The $1 Storm Prep Item Most Homeowners Don't Think to Stock

Thousands spent on a generator, cases of canned food, water stacked shoulder-high, and it all came apart over an item that costs less than a candy bar. Three days after a hurricane, the families who did everything the checklists said were the ones getting worn down, and it was never the big storm moment that broke them. It was day two and day three, when the small, boring problems started piling up. Water seeps under the threshold and climbs inside the walls before you see it pooling. Birth certificates, deeds, and insurance policies turn to pulp in a filing cabinet on the floor. The toilet stops flushing when the water main loses pressure, and within 48 hours the waste becomes a real health hazard. Then the cold moves in while you sleep, pulling heat from a house that drifts toward the outdoor temperature. Four separate crises, four different rooms. One humble thing solves a corner of every one of them: a heavy-duty 3-mil contractor trash bag, the thick kind near the paint and drywall, not the kitchen liner that splits under weight. Go 42-gallon, skip scents and drawstrings, and store 20 to 30 flat in a gallon zip bag out of sunlight so the plastic doesn't go brittle. It seals documents dry, lines a bucket, becomes a sandbag, traps body heat, and patches a broken window, for about a dollar apiece.