Quiet Preparedness Weekly, Week 3: The Pocket Card
So far in this series you’ve taken stock of what you have and set aside some water. This week’s step is even smaller. It fits in your wallet, and it takes about ten minutes.
We’re making a pocket card.
Why a Card?
Most of us keep everything important in our phones: numbers, addresses, reminders. That works well most days. But phones run out of battery, get misplaced, or end up in the wrong pocket. Quick question: how many phone numbers do you know by heart?
For many people, the honest answer is one or two. A pocket card quietly solves that. It’s a small piece of paper that holds the few things you’d want to know if your phone weren’t available.
What to Put on It
Keep it short. You want it readable at a glance. Here’s a simple layout:
- Your name and, if you like, your address.
- Three to five key contacts: name, relationship, and phone number. Include at least one person who lives in a different town or state. They can help pass messages between family members if local lines are busy.
- A meeting place: one spot near home (a neighbor’s porch, the corner of the street) and one farther away (a library, a relative’s house) where your household agrees to meet if you can’t get home.
- Health basics: any allergies, important medications, or conditions someone helping you should know about.
- Your doctor’s or pharmacy’s phone number, if that would be useful.
How to Make It
- Use an index card, the back of a business card, or a piece of paper cut to wallet size.
- Write clearly in pen, not pencil, so it doesn’t smudge.
- To protect it, cover both sides with clear packing tape. It works like simple lamination.
- Make one for each person in your household. Kids can carry one in a backpack.
- Put a copy somewhere at home too, like on the fridge or inside a cupboard door, next to your Week 1 list.
The Conversation That Goes With It
A card is helpful. A card everyone understands is even better. Take a few minutes at dinner, or on a call, to talk through it together:
- “If we can’t reach each other, we’ll call this person.”
- “If we can’t get home, we’ll meet here.”
Let your out-of-town contact know they’re on your card, too. Most people are glad to be asked.
Keep it light. This isn’t about imagining worst cases. It’s the same calm planning as deciding where to meet if you get separated at a fair. Simple, sensible, and done.
Keeping It Current
Numbers change. Once a year, maybe when you refresh your water, take a look at your card and update anything that’s out of date. It takes two minutes.
This Week’s Small Step
Make one pocket card. Tape it, tuck it in your wallet, and tell one person they’re on it. That’s all for this week.
Three weeks in, you’ve taken stock, set aside water, and made a plan that fits in your pocket. That’s quiet, steady progress. Our book, Quiet Preparedness: Simple Readiness for Ordinary People, gathers ideas like these in one place, and it’s coming soon.