We understand that planning for a catastrophic event such as a hurricane is difficult for everyone; but at the end of the day, all you can really do is prepare for the worst and expect the best.

It is important to organize yourself and your family in preparation for a natural disaster. I have taken all that I’ve learned from Hurricane Irma this past week and created a list of ways you can organize yourself for any future natural disasters.

1. Stock up on plenty of food

It is important to fill your fridge with as many supplies as possible. After a hurricane strikes, you don’t know how long you could go without power, or how long it will take grocery stores or gas stations to open back up. Before the storm, I went through my fridge and threw out old food that could have potentially stunk up my fridge if the power went out.

I then gathered all my canned food, non-perishable foods, water, soft drinks and snacks. I tried to stay as healthy as possible during the hurricane, so I made sure to have plenty of apples, avocados, bananas, and almonds.

2. Get creative when storing water

Water bottles were especially difficult for me to find in stores, so instead of searching aimlessly for water bottles, I just filled up any available glass, tumbler or pitcher that I had in my kitchen cabinets and placed them in the fridge.

3. Get gas…ASAP

I also tried to avoid the madness of the gas stations. As soon as the disaster was sighted, I immediately filled up my gas tank.  There are also options available online to purchase extra gas containers and fill them up as back up. I noticed that some people waited until the day of the storm to get their gas and by then most gas stations were out of resources. Remember; the early bird gets the worm, so don’t ever wait on getting gas!

4. Put away anything personal

I did a sweep of my house pre-hurricane in an effort to avoid internal damaging of my personal items. I removed breakable items, picture frames, and anything that was hanging on my walls. I then placed these items in storage containers and kept them on the shelves in my closet.

5. Load up on light

We are all aware that power outages for extended periods of time are very common during a hurricane, so I snagged a ton of batteries, flashlights, candles, matches, and lighters.  I kept all my items in a drawer to avoid possible water damage.

6. Stay Occupied

I also strived to keep myself and my family occupied during the storm by preparing indoor activities. I made sure to charge all my technology equipment before the storm i.e phones, laptops, tablets, music devices, DVD players. Board games, books, and writing material were my saving-grace when I was stuck in my house without electricity.

7. Secure all important documents and personal items

Before the storm, I created a water-proof storage bin for my important documents. This is a great way to organize yourself and keep your information in one secure location. I created different files for all my documents such as:

• Banking Information
• Birth Certificates
• Passports
• Car Information
• Insurance, Water and Electric Information

I made sure to keep this file bin on the top shelf of the closet in my “safe room” (also known as a closet or window-less room that I could evacuate to just in case.) I knew I would need all my insurance and identification information after the storm if it was worst case scenario. This was actually a great project to do, because now I have a brand new organizing and filing system for my important documents just in case something else is headed our way.

I hope that these tips will help organize yourself, your home and your family in the case that another hurricane or natural disaster comes our way. If you need any help organizing your house in the after-math of Hurricane Irma, myself and the team at Me in Order are here for you.