Question for those in hurricane land...

[mom-from-missouri]

I listened to 2 friends today talking about living in FL. One just moved back here and the other still lives there. The one who moved back mentioned that she would not miss having hurricanes and having to spend $500 or more every year on hurricane supplies?? The other one said she normally spent more than that.

What am I missing here?? What supplies would you have to buy that would cost that much every year??

The supplies I can come up with would be ones that can be reused--plywood, can openers, refilling water jugs, radio, recharging batteries, rotating food through your pantry into your storm supply box...

What am I missing here???

[Broken Arrow]

Are they fairly frugal?

I don't live in Florida, but I am in the occasional hurricane's path, and my preparation supplies last week totaled about $40. Granted, I took the cheap, minimal route, but everything I got is usable even without a hurricane.

I suppose it's quite possible to spend that much every year? If you're in Florida and you're not being budget-minded. If I had a choice, I don't think I'd want to live in a place like that.

[kork13]

I grew up with 4-5+ typhoons/hurricanes a year.... while you're right, alot of stuff can be re-used, the biggest expenses for people tend to be plywood for windows (they generally can't be used more than once or twice if you're lucky...), and especially gas for generators.

Now for a small rant.... Most people who live in hurricane zones don't know how to properly deal with them. They freak out, go buy the biggest generator they can so they can run their A/C and playstation after the storm, go buy huge stores of 'supplies' (food, water, etc.) that often goes bad because they never actually use it, using drinking water for flushing the toilet, and so on... People seriously lose their minds when a storm comes their way, for no reason whatsoever. And there's question why people go looting? people are moronic....

Realistically, buy some custom-fitted aluminum shutters (large-ish upfront, but starts saving you bigtime after your 7th or 8th storm, get a small generator to power your fridge/freezer and some lights, and as you said, rotate your food stores normally to keep it on-hand and fresh. My family generally spent about $15 before each storm for ~5 gallons of gas, some extra drinking water, and that was it. Fill the tubs with water for flushing, have a barrel outside under the water spout to catch water. Keep a camp stove with a can of fuel. That's all you really need. Top expense should be maybe $100/year.