Three Things I Learned from My 24-Hour Power Outage

My wife and I came home a few days ago to discover we were without power. At first, we didn’t think this was a big deal (it’s not the first time we have had a power outage). But, as it turns out, we were left in the dark for roughly 24-hours before the power was restored.

Since we ended up letting my kids (who are both afraid of the dark) stay at my parents, my wife and I were able to make the best of the situation by having a late night dinner at McDonalds, using our battery-operated lanterns to make shadow puppets and joking about practicing for the zombie apocalypse. However, now that our power is restored I realized I learned three important lessons that will hopefully help me if/when this were to happen again.

First, our chest freezer is the best place to keep perishable food. Since we didn’t think it would last more than an hour or two, my wife and I didn’t bother doing anything with the food in our refrigerator until it was already too late. In hindsight, things like eggs and leftovers could have been saved by us quickly putting them in our chest freezer. The food in there stayed frozen so the refrigerated foods would easily have stayed cold enough and, in the future, we’re probably just going to move our perishable stuff right away rather than waiting.

Secondly, you can never have enough battery-operated lights. When the power went out, I jokingly told my wife she could finally use her candle collection. However, because I’m more afraid of the house catching on fire than the dark, we, instead, used a couple battery-operated lanterns and a flashlight. As it turns out, those things weren’t nearly enough and I’m now putting aside money in my budget to upgrade our emergency lighting.

Last, keeping my landline and a corded phone were a great idea. I have been thinking about getting rid of my landline service for a long time (I work at a phone company and have the opportunity to switch to one of our VOIP products). However, this experience definitely made me re-think that. When the power went out, my cordless phones did too. But, I have a corded phone I keep stored in a laundry room cupboard and was still able to get dial tone with that (something I wouldn’t be able to do with VOIP). Fortunately, there wasn’t any sort of emergency that required me to use it, but it gave me some peace of mind when our cell phone batteries started getting very low.

I honestly hope this is a situation I will never have to go through again. But, now that my wife and I survived it, I know I am wiser as a result and will be much better prepared in the future.