Buy an Emergency Kit Tax-Free
I was really looking forward to the new episodes of my favorite shows tonight, but My Name is Earl, The Office, 30 Rock and Grey’s Anatomy were all partially upended by tornado/storm coverage, so I’m going to have to watch them online (my computer is getting too old to work this hard!).
Not that I’m complaining or anything.
From 9:00-9:30 p.m., we were holed up in the basement while tornado sirens blared. Luckily, I bought a Red Cross emergency kit from Target last year for our basement. It includes a radio, two flashlights, extra batteries, whistles, face masks, ponchos, survival blankets, a first aid kit and crayons and a coloring book for kids (!), among other things. The radio came in handy tonight.
While I’m not always the best at emergency planning (I don’t even have a will or know how to do CPR), I’ve been on a mission for the past six months to improve. We now have carbon monoxide detectors on each floor, fire extinguishers in the kitchen and basement (we still need one in the garage), emergency fire escape ladders for our second-story bedrooms and AAA emergency kits with jumper cables in each of our cars. I’ve tested all the smoke detectors in our house, but probably need to replace the batteries just in case (Side note: Have you heard that you’re supposed to replace all your smoke detectors every 10 years? Is that crazy? Do people actually do that? We have at least eight of them - that’s expensive!)
What’s great about the emergency kit is that as long as it includes some kind of first aid kit, you can buy it tax free with your flexible health care spending account. In fact there are a lot of things you can buy with your flexcare dollars if you look at your plan closely. My plan with ADP has allowed me to buy Proactiv Solution (acne treatment for less than the price of my dermatologist visits), a heart rate monitor, a pedometer, band-aids, condoms, a blood pressure monitor and Nicorette. (Yep - we had a lot of money left over in our account at the end of the year, so I went on a health care shopping spree.)
While your area may not be prone to tornadoes, maybe you have your share of hurricanes, earthquakes or other natural disasters - or even just power outages. Having an emergency kit (especially for your car) is critical, and tax-free. If you don’t have a flexible health care spending account yet, this is another smart reason to sign up for one.
(This post was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted by Alpha Consumer.)
Photo Credit: Red Cross Disaster Relief by Vidiot, used under Creative Commons licensing
