‘What’s are the little things you do ‘just in case’?’ – 21 odd and irrational safety measures people can’t function without
It’s true that we live in an age of uncertainty at the moment, and it feels like we’re perpetually on the brink of some sort of massive disaster, but is that true? Or are we just so addicted to doomscrolling that it feels that way?
It’s hard to say, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t all do some small things to prepare for adversity, even if it’s just having a couple of candles in a drawer in case of a power cut.
They’ve been chatting about the ways in which we can convince ourselves we have some semblance of control over the world on the AskUK subreddit after user V1-R0t8 posted this:
What’s are the little things you do ‘just in case’? You hear about people who build bunkers and have enough tinned food to outlive the rest of civilisation, but what are the little things ordinary folk do ‘just in case’?
I have a wind up radio with USB chargers and six 2L bottles of water Severn Trent gave us when they disconnected our water mains by accident.
And lots of people chipped in with their modest prepping habits, like these:
1.
‘I’m very polite to AI.’
–Frequent-Newt-2788
2.
‘Check the front door is locked before bed at night even though I’m sure it is.’
–Otherwise_Koala4289
3.
‘Just keep a few weeks of everything (food, medications) in your home along with a camping stove and some charged power packs. Any disaster lasting longer than a week will either have people coming to help or no one coming to help so pointless preparing for.’
–seadoubleyou73
4.
‘- Make sure you are fit enough to walk a few miles ( to safety).
– Have a family plan – where will we meet up if the asteroid hits, or the canal floods our village?
– Where are your identity papers? If you have to leave quick…you don’t need to waste time looking for your passport.
– Have a family stash of cash
Prepping is mostly free.’
–mumwifealcoholic
5.
‘Tell my wife I love her and give her a kiss every time one of us leaves the house for the day.’
–tetlee
6.
‘Keep some of my entertainment offline. Got hit by an internet outage a couple of years ago and found myself a bit lost over the weekend until it was repaired. It was quite a shock to realise how much I depend on internet for everything – I stream all the tv and films I watch, and music, even ebooks so if I’ve not downloaded them in advance I can’t access them.
I preferred having everything digitally (less clutter to dust round in my house) but went back to having a bookshelf with some physical media on it again (a couple of shelves are real books and some DVDs).’
–Strong-Librarian-OOK
7.
‘I got into the habit of keeping Christmas and birthday money and storing it away in a DVD case. It wasn’t much each time but after a while it’s a good amount. Should help fill the gap if all cards canceled etc.’
–Electricbell20
8.
‘Keep a pack of spare loo rolls in the cupboard. If Covid taught me anything it’s that if supply chains fail, people would rather starve than go without their Andrex.’
–Imaginary_Bird538
9.
‘I have a small torch in my bedside drawer. ‘Just in case’ there’s a power cut in the night, despite my phone having a torch and being on top of the same bedside cabinet.’
–Personal-Listen-4941
10.
‘I keep a min of £100 and coins in my car. Enough for a hotel room to get you out of trouble if our phones have died. Or we are in our own. Just enough to get either of us out of trouble if we get stranded somewhere or the car breaks down. I’ve also got a mixed fire extinguisher in the footwell of the front seat because I’m petrified of being trapped in an electrical car fire!’
–jasilucy
11.
‘I pee before leaving the house even if I don’t feel the need. But in all honesty, I do have the recommended extra food and bottled water always, flashlight and extra batteries.
I also have a very specific car safety kit which my mother thinks is excessive. But in it I have the regular stuff plus seatbelt scissors and a glass shutter thingy.’
–Gloomy_Custard_3914
12.
‘A good few episodes of Bluey downloaded on my phone in case I get stuck somewhere with my toddler and no internet (like A&E or a really bad traffic jam).’
–Wild_Region_7853