5 Questions to Ask Yourself Every Time You Check Your Gear

Asking yourself these 5 questions each and every time you check your gear will ensure you're adequately prepared for an emergency situation:

1.        Are my bags located somewhere I can easily access them and get out of the house in the event of an emergency? Review the location where your kits are stored and do a mental double-check to make sure you've got them in a good spot. Keeping the bags in a corner of your attic will cost you valuable time when it's time to get them and go. They need to be stored near an exit from your home, preferably the exit you'll be most likely to use in the event of an emergency.
2.       Do I have everything each member of my family needs to survive for 72 hours in the bags ready to go? Run down the list of items you need in your bag. Then go through the list of items each of your family member's needs. It's best to review this list with the family member. Make sure everything's in the bags and accounted for.
3.       Do I have a means of protecting myself and my family in the event of an emergency where there is no law? Your bags aren't going to do you much good if someone who didn't plan ahead is able to take them from you. You need to be armed with a weapon or two (or three) to protect yourself and your family or your bug out bags won't be anything more than an advertisement that you're ripe for the picking. If you have women that'll be traveling with you, that's all the more reason to have protection. If there's no law, there will be predators trying to round up groups of women. If you're not protected, you may end up dead and your wives and children may end up in the hands of people who wish to do them harm. Plan ahead and protect yourself.
4.      Is anything in the bags expired or on the verge of expiring? Give everything in the bag a physical once-over and look for signs of expiration. Look for holes in packaging that may cause an item to go bad before its expiration date. Items which are close to expiring should be replaced, as you don't want to have to worry about whether they're going to be good or not.
5.       What's changed since the last time I checked the bags? Evaluate any changes to your family and its structure. Are younger children old enough to carry a bag of their own? Are older family members getting too old and feeble to carry the bags you have packed for them? Reevaluate medication needs for all members of your family. Look at the extra clothes you've packed and make sure they'll still fit the person they were packed for. Kids grow up fast and you don't want to get on the road and find out the change of clothes you've packed no longer fits.

Asking yourself these questions will help you ensure you have everything you need.

I have a printed out copy of these questions sitting on top of one of the bags. When I do my bag check, I review the questions for each bag in the closet. I know them by heart, but don't want to take the chance of forgetting something.