First Aid Kits and DIY Fire Starters

Happy Saturday friends! As you know, Saturdays are when i look back at the week and see what of done in the area of preparedness and link up with Amy over at Homestead Revival. This week my goal was to work on emergency preparedness, so I decided to take a look at all of our first aid kids. Yes, I said all; not only do we have one in the house, but one for each of our vehicles and I carry a mini one in my purse and the bag for the Rec. I also made some fire starters, some of which will go in the camping stuff, but I'm thinking of keeping one in each vehicle and in a stash in the house for, well, emergencies!

For the first aid kits, I opened them all up and went through the contents. I checked the expiration dates on the ointments and medications, and most them needed to be tossed. Then I checked the condition of the band aids, cleansing towelettes, and alcohol prep pads. I repacked them, and added fresh stock if needed. I also made note of what I need to purchase and add to the kits. Then back to their spots in the cars, purse and bathroom cabinet they went! for more on making up a first aid kit, visit these sites:

• American Red Cross: Anatomy of a First Aid Kit
• First Aid Kit checklist from Ready.gov

As I was going through the first aid supplies for the house (which is a bit more extensive than it's traveling sisters) I thought that for this coming week, it might be a good idea to make up a cold care kit for the house, and maybe even a smaller version for travel (you never know when the sniffles and coughs are going to strike!). For our family's kit, I'm thinking of including:

• chest vapor rub
• small tube of petroleum jelly for chapped noses
• nasal strips for congestion
• rice bag for heating up for congested heads or chests
• cough drops
• small container of salt for salt water gargles
• saline mist for nasal congestion and dryness
• cold and cough meds

I'm sure there is something more to add, but that's not bad for starters! I'd also like to learn more about herbal remedies and such, and then include those items as well.

On to the homemade fire starters. We've been saving our egg cartons for when our girls start laying (which we have 6 laying now!!!!), so I grabbed one, scooted up to my in laws and scooped up some saw dust, filled the egg cups with sawdust and waited for my wax to melt. (And waited...and waited...and waited........) *Now for a little aside!* I like to burn candles in the fall and winter months. When the jar candles get too low to safely burn, I place them on my electric candle warmer. When the wax is no longer putting out much scent, I pour the melted wax into a glass jar that I keep under the sink. (You can also go here for a thrifty little tip from a previous post: Waxing Reusable:Homemade wax tarts) I knew that I could reuse that wax for something some day. I'm also thinking of buying some wicks to make my own jar candles out of the used left over wax. Aside is over!* Once the wax was melted, i carefully poured it over the sawdust filled cups. I tried them out, and am very pleased with how well they do. I would like to look into other homemade fire starters to compare them and see what works best. I have seen the egg carton ones made with lint instead of sawdust, as well as something about petroleum jelly and cotton balls or lint. For better instructions on making the fire starters go to:youtube video of egg carton fire starter or fire starter tutorial.

So that is what I've done this week. I've also talked to my darling hubby about enlarging the garden for next year. He suggested we made more raised beds, so we'll be doing that sometime this early fall, I'm hoping. I also have plans of making an herb drying rack to hang and dry some of my herbs. I am going to try to at least get my materials together for it.

Have a wonderful weekend, all!
Blessings,
Kelly