10 Dollar Tree Items Alaskan Households Buy Before Winter (And 5 They Never Touch)

When the shelves go bare before a winter storm, the cheap things go first. Here are the 10 plain Dollar Tree items that get a house ready before the cold, the 5 on the same shelves that people up north leave alone, and what each one means for an older body. There isn't a single Dollar Tree in Alaska, so up there folks buy these same things wherever they can, and the State of Alaska puts almost all of them on its own emergency kit list. I was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and I spent 66 winters there, most of them fixing oil furnaces. I'm not a doctor. The 10, counting down: 10. Quart freezer bags, for your papers and a list of your pills 9. Long kitchen matches, for the stove burner and never for heat 8. A manual can opener you've tried on a real can 7. An LED flashlight in every room, with alkaline batteries in it 6. Emergency blankets, shiny side in, under your real quilt 5. Wool socks, and toe warmers if your doctor says yes 4. A foam cover on every outside faucet, hose off first 3. Foam weather stripping tape around the doors 2. A window insulation kit for the rooms you'll live in 1. Plain clay cat litter by the back door, the kind that doesn't clump The 5 they never touch: chafing fuel as a heater, tea lights under a flower pot, a thin extension cord for a space heater, Super Heavy Duty batteries in a flashlight, and cotton socks and gloves. Safety, said plainly: never use a gas range or oven to heat your home. Light only the top burners by hand, and only if your owner's manual says your model allows it; never the oven. Use flashlights, not candles, when the power is out, and keep any candle at least 12 inches from anything that can burn. Camping stoves, chafing fuel and heaters made for outdoors never come inside, and a cracked window is not enough. Plug a space heater straight into the wall, never into an extension cord or power strip, and keep it at least 3 feet from anything that can burn. Toe warmers never go to bed with you; if you're diabetic or have poor circulation, ask your own doctor first. Put a carbon monoxide alarm near every place people sleep and on every level of the house. Do the outside work on a dry October afternoon, sitting on a stool for the low parts. Which of these is already sitting in your house right now? Drop the number in the comments. I read them. #dollartree #winterprep #poweroutage #icestorm #winterstorm #seniorsafety #alaska #emergencypreparedness #frozenpipes #blackout