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When Seconds Mattered and I Wasn’t Prepared

September 19, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

Special thanks to The Motherhood and Energizer for partnering with me to make this Emergency Preparedness Month post possible. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own, as always. 

EnergizerLogo

I grew up in a part of the country where tornado sightings weren’t uncommon at all, especially in the spring months. In fact, I’m actually from Enterprise, Alabama, which some people know of because it is the place where a tornado hit a high school in 2006, killing 8 students. It was a tragedy, and also a miracle that the number of students killed was so low. After all, classes were in session. My own little sister was in the building that day, in fact.

So understandably, in many ways I am prepared when it comes to emergency weather situations. I take tornado warnings VERY seriously, and stay up-to-date on the latest weather conditions thanks to apps. I know the safest place in my home to go, and I have taught my children where that place is so that they know to go.

But I am embarrassed to admit that until this year, I wasn’t as prepared as I should be. I used to have an emergency supply kit, but I let it sort of fall apart over the years, as food in it expired and was tossed out, or as we moved and found ourselves needing some of the supplies for other purposes. We never rebuilt that kit, and frankly, I never really thought about it until April of this year, when my weather alert app went off during the night while I was home alone with our kids (Tim was 2 hours away in Atlanta at a conference).

When that alarm went off, I was completely startled. It wasn’t a tornado watch. It was a warning. Warnings mean that you need to take cover IMMEDIATELY. I woke up both girls, only half-awake myself and completely running on adrenaline. I carried them down the stairs and into our downstairs bathroom, which is a room with no windows. I put them in the tub, and then I raced to the nearest room with pillows and brought those in, as well. At that moment, I realized that I didn’t know where the flash light or the weather radio was located, and since we were in a tornado warning, I knew better than to separate myself from the girls. Seconds matter in times like these, really and truly.

It was dark outside, so there was no way to see if a funnel cloud was nearby. All I could do was hold my girls and pray. It was an incredibly scary moment in my life because when it comes to tornadoes, they are so random and so horrible, and I felt completely out of control and unable to shield my girls from what might have been headed our way.

We sat there for 45 minutes before the warning was lifted. I managed to get the girls back to sleep, but as for me, as I was completely restless. I would wake up every 30 minutes or so and frantically check the weather. I also wrote notes down about the things I needed to have with me in that room that simply weren’t there. It was foolish of me to ever assume that I could just gather those things when I needed them. You don’t have time to do that in an emergency, and you certainly don’t want to get separated from your family all for the sake of trying to find a flashlight.

September is National Preparedness Month, and that makes it a great time to take just a few minutes out of your day and get your family prepared for an emergency situation. Believe me when I say that you will thank yourself if and when the time comes that you need to reach for your kit. According to a recent Energizer survey, only 38% of Americans have emergency kits for severe weather in their homes. Let’s do something to change this statistic!

national preparedness month

One important item that many households don’t have on hand is a hands-free light device, such as a lantern or a head lamp. We have a head lamp, but on the night in question, I discovered that it had dead batteries. Needless to say, that wasn’t very helpful!

Does your family have a plan and an emergency kit? Do you keep it in the safest room of your home, where your family is likely to gather during severe weather?  Here’s a helpful site that shows you how to choose a survival kit – https://www.globosurfer.com/best-survival-kits/.  Check it out! 

 

Filed Under: Parenting · Tagged: emergency kit, emergency preparedness kit, emergency survival kit, energizer, national preparedness month, powering safety

The Energizer Bunny is Turning 25: YOU Get the Presents!

December 1, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 69 Comments

Can you believe that it has been 25 years since the Energizer Bunny hit the scene and kept going, and going, and going and going???

And he’s still going, of course! His personal mantra has actually expanded over the years, and is now all about positivenergy™ – a commitment to designing products with people in mind and investing in programs that have a positive impact on the world.

That, my friends, deserves a celebration!

Bunny Bucks

bunny bucks energizer

The holidays are a great time of year to stock up on batteries for all those fabulous gifts that might be under the tree and need a little help from Energizer in order to work properly. And right now you’ll find something called Bunny Bucks on packages of Energizer products, and you can turn those Bunny Bucks into money via a check or a deposit into PayPal. When you purchase 2 packages with bunny bucks, you can redeem it for $4. That makes for a pretty sweet deal!

 Birthday Sweepstakes

energizer bunny sweepstakes

Additionally, you’ll find an awesome Energizer Bunny Birthday Sweepstakes on the Energizer Bunny Facebook page (yup, he’s got his own page!).

 Win it!: I’ve got a special prize pack just for Stuff Parents Need readers, in celebration of the Energizer Bunny’s birthday!

One winner will receive two specially marked packages of Energizer Max batteries with Bunny Bucks codes!

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Giveaways · Tagged: energizer, energizer batteries, energizer bunny, energizer bunny bucks, giveaway, review

Energizer Battery Packaging Now Safer for Babies and Toddlers!

October 4, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 97 Comments

Thanks to Energizer for providing complimentary coin lithium products for review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly mine.  

Do you have any coin lithium batteries in your house? These are the little round disc batteries that are often needed for things like remote controls, children’s books with sound, or flameless candles. They are just the right size to be tempting to a young child to put in their mouths and potentially swallow. These batteries can cause serious chemical burns in as little as two hours. So you can add this to your list of things to totally freak out about. You’re welcome.

But I don’t want to leave you with the bad news and then just walk away. Energizer has teamed up with the National Safety Council to share some tips on keeping kids safe from injuries like those associated with the ingestion of coin lithium batteries.

coin lithium battery safety

As parents, we have to do our part to keep batteries out of the reach of little hands. Energizer, for its part, has been the first battery company to voluntarily develop packaging for its 20 millimeter coin lithium batteries that meets the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s strict guidelines* for child-resistant packaging.

The Packaging Difference

We put Energizer’s packaging to the test recently by comparing just how easy (or difficult) it might be to open without a pair of scissors. We also had a different brand on hand to see if another brand had similar packaging or not. Here are our results!

coin lithium battery safety

Other packaging: paper backing. I was into it in about 15 seconds. I could see a baby or toddler drooling on this for just a little bit before the battery would just fall into their little mouths. Yikes!

energizer coin lithium battery packaging 1

Energizer package: plastic through and through. It is bendable, but that stuff just won’t break. I messed with it for a few minutes before snapping this shot.

energizer coin lithium battery packaging 2

And once I did cut into the package with scissors, I noticed that the batteries still weren’t “easy” to get to. Definitely doable without having to yell expletives, but these aren’t just going to accidentally fall out, I promise.

While we tested our product with adults, I do not believe that my 4-year-old would be able to open this package without a pair of scissors (and the rule in our house is that scissors are only used with adult supervision).

Win it!: In celebration of Engergizer’s safe packaging for coin lithium batteries, one lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win the following:

  •          Two (2) packages of Energizer Coin Lithium batteries
  •          One (1) Energizer LED Nightlight (winner’s choice between Sleeping Beauty or Cars)
  •          One (1) Energizer  Weatheready 2-in-1 LED Light

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Background on CPSC Child-Resistant Packaging

The CPSC imposes strict guidelines to determine if a packaging qualifies as effectively child-resistant. The packaging is tested with groups of children ages 42-51 months and also with senior adults ages 50-70. For a package to be child-resistant, a total of 80% of the children tested must not open the package in a full 10 minutes of testing. To make sure that adults are able to use a child-resistant package properly, 90% of adults tested have up to five minutes, and then another minute in a second test, to open and close the package (if applicable) so that it is child-resistant again.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Parenting · Tagged: battery child safety, battery safety, child safe battery packaging, coin lithium battery safety, energizer, energizer batteries, energizer coin lithium batteries, energizer review, giveaway, lithium battery, review

Daylight Savings: Change Your Clock AND Your Batteries w/Energizer! GIVEAWAY!!!

October 27, 2012 · by Tiffany Merritt · 185 Comments

Mark your calendar! November 4 is the day when Daylight Saving Time ends this year, which means you need to set your clocks back on the evening of November 3!

This year also marks the 25th anniversary of a simple and potentially life-saving program: Change Your Clock Change Your Battery. Energizer has a partnership with the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and they are working together to remind folks that we should be in the habit of changing the batteries in our smoke and carbon monoxide detectors every time we change our clocks back. And if you don’t have either alarm or don’t have as many as you should, there’s no time better than RIGHT NOW to get them installed!

From the IAFC comes a startling statistic: 38% of fatal fire injuries occur in homes with no smoke alarms, and 24 perfect occur in homes in which at least one smoke alarm is present but fails to operate, frequently due to dead or missing batteries.

I don’t know about you, but remembering to check my smoke detector batteries is not something I think to do on my own. I love the idea of coupling this VERY important task with an event so that I can remember it more easily!

I want to encourage each of you to visit the Energizer Bunny Facebook page from now through November 4th. There you will find an ADDITIONAL sweepstakes for a Family Safety Kit that’s worth $150! They are giving away one each day, so hop on over there and get entered!

While you are there, please notice that you can find fire safety tips, a downloadable home escape plan and a coloring and activity sheet. I’ve got these downloaded and ready to go at my house, and I wouldn’t have had them without this great free resource. Thank you, Energizer!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a Family Safety Kit from Energizer, complete with a reusable grocery tote containing the following items:

  •         One 2-pack of Energizer® MAX® Batteries (9v) with Power Seal Technology – Dependable, powerful performance for the devices that help keep your family safe; now hold their charge when stored for up to 5 years
  •        One Energizer® Flameless Wax Candle – Enjoy the realistic flicker of a scented wax candle without the worry of open flame or hassle of soot and dripping wax
  •         One Energizer® Weatheready® Safety Light – Waterproof flashlight powered by AA, AAA or C cell batteries; includes safety whistle and imprinted preparedness checklist
  •         One Kidde Battery-Operated Combination Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Alarm

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

I received a complimentary safety kit in thanks for my time writing this important post. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. 

Filed Under: Giveaways · Tagged: carbon monoxide detector, carbon monoxide detectors, change your clock change your battery, energizer, family safety kit, free smoke detectors, giveaway, international association of fire chiefs, smoke alarm, smoke and carbon monoxide detector, smoke detector, smoke detectors

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Welcome!


Grab your beverage of choice (mine is iced coffee) and let's hang out for a spell! I'm Tiffany, and I've rambunctious little girls and a fierce desire to share any tip and trick I can find to make lives with little ones a bit less hectic and a lot more fun. [Read more...]

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