While Superstorm Sandy brings the East Coast to a standstill, even those not affected by this storm are wondering what they can do to be prepared for natural disasters and life’s speedbumps. While natural disasters seem to be coming more and more frequently, we all face speedbumps in life that can really throw us off course if we are not prepared. As a mom (or dad), your need to prepare for such disasters is magnified by the little ones who depend on you to make sure they weather these storms as well. Here are some tips I have found useful in dealing with the wild ride that life can bring.

* Print a list of contact info for important people in your family and community. If your cell phone battery is dead, can you call anyone you know?

* Let family and friends know that you plan to use Facebook or similar services to update family members that you are ok. This helps keep cell tower resources available and also makes it easy to update everyone at once.

* Get your finances in order. If you are spending more than you are earning, there is a problem and it is time to do some serious examining of your spending priorities or at least find a way to balance things. It may mean giving up some short-term luxuries, or taking on a second source of income.

Whatever you need to do, you are going to sleep a lot better at night if you have 6 months of savings and your debts paid down. That won’t happen overnight, for most of us, but it is a goal that we should all be working towards.

Many of the “necessities” people pay for each month are really luxuries. Like cable TV. I have personally not paid for cable TV since college. I figure I have saved at least $50 a month for the last 20 years. That is $12,000!

Cutting out things like cable has given me the ability to work from home – even though I took a serious paycut by doing so. Sure, every now and then I miss me some HGTV or something, but if I had it I would feel obligated to watch it – and I just prefer to do other things with my time.

* Keep some cash on hand. Be sure to have at least $100 in small bills hidden away for an emergency. While I was living in the DC area I learned that even a heavy snowstorm can knock out credit card machines, leave banks short on cash, and even keep fuel trucks from replenishing gas stations. If you have some small bills on hand, you can at least buy what you need if it is available.

I was also living in the Washington DC area when 9/11 happened. No one knew what was coming next or how bad things would get. I remember the feeling of fear as I left work early that day and headed home. I had to stop at the bank, the grocery store, and the gas station before I went home. Had I been prepared I could have simply gone straight home. If the disaster had been an earthquake or something similar, there would not have been time to do any preparation.

* Don’t let your gas tank get below half full. If a disaster strikes, you will need fuel and it could be in short supply. As I mentioned, when the 39 inch snowstorm fell on the Mid Atlantic – tanker trucks could not make it in to fill the gas station tanks. In an earthquake or other situation, gas may be in short supply for a while.

* Keep water on hand. This can be as simple as stocking up on a few extra cases of water. Experts recommend that you keep 3 gallons per person for a 5 day supply. So, for our family of 9 people – that is 15 gallons a day for 5 days or 60 gallons of water. You’ll need it for drinking, but also for sanitation, washing, and cooking. Don’t forget your pets! While drinking water needs to taste good or I won’t drink it, washing water can be tap water that is properly stored with just a bit of chlorine bleach in it.

The LDS church has some great info on food and water storage here.

* Keep food on hand. This has been a lesson I learned from my mother who grew up during some very hard times. I can not tell you how often this has simplified my life! During job losses, car repairs that sucked down all my available cash, business start up times, illnesses that just made it hard to shop, and economic down-times, we always had food.

You can go with high-tech dried emergency supply kinds of food – or just buy extras every time you shop. This is how I like to do it. This also helps us save money and I know that the food we have is what we like to eat. Make sure that at least some of your food supply can be eaten without cooking. We always have canned fruits and veggies, chili, soups, peanut butter, bread, crackers and other “fast foods” on hand.

Planning for food storage does not need to be complicated. For instance, I know that we use about 4 jars of jam per month (Grandma eats a lot of jam and bread, and Eva likes her PBJ sandwiches!). So, I need about 50 jars of jam for a whole year. I either make or buy jam in bulk and we never run out. We use about 16 cans of tuna per month and it is on sale two or three times per year. When tuna is on sale, I buy two cases of 48 cans each. That is usually enough to last until the next sale, and I never have to worry about running out.

Don’t stress if you are short on cash and feel that food storage is out of your reach. Just start by buying a few extras each shopping trip – focusing on foods that are on sale and that keep well. If you have $3 extra each week, buy 3 extra cans of something each week. If you have no extra money, try cutting back on something expensive and substitute something more sustainable. That $3 box of cold cereal could be traded for $3 worth of oatmeal. You’ll save money per meal, have a little extra, and be healthier.

* Pack a 72 hour kit. This is simply a bag of things you need if you have to survive away from home for 72 hours. Clothing, diapers, medicine, food, water, snacks, cash, copies of important documents, and some form of entertainment – all in a handy bag or tote that is easy to carry. A first aid kit, flashlights, battery-powered radio, hand sanitizer, and blankets are also important. A backpack makes sense if you can find one. Stock up in cheap backpacks from yard sales or school supply sales. Store these where they are easy to access in case you have to leave in a hurry. Be sure to look at your kits twice a year to be sure everything is up-to-date and still fits – kids grow fast! FEMA has great info on packing an emergency kit.

* Make sure that valuables such as family photos and heirlooms are easy to access. A quick list of what to bring in an evacuation could save you a lot of time. This summer we saw many people in Western states have to evuacate their homes in under an hour – some had only a few minutes to grab what they could before their homes burned to the ground. If you either store items where they can be easily accessed, or have a list handy in your 72 hour kit, you’ll know what to get when your mind might be blank from panic and stress.

* Keep some emergency supplies in your car. You never know when a freeway pileup or sudden storm could keep you out on the road longer than you plan. Keep snacks, water, blankets and a first aid kit – as well as a flashlight, jumper cables and flat tire repair tools handy.

The most important thing to remember is that if you are prepared, you need not fear. Your family will be depending on you in an emergency. If you have everything prepared in advance, you can remain calm and help keep your kids calm too. No matter what the emergency, the most important thing to remember is that as long as you are together you can make it through anything.