Security and Safety
(Stuff to Have…Just in Case!)
Avoiding Disaster at Home
You probably won’t have to worry too much about plagues and pestilence, but you might want to be prepared for the basic acts of nature and man.
Your landlord should already have smoke detectors installed in your home or apartment. If not, this is a totally legitimate thing to request. In fact, he’s probably required by law to do so. It’s less likely that he’s installed a carbon monoxide detector, but it’s very worth the cost for you to do so.
Carbon monoxide is an odorless gas that is the result of combustion from a furnace or water heater. Poor or faulty venting can cause the gas to build up in your home, rather than be vented outside. This can definitely kill you, and you won’t know what hit you. Frankly, you’ll be unconscious at the time.
You don’t need to buy the fanciest detector. Get the sort that plugs into a wall socket, so you can take it with when you move. And if it ever goes off, don’t ignore it or think it’s broken. Get out of the house, call the fire department and let them check it out. Carbon monoxide has a way of clouding your thinking, so get some fresh air and a professional opinion.
Follow the same advice with the smoke detector. Sometimes that little alarm will beep briefly to let you know the battery needs replacing. But if the alarm is blaring, it may be for a reason you can’t easily detect. Once again, leave the house and call the fire department.
O.M.O. Life Tip: NEVER HESITATE TO CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IF YOU ARE AT ALL WORRIED ABOUT FIRE OR CARBON MONOXIDE! This is what they do for a living and trust me, they would much rather find nothing wrong than find you dead!
It is also good to have at least one fire extinguisher in the house. There are a variety of types of extinguishers designed to handle different types of fires. If you only have one, look for the letters “ABC” on the unit. This means that the extinguisher will put out trash/wood/paper fires (A), liquid/grease fires (B) and electrical fires (C). Some extinguishers won’t handle all three, they are more specialized, but you don’t have the money to buy a variety of extinguishers so get the one that covers the widest variety of fires and put it in a central place in the house–the kitchen is usually best–and don’t forget where you put it!
In an emergency, if an extinguisher isn’t handy, remember that fire feeds on oxygen, so if you have something cooking in a pan on the stove and it catches fire, cover it with a lid. DON’T swat at it with a towel. Towels are flammable.
You can also smother small grease and electrical fires with baking soda, so put it where you can easily find it. Grab a handful, stand back and watch out for splatters when you toss the baking soda on the fire. But remember, only do this with small fires. If it doesn’t work, use the extinguisher. If that doesn’t work, or it’s getting out of control fast, GET OUT!! Call the fire department from a neighbor’s house. O.M.O. Life Tip: it is not worth risking your life to put out a fire. Stuff can be replaced—YOU CAN’T!!
Not all fires happen in the kitchen. Remember to unplug the iron, your curling iron, or any appliance that’s generating heat, after you are done using it.
Also, be very careful about burning candles. Candles set the mood and scent the air, but if you burn them too long, or in the wrong place, you might need that extinguisher! Be careful not to burn them near curtains, beds or any kind of fabric. Set them back from the edge of whatever you’ve set them on, so they can’t be easily knocked off, and burn them in glass or metal holders that can take the heat. Don’t forget to blow them out when you leave!
As long as we’re on fires, I’m only going to say this once–so listen up–don’t smoke in bed! Not even when you’re laying down on the couch half asleep, for that matter. You can imagine what happens to the cigarette when someone falls asleep, so use some (here comes that work again) commonsense. Sorry, but I had to mention it.
Always Be Prepared…Like Boy Scouts!
So, you’re using commonsense, you’ve got smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, and you’ve met the neighbors. What could possibly be left? Plenty.
1) Blackout!
It’s eight o’clock at night, there’s a big ol’ thunderstorm rolling in and somewhere nearby lightning strikes and knocks out you electricity. Now What? Do you know where your flashlight is? Do you have a flashlight? How about candles and matches? Maybe it’s just your fuse box. Do you know where it is? What it is? The fuse box is the point where electricity comes into your home and is sent to all the outlets and switches. Do you know how to replace a fuse or reset the switches?
You’ve learned two things from this. First, you need to stock up on “lights out” supplies, like flashlights, candles and matches or lighters. Second, you should ask your landlord to show you the fuse box and explain what to do in the event a fuse blows.
If lightening has knocked out all the electricity in the area, you will have to be happy with candles until the power company fixes things.
If a fuse is blown, you can do something about that. Fuses can also be blown by such innocent activities as plugging too many appliances into one outlet, so don’t over do. (This can cause a fire too!!)
When the electricity goes out, phones may go out as well, but your cell phone will work. So should phones that have the handset attached to the phone by a cord. These “land line” phones don’t depend on electricity to run. Cordless phones, however, will not work, because it takes electricity to run the cordless feature.
Try to have at least one phone in your home that doesn’t depend on electricity. Does it look like lights are out all over the neighborhood? Then you can call the electric company to notify them that your electricity is out to see if the outage has been reported. Then, call your neighbors to see if their lights are out too (aren’t you glad you know your neighbors??) Then call your friends to keep you company in the candlelight. Or read a book, just like Abraham Lincoln!
2) Toolkit
If you’re pretty handy already you don’t need me to tell you what tools to have around, you probably already do. If you’re not so handy, here’s a list of the basics. As time goes on, and you get more experience, you can add to your kit. Meanwhile, find a handy friend!
Toolkit: hammer, flat-head screw driver, philip’s head screw driver, nails and screws (a variety of sizes of both),pliers, needle nose pliers, adjustable wrench, saw, sandpaper, duct tape and masking tape, toilet plunger, WD40 lubricant and last but not least, a flashlight.
An electric drill is also a good, basic tool, but not cheap. Therefore, look for one at garage sales!
With these, you can handle most of the basic repairs you’re likely to encounter.
I have one last bit of handyman know-how that, if you haven’t learned by now, you will find infinitely useful for the rest of your life. O.M.O. Life Tip: “rightie tightie, leftie loosie.” No, I’m not nuts, but if you are unscrewing a nut, bolt, screw, light bulb, garden hose or just about anything else that screws in, this is the secret code. Turning to the right screws things in and tightens them, and turning to the left unscrews and loosens.
Millions of normal, well adjusted adults say this to themselves everyday while tackling little chores that require them to tighten and loosen. Now you can too!
3) First Aid Kit
No matter how safe you try to be, you could still cut your hand on a broken wineglass while washing dishes, twist an ankle carrying out the trash (those empty beer bottles are heavy!), or pull an all-nighter before finals and end up with a headache–or a hangover. That’s when the following basics come in handy.
First Aid Kit: Band-Aids (several sizes), gauze, adhesive tape, antibiotic ointment, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, tweezers, scissors, q-tips, pain reliever (ibuprofen, acetaminophen, etc.), hydrocortisone cream (for itches and rashes), antacid (Tums, Alka-Seltzer or Pepto Bismol), Immodium (for diarrhea), cold medicine (something that says it covers body aches, headaches, fever, decongestion, etc.), cough drops/cough syrup, sunscreen and bug repellent.
Many of the most common, and popular, brand name pain relievers and cold medicines have generic or store brand equivalents that cost much less. Read the ingredients on both. If they are identical, but the cheapest!
Over time you’ll discover what works for you and what doesn’t, but this should get you started.
4) Help Mom, I don’t feel so good!
Being sick sucks! A good way to stay healthy is to be proactive. This means you take care of yourself while you are healthy to increase your odds of staying that way. You know the routine: eat right, take a good multi-vitamin, get plenty of exercise and rest.
If everyone around you is coughing and sneezing, consider taking extra vitamin C–if you are not sensitive to it. The Mayo Clinic website advises that most people can safely take up to 2000 mg., but check with your doctor to be sure. (see Addendum A: Resources)
Don’t share cups or silverware. Do wash your hands frequently. Germs have a sneaky way of getting around, so try to keep them from getting to you!
There are also many herbal cold remedies that work with varying effectiveness for different people. Ask your friends what they have tried (make sure it’s legal!), or go to a natural food store or vitamin store and ask the clerk what people are taking for colds. These folks know what’s out there and what seems to be working for their customers.
Doctors advise you, and I will too, to check with your doctor before taking herbal remedies–just in case you are likely to have some sort of allergy or sensitivity to them.
So you did everything right and you are still sick? The very best advice I can give you is to get plenty of rest, take something for your aches, pains and fever, and drink plenty of clear fluids. Stay comfortable, read a book, snooze, ignore the world for a while. Dress comfortably, no one expects you to look your best when you’re sick.
Having trouble resting comfortably? Try resting a hot water bottle against your tummy or back. (You can buy on at a drug store and it’s much cheaper, and safer to sleep with than the electric kind.) Put on a pair of socks, too. You’d be surprised how my better you feel when your feet are warm!
If food doesn’t really appeal to you, try some hot tea with cream and sugar, hot broth or chicken noodle soup. In fact, keep a couple of cans of chicken noodle soup in the back of your cupboard for times like this. You won’t feel like leaving the house to shop and you’ll be very glad to have it! When you’re not feeling well you still need to give your body something to keep the engine going.
DO NOT stop drinking fluids because it hurts too much to swallow. If your body doesn’t get enough fluids, you can have a whole different–and far more serious–set of problems.
You’ve taken all my advice and you’re still not better? You’re getting worse? Go to the doctor! Don’t hesitate to see the doctor. Don’t tell yourself to tough it out. If this is more than a simple cold you should get the advice of a professional. Besides, simple things can turn into worse things if not treated correctly. Let your doctor decide what’s serious and what’s not.
If you are alone, getting much worse and having symptoms that scare you–call 911. These people do this for a reason, and that’s to be there when you need them. Just like the firemen and police, they’d much rather you call for help and find out that you are okay, than not call and suffer terribly when help is available. Yes, I know, this is the sort of thing you’d hear from your mother, but I’m telling you, we say it for a reason!
5) Stop Smoking!
We’ve already covered this territory, but it’s worth one more pass. In every way you can name, smoking costs you dearly. You pay for whatever you smoke (and if what you smoke isn’t legal, you can pay even more for that in legal fees and years out of your life in prison). Think of all the things you can buy with all that extra money—even food!
You pay in devalued homes and cars that loose their resale value because of the destructive affects of smoke. You pay in lost friends and missed opportunities because you smoked and others didn’t. (None smokers can always fit in with smokers when they want or need to. Smokers carry the scent of their bad habit everywhere they go.) And of course, you pay most dearly in the health risks, their inconvenience to your life and their extreme costs, the greatest of which is, down the road, when the reasons you started smoking are gone, and all that remains is a bad habit, that bad habit can take you away from a life, and people you love. Need help? There are lots of resources. Look online, ask your Doctor or the folks at your school’s health clinic. But when it comes right down to it, you just gotta do it!
Robin Nolet is a mom, and a Colorado Realtor who writes about life, real estate, and much more! You can find her regular blogs at: http://denver.yourhub.com/~ParkerPerson
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