Other things worth thinking about to improve household resilience
- Have a first aid kit, make sure you keep it upto date, and maybe do a first aid course. You can do a course with either St John’s Ambulance or the British Red Cross and become a certified first aider.
- Install one or more smoke detectors, and check their batteries regularly.
- Create a basic household repair kit with, for example flat and cross-headed screw drivers in a couple of sizes – ie some for screwing in wood screws, some for re wiring an electrical plug (never do electrical repairs unless you are properly qualified). Gaffer tape would certainly be useful for many temporary repairs – eg cracked windows, cracked plastic items, holding loose things in place. Glue such as aroldite glue and super glue. BluTac and silicone putty such as include sugaroo. If you can learn basic woodwork skills that could be useful, or just becoming practiced at sticking things together temporarily, it means you can cope better in the short run with unexpected crises.
- Create a basic sewing kit with threads, needles, pins, buttons etc. You can learn/ practice basic repairs skills such as replacing buttons, re stitching hems, darning socks etc.
- Practice your cooking and baking skills so you can make more things from scratch. Fresh bread and biscuits can boost happiness, and being able to make a meal from scratch makes you less reliant on ready made meals.
- Have a go at growing some food – could be as small as sowing mustard and cress seeds on a piece of blotting paper/ paper towel.
- Make friends with your neighbours. Community and team work make it much easier and enjoyable to cope with an emergency.
The Green Tau 