5 Things You Need for a Crisis

It's been a busy week, both with work and with crises happening left and right.  Besides the cousin and her kid who is on his way to trial and probably prison which I wrote about before, another relative had a heart attack and open heart surgery a couple days ago, and this morning another cousin called to say her brother died (she then called back from the hospital and said he had been resuscitated but probably wouldn't last long).  When it rains it pours I guess.  Here are some really good things to have to help you handle whatever crisis may come your way:

1. An emergency fund (the bigger the better; money can fix a lot of problems).
2. Insurance (car insurance, health insurance, home insurance, life insurance, long term care insurance...like I said money can fix a lot of problems and really big problems need the really big funds provided by good insurance coverage).
3. A Will, Living Will, Medical Power of Attorney, etc (often when a medical emergency happens you won't have time to get these documents together so have them on hand already).
4. Someone to help you out.  Sometimes you can't do everything for yourself and need someone to help you--from advocating for your health care to giving you a ride home from the hospital to bringing you food when you don't have the energy to even get out of bed.
5. An emergency overnight bag.  Depending on the emergency, you may need to evacuate your home because of a wildfire heading your way or race to the hospital and end up staying there for days on end so having an overnight bag already packed with a change of clothes, toiletries, some cash, some snacks, etc. can be a lifesaver.