Self-Reliance Challenge: Home Evacuation Plan, Trial & Go Bag Packing List

So I shared at the beginning of the year that I’m tackling not only a self-reliance challenge but also a resilience challenge.

In March, I had planned to tackle a self-reliance monthly challenge of creating a home evacuation plan and then trialling it with our family. I shared over on my substack (where I’m documenting both challenges) a post about setting up a home evacuation plan and how we practiced it with our family. You’ll notice that the date of the Substack post was in July.

I also went about sharing why the challenges fell off the rails for me slightly this year.

It’s important when things fall by the wayside to pick right up where you left off and recommit. I thought I would come over here and share a little bit more about the importance of prioritizing evacuation plans for your family.

The reason why is because I have watched natural disaster after natural disaster affect many different areas, especially in North America. And I have watched families on my Instagram be very unprepared for the possibility of having to evacuate their homes.

From forest fires in California to Kelowna, BC

Freak snowstorms in Mammoth Mountain, California

And tornados in our hometown of Ottawa

I’ve seen people post about cleaning their homes while forest fires raged around them. And it frustrated me and angered me that more people aren’t prepared to have to leave their homes.

I’m going to choose to be helpful instead of raging by offering a list of what’s in our go bags in case we ever need to evacuate our home at a moment’s notice.

Go Bag Packing List

I have 1 Go Bag packed for each human in our house and in the fall I update the bag for winter and in the spring I switch it up for summer.

Go Bag Year Round

1. Important documents on a thumb drive
2. An envelope of cash
3. Collapsible water bottles
4. Freeze-dried camping food
5. Granola bars
6. Flashlight or headlamps

Winter Go Bag

Here are the items I include during the winter:

1. Toque
2. Mittens
3. Fleece Pyjamas
4. 1 Long Sleeve Shirt
5. 1 Pair of Warm Pants
6. 1 Sweater
7. Wool Socks
8. Winter Coat
9. Blanket
10. 2 Packages of Wipes

Summer Go Bag

Here are the items I include for the spring/summer:

1. 1 Tshirt
2. 1 Long Sleeve Shirt
3. 1 Pair of Shorts
4. Thin Wool Socks

When the babes were smaller and in diapers I also packed 3 cloth diapers for each kid!

I don’t include a lot of other things that we’d need because I have a mobility bag in my car which we’d have if we evacuated by car.

What’s in your go bag that I haven’t included in my go bag packing list or my mobility bag?