Your Survival Blog
Thursday, March 25, 2010
“Plastics.”
You live somewhere near the water — say, somewhere along the Canadian Maritimes — and there’s a storm brewing to the south, scheduled to come up the Eastern seaboard straight at your province.
Or you live somewhere in wooded country — say, northwestern Montana — and the wildfires are getting out of control and approaching your area....
The one thing you need most is not a picnic basket full of food. It’s not the kids’ Wii. It’s not even the family photos. Once you load up the kids and pets, head inland or to a less wooded area — where are you all going to stay? Almost certainly a hotel or motel, and those are expensive.
In Western cultures, in the 21st century, you’ll need a credit card.
If you’re like the average American or Canadian, you have thousands of dollars (maybe tens of thousands) already in credit-card debt, and may have maxed out one of more of your cards.
You might even be one of those folks who doesn’t believe in credit cards, even though it’s difficult to get along in modern society without them. But in a pinch, wouldn’t it be useful to be able to whip out a piece of plastic?
What about debit cards, you wonder? Those are great if you’re good about keeping hundreds or thousands sitting in your bank account — but don’t forget that during a disaster you might need to spend that and more.
You might need to stock up on all those supplies you forgot before the hurricane or fire or ice storm comes to town: plywood, batteries and camping lanterns, bottled water, French toast ingredients. (In New England, we refer to impending winter storms as “French toast emergencies” because everybody runs out to stock up on milk, bread and eggs. Your mileage may vary.) You might, depending on the nature of the crisis, need to have essential goods delivered.
You might need to settle your family in a motel outside your area for days or weeks, with no definite end in sight — and to pay for gasoline and food during your evacuation.
(You might even be traveling far from home and break your leg — and find that the clinic in Fiji doesn’t take your insurance.)
No matter how good your credit is, arranging a bank loan right before or during an emergency is going to be a non-starter. So pay your credit-card bills on time, and leave a generous margin on your credit limit. Or, at the very minimum, keep an emergency margin in your bank account, and have a debit card which permits you overdraft privileges. When you need money fast, there’s just one word: “plastics.”
Posted by eks on 03/25 at 12:36 PM(5) Comments • Permalink