Updated 2/15/2026

(Preparedness on the Cheap is a series of articles for the prepper and everyone else who doesn’t have a lot of money, but needs to take steps to be prepared. A good deal of prepping is learning, planning, and organizing. Prepping doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, but does involve a lot of doing!)

One thing most people fail to plan for is evacuation. Making evacuation plans and practicing them is a very frugal and cheap way to prepare. The whole family can be and should be involved in making them and practicing them.

Evacuation plans can have many levels/steps to them:
  1. Evacuating the home in case of fire or a natural disaster, but still staying on the property
  2. Evacuating the home due to a natural disaster or emergency and leaving the premises
  3. Evacuating the area due to a natural disaster or emergency
  4. Evacuating to another area altogether

Many of these plans are intertwined and can have many steps.

For step #1, one of the first things I did when planning was print a map of my place from Google Earth. With the map available, I could plan with my children where to meet. I also have 2-3 meeting places set, just in case. My garage is separate from the house by 75 feet and that is meeting place #1. The machine shed is even further away from the house and depending on weather conditions, the machine shed shop area is meeting place #2.  The opposite corner of our property from the house is meeting place #3. Ideally, I want to meet in the garage because that is where the vehicles are and we could move and/or use the vehicle as shelter also.

For step #2, I copied a map of the area and the county from the plat map books we get in the mail from the county. I highlighted multiple routes from our house in case we need to leave the premises. If you live in a town/city, have a city map with routes marked. A good idea would be to have copies of these maps in each vehicle.  Another good idea is to have prearranged plans with local family and friends you can go to if staying at home is no longer a viable option. I have three places for us to go if we cannot stay at our place, and I have arranged this with the people living there. I have also written down a few places that are likely to have a Red Cross emergency area set up, just in case we need it.

For steps #3 and #4, I have a map of the state of Iowa in each vehicle we own, and I am working on adding an atlas to each vehicle. I have highlighted routes to reach the three places we could go, depending on the natural disaster/emergency and the area it covers. I made sure to highlight the ideal route and several alternatives in case. I also have routes that avoid the main roads in case of blockades or checkpoints. I really just don’t want to deal with them if I don’t have to.

If you have college kids, you will want to use these maps with them and plan alternate routes in case they need to come home or go to a safe place. If you have kids at school, you will want to plan routes to pick them up if they do not drive. If you have high school age drivers, you will want to plan routes for them to get home or a safe place. Make sure they practice these routes and are comfortable driving on roads other than main roads (such as gravel roads).

As you can see, steps 2, 3, and 4 are very much the same, just concentrating on going from local areas to state/regional areas. Having current maps is very important. In Iowa, we can pick up new state maps from any welcome center in the state. I also get current maps of surrounding states when I can. An atlas can be very beneficial if you can not stay in the state or region. I make sure to update my maps at least once a year, in case roads close or new ones are added. Many people have a GPS, and that is fine, but it can fail and be programmed for only the main roads. They also rely on a satellite signal which could be unavailable. I would not rely on them alone.

The most important part of having evacuation plans is ensuring your family understands what could happen and can memorize the plans. In an emergency evacuation, plans can be forgotten so making sure everyone knows, understands, practices, and memorizes the plans is crucial. I am not sure you can practice this enough! Practice with your kids about where they are to meet on the property and to wait for everyone to join them. Practice driving the alternate routes and how long it would take you to drive them. Practice driving them at a slower speed if you need to save fuel or due to weather conditions.

In the next Preparedness on the Cheap, I will talk about what to have ready, bring, and be aware of in case of evacuation. Although I plan to stay home no matter what, being ready to leave home at a moment’s notice is very important. I would be ignorant to dismiss that possibility and not be ready for it.

Thanks for reading!
Erica

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