits. We have a tarp which in cold weather you can put over your tent and it will help keep it warmer. We also have two ponchos. I never thought about adding extra clothes, so I will add that to our kits. I do not have extra shoes right now so that is something that I will have to work on. My husband has to wear special braces (shoes attached) and right now he only has one pair. Insurance will only pay for one pair per year and he has only had these for less than a year. If we have to bug out walking is not an option for him. I am currently exploring other ideas, will let you know what I come up with.
I’m looking forward to hearing your ideas Brenda!
It’s funny that you don’t realize how much you need shelter from the elements when you are safe in a house. When we were camping last summer it poured rain for 3-4 days, and extra tarps really made a difference to our comfort level. I even went out a couple of weeks ago and bought 4 more and some bungee style cords to wrap them in the grommets to add another layer on a tent or shelter. I know you can’t prepare for everything, but it makes me feel a little better to know we have a bit of a back up. thanks again for your great ideas and suggestions.
Thanks for sharing the personal experience Kelly!
We have a small tent that we could still fit into if need be to protect from the elements. I have also purchased a small tarp (super cheap with coupons at Harbor Freight!) I need to add extra ponchos for the kids. I need to put clothes/diapers for my children into our kits. I haven’t done this because I felt like they would never fit into whatever I have in there for them anyways, but I like the idea of just putting what they could fit into in the next 6 months. I may just go to the thrift store and buy some clothes the next size or two (maybe 3?) up and then I won’t have to worry about it for awhile. 🙂
Yes, thrift stores, garage sales…great places for these types of things!
We were just checking out tents last night, we already have some tarps, but really want a tent. We had a tornado touch down where we live and damage a few houses, we were lucky that we didnt need alternative housing tonight. Ill be taking care of the tent very quickly as next time we might not be so lucky. Our house was missed by one of the huge pine trees in the front yard, but only by a few feet.
Oh my! I’m so so glad to know you are okay!
We have two tube tents, both wool and survival blankets, and ponchos for each person. I know I don’t have enough clothing, though. The thrift store idea is a great one, I guess I hadn’t thought of it!
Love the thrift store for such things! Garage sales too! (-:
I am looking for some good sleeping bags. I am updating my emergency kit, and I bought some new supplies for our first aid kit.
Fabulous Donna! Good luck on the sleeping bags. Let me know if I can help at all!
A very cool tip for survival situations is trading out your shoelaces for para cord. Para cord can be used for a number of things and is a great accessory. Also think about using one of the vacuum sealed bags for clothing. Waterproof and keeps your gear smaller. Leaves more room for other essential gear!
what a great idea.
We found nice ponchos for $3.99 in the camping aisle at Walmart in both adult and child sizes. Also they have glow sticks with flasher and whistle for $3.44. They are supposed to last for 200 hours.
Great find with the glowsticks!
I have tarps and ponchos. I also have a couple of tents stashed in the garage to throw in the car, if needed.
I have put at least 2 large lawn and leaf sized garbage bags in each of our backpacks to use as a rain ponch or a tent if need be. I also included duct tape to help make it larger if we need to combine several of them. So many ways to use the garbage bags. We also each have at least one change of clothing. In the childrens packs, I put one warm change of clothes and one cooler one.
Garbage bags are one of those great multi-use items!
My husband and i love to backpack so we have two ultra light 2 man tents. I believe each tent is under 5lbs. We had to add the second tent after we had our two children and now @ 9/7 yrs old we go backpacking as a family and can hike in light and sleep in two tents. We never could find a four man tent that looked light enough to backpack.
I can’t wait until my kids are old enough to take backpacking Melanie!
I have had updating and finishing my 72 hr kits on my “to do list” for quite some time. It always seemed so overwhelming and so I kept putting it off. I was lucky enough to run across your website and thanks to you I am starting this week! I have clothes and food for each of us- but hadn’t got to shelter. Thanks for your posts- the steps are very insightful and helpful- and most of all, I feel that it is all do-able!
I’m so glad Jerilyn! Welcome to the site!
I have just started my preparations for my family and a tent is on my list. One item that I have put in our emergency backpacks is bug spray! The mosquitoes are horrible in GA in the summer, so this is a must!
So true Bridgette! I’ve lived in GA for a bit and I agree!
i have a small 4 person tent that i picked up at walmart cheap. for clothing i have a pair of pants and a longsleeve shirt for me and a track suit for mini me, that way if it’s hot i can take her hoodie off and if it’s cold she can put it on. i also have a regular sheet packed and an emergency blanket. when the budget allows i would like to have a bigger backpack so i can fit sleeping bags but for now im making due with what i got!
I just have emergency sleeping bags in my kit and a blanket. The sleeping bags sit on a shelf in the garage (easily accessible) though so I could grab them if leaving in the car.
My husband has a backpacking background, so although we are new to creating an emergency kit, we have some of the basics such as a tent with raincover and a tarp to make a vestibule. What we are lacking is a second sleeping bag for me (though he says he’d share 🙂 )
Thanks for a great website — I’m excited to learn more!
Glad to hear your husband is so generous Shalene! (-: