My fish (I wouldn’t leave him to die. He’s a betta so I’d just put him in his little covered cup, and he’d be fine).
My pills.
My bag my wallet and cell phone and stuff like that.
A jacket and sweater.
My laptop (maybe).
Dog
Emergency bag that is always packed w/ copies of important papers, phone numbers, vet records, etc.
Purse
Change of clothes and jammies
Book
I live in tornado country, and tend to be prepared for having to move fast if the weather gets rocky.
I keep a jump bag by my front door. It is more than five things but in it I keep:
- first aid kit, with prescription medicine
- bandannas
- extra tee shirt, socks, underwear
- flashlight
- food for 2 days
- half gallon of water
- multi-tool
- $500
- duct tape
- extra cell phone, with charger
- passport
I’m in Iraq and I’ve already had to beat feet out of here once before, so it tends to focus the mind.
cat
laptop
wedding picture album
cell phone
my fave pair of jeans
Oh wait, my husband too… um if I have time. 
My laptop.
My passport and important documentations
My Playstaiton II
My Playstation II games
Myself
Well, when I actually had to make this decision last August 28th, after I ran around my apartment in a panic for a few minutes, I packed:
- three days’ change of clothes
- my pillow
- some non-perishable food
- two Nalgene bottles full of water
- my current knitting project
I didn’t even think to bring photo albums or anything like that. All I could think of was, “I have no idea where I’m going, and may have to stay at a shelter for a few days. What would be useful to bring there?”
Besides my clothes, watch, and wallet, which I’m always wearing anyway?
- Sidearm, with ammo
- Field knife
- Mirror
- Canteen kit (canteen, cup, matches all in a carrying pouch)
- Sumthin’ to read.
The sidearm is fairly obvious, but the knife isn’t just a knife. A good field knife can be pretty much any tool you need it to be.
The mirror is for signalling either a rescue party or other ‘survivors’ to link up with (and to look good when the rescue party arrives).
The canteen: for collecting and holding water between spots. You never know when you’re going to run low. The metal cup’s for heating that water up to make it safe (and palatable) to drink thanks to the little fire I scraped together.
Somethin’ to read: It may be awhile before I’m picked up. I gotta see what Maxim recommends I buy for a home theater system, after I get home and write my “survival story” book. The mail-in subscription cards also work as great kindling.
Tripler
“Oh shit Bill! You just lit Miss June on fire!!” :eek: :smack:
Out of curiousity, why the bandannas?
Just a newspaper or something else to read and some toilet paper. Maybe soap to wash my hands with afterwards. Oh, and a towel.
What?
Cats, purse, electronic Japanese dictionary (though that would fit in my purse so maybe I won’t count that, current books I’m working on, my brand spankin’ new imported directly form Italy Yves Saint Laurent suede aubergine cone heels, March Jacobs peep toed pumps, Steve Madden patent leather stacked platform heels, Michael Kors suede platform peep toed wedges, Sam Edelman mocassin wedges…heck, I’ll just throw 'em all in a big trash bag.
OK, I have the cats, purse, books, big bag o’ shoes, so I get one more right? I think I’d take my mother’s colander, the only really sentimental thing I own.
You’re 16 posts late. :dubious:
Bandannas are multi-taskers. You can wear them as a sun-shade, soak them in water as a cooler, patch wounds, wash off gunk, tie down gear, etc., etc. Cheap, light, and they don’t take up any space to speak of.
First two things that come to mind, he’s in Iraq which is desert. Bandana can be tied around the face to protect against breathing in the sand.
They’re also handy to get damp for keeping yourself cool in the desert heat. Pour on water, wrap around neck and you have personal AC. It can help to stave off heat stroke.
First three things that come to mind, he’s in Iraq which is desert. Bandana can be tied around the face to protect against breathing in the sand.
They’re also handy to get damp for keeping yourself cool in the desert heat. Pour on water, wrap around neck and you have personal AC. It can help to stave off heat stroke.
They can go under the helmet or just wrapped around the head in general to soak up sweat and keep it out of the eyes. They are handy little things.
Drat, didn’t mean to double post that.
Several weeks ago the GF and I were in our apartment enjoying a bottle (or 2 or 3) of wine, when the smoke alarm went off in the downstairs apartment, which was vacant at the time. I went down the stairs and opened our door to find a thick cloud of smoke (actually turned out to be steam, as the boiler in the basement blew up, melting the floor of the apartment below us and filled the place with steam). Yelling to my GF, she grabbed my car keys and a jacket, and I grabbed my cell phone and we quicly ran outside. I called 911 and she knocked on neighbors’ doors.
It was about 2 degrees outside and 1AM, and we waited in the car for several hours while the fire dept. did thier thing. As we slowly sobered up we decided should this ever happen again we should definatly remember to grab the following forgotten items:
extra wine
cigarettes
perhaps my walet and her purse.
That seemed like all the important things to us at the time…
Hmm, depends on the situation i guess, in “WTSHTF” situation, i’d grab my Bugout bag, containing clothing, spare flashlights, firestarting supplies, a pocket survival kit, and field trauma first-aid kit, my .357 Magnum and speedloaders, Ka-Bar knife, energy bars and energy gels (that’s one item)
then i’d grab;
my Mossberg 500 12-gauge pump and shotshells (size 0 to 000 Buckshot)
my PowerBook G4
my Camelbak MULE with first-aid kit bicycle break-down kit and full bladder of water
Spyderco Chinook knife
if i had time to load the car, i’d have access to more survival stuff (knives and flashlights mainly), and i’d put both my bicycles on the roof rack (geared mountain bike and singlespeed MTB), and stuff the trunk and rear seats full of blankets, sleeping bag and the like…
and of course my towel
if it wasn’t a breakdown-of-society evac (lets say a mega-blizzard or a cat. 3-5 hurricaine making landfall in New England) i’d probably not go so heavily armed (the shotgun’s a given…) and go more with survival gear (clothing, blankets, sleeping bags, nonperishable food, extra water and such)
My birds (all stuffed in one cage)
Laptop with charger
Photo albums
Filing cabinet (only a two-drawer)
My purse
Good question. One that will be considered a LOT in the next few months… I live in S. Louisiana and, along with a million others, had to do this. Of course we had a bit more time than the OP, several hours.
In retrospect, the things that I am most glad I took were our computers and (most) of the important papers. Food, clothing, meds (pharmacies were more or less taking people’s word for what they needed. if you had a pill bottle you were set), etc were of secondary importance. Once we were out of the danger zone, all that was available. Food for the drive maybe, but definitely second order stuff. Don’t have pets-and the problems people had/have with pets make me certain I never will. But I missed some of the papers. Does everyone know where their mortgage is? Basically any important paper that is only held locally (within the damage zone), you need to take with you. Why should you care? FEMA/Corps of Engineers. Your driver’s licence may be good enough, but never underestimate the stupidity of government. Government disaster relief groups often won’t come on to your property without permission of the owner-so be able to prove it. It can be VERY frustrating. (Not rescue folks. they are there to help. And private groups. They haven’t been sued yet so they are still willing to be helpful.) Our insurance papers were easy to replace because the insurance company isn’t local. But leases, deeds, contracts, etc can be tough to replace. Figure out where the backup is, and if it is close at hand-be prepared to take your own copy.
clothes, toiletries etc. If you can get them at Walmart, don’t let them slow you down. Get out ahead of the traffic.
As others have posted, bandannas are wonderful multi-taskers: they are good as bandages, to cover your face from smoke, to make a sling for fractures, and in a pinch as water filters (running water through a cotton cloth gets a surprising amount of stuff out, especially if the cloth is well worn and the threads are frayed; it’s not perfect but better than nothing);
Also, in an evacuation scenario could likely entail hours or days of waiting at an airport to get a plane out and it’s nice to have a cloth to wash up with when you can’t get a shower and bandannas dry very quickly when you spread them out.
One other thing I forgot to include on my list was hand sanitizer. That stuff is gold.