What mistakes might people make in preparing for the Frankenstorm or things they might overlook?

Make sure to do all laundry and have a really good shower and shampoo beforehand. Remember pet food (and litter, if it applies).

Fill a bath tub with water in order to flush once a day.

Extra water in various containers for brushing and mini-bathing. (You can do a lot with a c. of water, a washcloth and a bar of soap.)

Vital to have a crank radio and a corded phone. That means easy listening after dark and marathon phone calls with everyone you have neglected for the past year.

I keep audio books from the library to hand with a nice, reliable Sony walkman and several packs of AA batteries.

Library books.

Decks of cards and board games, like Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Boggle, Monopoly and Checkers.

Three other people for bridge.

I no longer use candles but love my miner’s lamp and several big (6 volt) flashlights.

Find out which of your near neighbors has a generator.

Cold cereals, boxes of unopened rice or almond milk, dried fruits, nuts, chocolate, bananas, apples, hard cheese.

Full tank of gas and a large cash reserve if the pumps and ATM’s aren/t working.

Having the batteries, but the flashlights don’t work. Please be sure to check your flashlights (and other items) to be sure they work before the storm hits!

Donald Trump forgets his hairspray?

Apparently, forgetting to buy bread can be disastrous.

When storms are predicted for New England everyone and his brother seems to want to buy bread, as if it will never be made again.

Not being able to start the generator. Take it out now and make sure you have oil and fuel, and that you can start it..

Sufficient amount of medication. During and even days after a storm sometimes pharmacies are closed, or delivery trucks can’t get through, or phone lines are down.

Make a lot of ice. If you have igloos or styrofoam containers, food will keep colder longer in tightly packed containers of ice, than in a fridge or freezer. I am not recommending to take food out of your fridge as soon as electricity goes out, but once 6–8 hours have gone buy it is usually time to start moving it out of the fridge and freezer to keep it cold. Move the ice right away though, into one container packed tight so it doesn’t melt, once you move food then you can divide up the bags of ice into two or three containers with food.

One last thing, if you are on public sewer system, when the pump facility loses power it means sewage can back up into your house. If it is reported on the news your sewage center is out, flush the toilet as little as possible, don’t run water for long periods of time, and find out where the outside cap or release is for your house, so if you need to you can undo it so sewage goes into your yard and not your house. Things will not back up in one day, so don’t panic. And, pump trucks will most likely go around to neighborhoods to pump out sewage “manually” eventually.

I just got a brilliant albeit obvious idea from a friend I bumped into while we were buying large bags of kitty litter.

She suggested putting large stockpots outside during the heavy rain. That’s an easy way of replenishing your water supply.