Storing your Winter Gear for an Emergency

Spring is just around the corner and that means 2 of my favorite things happen.

 1. Winter Gear gets put away and my mud room stays clean and 2.  Sock matching goes out the window because we wear sandals! Yeah for Spring!!

Instead of just putting away our winter gear I get it ready for an emergency.  Living here in Idaho, even in the summer we can have some cold nights.  So if we were to ever have an emergency we would most likely need our winter gear to keep warm. So I have my own way of keeping my winter gear together during the summer months just in case.

 At the end of every spring I wash and dry everything.  I set them out for an extra day or two to make sure they are very dry.  You don’t want mold growing in your gear!.

Next make sure you have everything you need.

Here is my list:

Coat

Snow pants or bibs

 Gloves

 Scarf

 Beanie or hat

 Snow boots

 Heavy socks

(If you keep socks in your 72 hour kit you can omit them from this kit!)

 Ear muffs opt.

If you buy a year ahead with coats and boots pack those.  If you don’t, pack what you have.When an emergency comes around anything is better than nothing. Folding and packing your gear can be tough. especially if you have lots of kids.I try to make mine as compact as possible.  Here is what I do.

 Lay your coat out with the Zipper open.

1. Place hat, ear warmer and socks in pockets of the coat.

2. Tuck your scarf through both arms with an end out each hole.

3. Place gloves in arms of coat. One on each side.

4. Fold your pants into thirds and lay inside your coat. Zip your coat up.

5. Fold arms in to center of coat.

6. Fold coat in half from bottom to top.

Using a Rubbermaid bin Place all boots on the bottom. If you have lots of kids you may need two buckets.

One for boot and one for gear.

Lay coats flat on top of boots

Once all coats are inside. add your lid and store for the summer.

In an emergency you can grab the bucket and throw it in your car.

Another great thing about this method is when school starts again and the first snow sneaks up on us. You can head out to the garage and your gear is clean and ready to wear!