15 minutes to grab essentials - what would you take?

[Papergirl1968]

I hope this isn’t insensitive in light of Whaley Bridge, but it got me thinking, if I was in a similar situation, what would I grab in 15 minutes?
I wouldn’t have left without dcat. Otherwise precious photos, (adopted) dds’ memory books, camera and iPad as there are further photos on those, a few clothes. I’m not very materialistic so don’t have much jewellery or stuff like that. Passports, birth certificates, school exam certificates etc if I had time.
What would you grab?

I’m also obsessing with how, if the dam broke, I’d get to higher ground in 70 seconds, and musing whether the slight hill near us would be high enough.
Ffs, I live nowhere near a dam. Or water of any kind apart from a very shallow stream.
I do wonder though why people would buy a house below a dam.

I have a bag of essentials on me at all time.
Phone
Journal
Pen
Purse

If I was home and it was flooding I would grab my daughters memory box and my teddy snowy, my cat and my laptop.

Everything else is replaceable.

Copy of buildings and contents insurance. Passports. Phone and charger. Photos. Clothes.

This thread has made me think about the fact that our important docs, birth and marriage certs, qualification certs etc are in the loft, maybe they should be somewhere easier to get.

Have a photo of them, at least policy and certificate numbers, on your phone.

Our bug out bags I finally got around sorting. But people take the piss out of shit like that. Bug in, bug out. It's equally piss takable.

I was discussing this with DH earlier - as he wouldn’t have a clue what to get in 15 minutes - I’m sure I read on the news only one person per house was allowed to go back. So that would be me if we had the choice!

If we were already out and going back:
We have several cats so I’d need to borrow some cat baskets first & hope the little buggers played ball!
I’d pick up DS teddy he sleeps with every night
Passports, change jar, clothes for us all, I’d try and get DS memory box too

If we had to leave right now we’d probably have to leave the cats as we have no way to get three of them out of the house - but I’d be worried sick & would do everything to try and get back to them!

I am going to pack a go bag tomorrow - just in case!

Was thinking about this earlier too.

Dog, snake, photographs, birth certificates, passports, DD3s cuddling blanket and DD11s ipad, their hospital bands, my grandmothers ring and a bear that's older than my mum.

In reality though, I think I'd be so panicked I'd end up with suitcases full of random crap accumulated in drawers and I'm so sentimental which would be a problem.

Must be so awful.

@MrsTerryPratchett - genuine question (not mocking) What scenarios do you envisage where you would need map etc?

Also, where do you keep your Go Bag? I worry that it’s just making a burglar’s life easier. (What is more likely? Burglary or emergency evacuation?)

Baby, dog, husband (in that order), my paperwork folder with mine and baby's passports.
Husbands passport, Dog health record.
An overnight bag with comfy clothes for me, baby and husband. Toothbrushes and paste. Deodorant. Dog food and baby food. Purse, wallet, phones and chargers, husbands work laptop, car and keys.

All my important document boxes, antique jewellery, obviously my dc, dh and my Merc (which I’d be speeding off in anyway).
Everything else I need is online.

Cat, phone and charger

To find any important docs in my house takes a lot more than 15 minutes

Question is do I put them all together in one easy to find place? If I do what happens if I get burgled and they find my stash?

Assuming DD was safe, in 15 mins I'd grab chargers & laptop (for photos), memory boxes for my DD (my first DD died, so completely irreplaceable) photo albums/pics, passports etc, i suppose, if I had time I'd also grab some underwear, toothbrushes etc - I don't suppose there is much that isn't replaceable in one way or another, photos & memory boxes are the most important, I think.

By the time we'd put our 6 hens, rabbit, tortoise, beardie, pygmy hedgehog, cockatiel, gerbils and fish in the car with all their containers I doubt there'd be any room for us! We wouldn't be able to leave them though as they're irreplaceable.

I just asked DH this and he said "15 minutes is loads of time" 🙄

He said he'd get the laptop and the camera. And then he asked me if he would have to get the DC's special boxes. Honestly, I give up!

Clearly I will be the one returning to the house to get:
DPet
Important docs (everyone has their own file in this house)
Kids memory boxes
Photo albums
Special teddies of DC
Changes of clothes if necessary

It really would be sentimental stuff that can't be replaced. I don't have v.expensive jewellery so it would be more to do with DC special things.

genuine question (not mocking) What scenarios do you envisage where you would need map etc?

We live somewhere we could have forest fires, earthquakes or tsunami. So cell towers could be gone, local emergency centres destroyed, lots of fun stuff! We know where the local reservoir is. Just in case. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

But mainly the zombie apocalypse. That's what we really care about 🧟‍♀️

Our bag is near the back door, tucked inside a cupboard. Also good to have basics in the car and if you have a shed, a few things. Emailing or cloud photos of ID, insurance and so on is good.

If we get a 9.something and a resultant tsunami we're buggered anyway!

I'm kind of ready to go. I'd shove the cat in her carrier, grab my handbag, my laptop, my phone, my chargers, my medication, my bits and bobs box (contains passports and other important docs) and my mums jewellery box. All within easy reach. Anything precious is in my heart.

But mainly the zombie apocalypse. That's what we really care about 🧟‍♀️

Oh, well that makes sense now

I do have a decent emergency kit in my car, and a well stocked (with gin) campervan so will have another go at putting a bag together.

Handbag with my purse, keys, phone etc in it.

Two memory boxes (one of DC baby stuff, one of things my partner and I have done together)

DCs two special cuddly toys.

Jewellery if I had time to gather it up.

Chargers, spare clothes, birth certificates.

Thats about it, I'd go for sentimental stuff mainly, most other things can be replaced and I don't hold onto paperwork other than birth certificates.

phone
Computers
Photo albums
Jewellery box
My favourite painting
Box with all important documents in it
I really don’t know what Dh would do- he collects guitars and would be in bits having to choose which ones to leave behind. I’m not going to even ask him as it would upset him just to think about it.

Oh I forgot!!

Glasses and contacts
As many clothes and shoes I could stuff in a suitcase
My handbag with purse etc etc in it.

@PatchworkElmer All 16 versions of DS’s comfort toy

@Screamanger Firearms and ammo Are you in a warzone?

@MhysaMhysa snake I realise it's a pet

This is a fascinating thread and makes us realise what is most important to us.
Let's hope we can somehow get governments to reverse global warming with drastic action on greenhouse gases and trees

Cats - but there wouldn't be time to assemble cat carriers so what can I shove them into separately? , laptop, passports, handbag, too many photo albums, random stuff I happen to see in the panic, cat bowls,
cat food can buy that, ooh address book, phone charger, prescribed medicine, change of clothes, overnight stuff

Family photos. Mum’s wedding ring. Passports. Phone. Purse with credit/debit cards. Change of clothes if time.

Nothing. I would get myself In such a tizz because

1. I am a disorganised mess and wouldn't be able to simply grab what I need (house is tidy, brain is not organised. Autism makes me struggle to do take like that quickly)

1. The fact that the house needed to be evacuated would give me irrational fear of when whatsoever disaster was going to happen so much so that I would either leave straight away or if previously evacuated, refuse to return for those 15 minutes.

I would love to be able to do all the things people have mentioned above but the truth is, so long as my family and I were out, I wouldn't be fused trying for anything else.

I think a reorganisation of stuff one day might be a good idea, because having to leave could happen. Maybe a go bag or 2 even.

*fussed not fused