Power outage tips for cell phones

Photo courtesy of Anasalialmalla on Wikipedia Commons.

Today almost everyone has a cell phone and honestly, most of us DEPEND on our cell phones. Just recently I left my phone at home while taking my little kids to story time at the library. I was a little frustrated.

First of all, I use my phone to know what time it is. I felt a little lost without my clock and my alarms. (I love my phone alarms.)

Also, my husband and I try to text or call each other a couple times a day and I knew that if he called my cell and I didn't answer and he called home and I didn't answer, he would get worried. If you think about how life was 20 years ago (when the "brick" phone pictured above was common) or even just 10 years ago this would sound silly, but today we rely so much on our phones that we panic when we can't get ahold of each other.

Most importantly, my two older boys call my cell phone from school if they need anything. I would hate for my kids to not be able to get in touch with me. Sure, my husband's cell phone is written down in their file somewhere, but I want them to always know that mom is just a phone call away. Sound silly? Maybe. But I would hate for a sick or sad boy to have a hard time getting in touch with his mommy.

Luckily, I was at the library with my friend so I send my husband a message so he would know I was without my cell phone and that made me feel a bit better.

SO, what's the point??? Well, it got me thinking a little bit about how much we need/want our phones and how emergencies, or even a simple power outage can cause problems.

Here are some ideas to help:

1. Try to keep your phone charged. This seems obviously, but in all reality we let our phones get so close to dying sometimes, right? Maybe starting the habit of plugging them in every night would help to keep the battery charged.

2. Buy an extra battery. There are places online (like Amazon) where you can find batteries for less than $10. Even if you have to spend a little more, it could be an important addition to your 72-hour kit.

3. Keep your laptop charged. Many charges now come with USB cords. With these you can plug your cell phone into a charged laptop and use that battery to charge your cell battery.

4. Use your car charger. During a power outage, your car can be a great resource. You can use your car charger to keep your phone charged.

5. Solar powered chargers. This is one thing I need to learn more about. There are solar powered charges for regular batteries and for electronics.

6. Text instead of call.

7. For Smart phones, turn on notifications, turn down your brightness, turn off Wi-Fi and/or put your phone on "Airplane mode."

On another note, there may be situations where you cannot use your cell phone. In these cases, it would be useful to have a list of important phone numbers. You can even make a Contact Card. You can have a list of phone numbers in your Emergency binder or even on the fridge.