The Evacuation Bag

Fortunately we haven't had to evacuate our area but several friends and relative on the west coast were waiting for orders to evacuate their homes because of wildfires (fortunately none of them ended up having to leave) and I've been keeping and eye on Lorraine's blog because she lives right where Hurricane Sally hit (fortunately she didn't end up evacuating either).  We don't really have any natural disasters common to our area but as we learned when we made several trips to the ER in the middle of the night due to hubby's health problems, it pays to be ready to leave your house on a moment's notice and the only way to do that is to have a "evacuation bag" packed and ready to go.  So today we took a bit of time to dump out the evacuation bag we always keep in the car and check the contents to make sure we weren't missing anything.  Here's what we keep in our bag:

• A bag.  It's an Osprey Perrigee 29 litre bag that holds both of our stuff.
• One change of clothes for each of us; this includes socks, underwear, work out pants, and tops.
• A fleece jacket (me) and rain jacket (hubby).  We actually keep several jackets in the car because casinos are always so cold year round that we usually take a jacket with us every time we go into a casino.
• A toiletry kit: comb, razor, nail clipper, nail file, shampoo, conditioner, sunscreen, toothbrush, toothpaste, tweezers, lotion, mirror, floss, soap, packet of kleenex, tampons, makeup (brow liner, eye liner, concealer, lipstick, eye shadow, powder)
• Knife
• Towel from REi that packs up really small
• Carabiner
• Space Pen
• Tiny Maglight flashlight
• Space blanket
• Rain poncho
• Compass
• Paracord
• Sharpie
• Headlamp
• Extra batteries
• Battery banks (2).  I try to remember to charge these monthly.
• Ear buds
• AM/FM radio
• Cell charging cord (standard with an additional type C tip)
• USB drive with all of my computer files backed up on it
• Mini can opener
• Spork
• Matches
• Super Glue
• Rubber bands
• Safety pins
• Sticky note paper
• Masks and gloves (newly added because of the pandemic)
• Ziploc bags in assorted sizes
• First aid kit: bandaids, alcohol wipes, neosporin, Thera Flu, Tylenol, moleskin, Ibuprofen, Benadryl, condoms (can be used as a tourniquet), two day's worth of hubby's medications
• Food (granola bars) 

We always keep a case of water in the car as well as box of tissue and pack of Costco wipes, and I have made an "evacuation checklist" so we won't forget other important things like our EDC bags, hubby's medication box, a box of camping gear (tent, sleeping bags, stove, water purifier, etc), laptops, a tub of food from the pantry, firearms/ammo, etc.

This is a pretty basic collection of stuff but it would take care of our needs should we end up at a hotel overnight, at the hospital for a few days, etc.