What must remain usable at home, what is the backup, and what conditions require another arrangement?
Map essential household functions and their dependencies, then confirm suitable alternatives and support. Keep current local instructions available and identify when staying home is no longer workable. A home plan should include a usable alternative destination and transport arrangement.
Evidence checked October 18, 2026 (America/Denver). Version 1.0. Desk review; no hands-on testing.
What this guide helps you do
An original household continuity worksheet using Ready.gov and CDC guidance. It does not determine whether a particular home is safe or provide technical generator, electrical, heating, food, water, medication or medical-device procedures. Confirm those details with the responsible current authority and appropriate professional or manufacturer.
Start with functions, people and dependencies
Write down what each person needs for water, food, warmth or cooling, lighting, communication, hygiene and access to care. Identify the utilities, equipment, supplies and people behind each function. Ready.gov notes that a power outage can affect water, transport, communications and medical devices as well as lighting. Use an original table to record the ordinary arrangement, fallback, unresolved issue and person responsible. A list of equipment alone will miss dependencies that link several functions. Source: Ready.gov power-outage dependency planning.
Resolve personal and equipment questions before disruption
For each essential device or refrigerated medicine, record the appropriate professional or manufacturer guidance to obtain and the actual alternative to arrange. Ready.gov specifically directs people to discuss such needs with a medical provider. Check what support someone has agreed to provide and what happens if they are unavailable. Keep sensitive details with the person who needs them rather than in a publicly shared worksheet. This guide establishes no battery duration, medication stability or priority-restoration entitlement. Source: Ready.gov power-outage dependency planning.
Keep backup choices from creating a new hazard
CDC warns against running generators or gasoline-powered engines inside homes, basements or garages, even with doors or windows open, and against using a gas oven or range for heating. Treat a proposed alternative as something requiring appropriate product and safety guidance before use. This planning guide supplies no installation or operating procedure. If a home cannot maintain suitable conditions, the backup may be another place rather than another appliance. Source: CDC power-outage hazards and safer alternatives.
Follow instructions for the actual hazard
Ready.gov distinguishes mass-care shelter, sheltering in place and stay-at-home material. Those labels do not make every room, ventilation choice or outdoor activity suitable for every emergency. Identify the responsible local source, record the instruction and time, and check which place and event it covers. Do not apply generic room-sealing or ventilation advice to an unrelated hazard. Keep the evacuation and temporary-shelter guide available as part of the household plan. Source: Ready.gov shelter modes and local direction.
Agree on the alternative location and help needed
Describe the functions whose loss would make the home arrangement unworkable and the appropriate sources that guide that decision. CDC directs people toward another shelter when conditions are too hot or cold. Before disruption, identify a possible destination, transport, access needs and someone who can help confirm availability. A library, friend or community site appearing on a list is a lead to verify; it does not establish open hours, space or suitability for a particular person. Source: CDC power-outage hazards and safer alternatives.
Maintain a short record people can actually use
Keep the function table, current information routes, agreed contacts and alternative arrangements in an accessible format independent of one device or account. Assign someone to review changes in people, equipment and services. After a suitable discussion exercise, record which assumption failed and what needs follow-up. Preserve the previous plan with its date and reason for revision so later readers can understand what changed. No household arrangement was tested while preparing this guide.
A pathway to practice
- Map essential functions: People, needs and dependencies.
- Confirm usable backups: Support, guidance and unresolved gaps.
- Keep options open: Current instructions and another location.
- Review the arrangement: Usable record, changes and responsibility.
Resources and their limitations
Ready.gov power-outage dependency planning
Use it for: Identify electricity-dependent functions and suitable alternatives before a disruption.
Access and cost: Public HTML is free; equipment, professional help, services and actual program terms are separate.
How to use it: Read the preparation and medical-needs planning sections; use current local information and relevant professional/product guidance.
Evaluation and limits: Visible update June 4, 2026. Selected dependency and relocation prompts only. Food temperature/time, medication disposal, generator placement, electrical connections and appliance procedures not validated or adopted as a complete protocol. No household, device, utility-restoration time, safe building or cooling/heating location tested.
Alternatives: An original dependency record, actual local instructions and suitable professional guidance.
Open Ready.gov power-outage dependency planning
CDC power-outage hazards and safer alternatives
Use it for: Recognize combustion and temperature hazards and identify appropriate alternatives.
Access and cost: Public HTML is free; equipment, professional help, services and actual program terms are separate.
How to use it: Read the selected carbon-monoxide, heating/cooling and lighting sections; obtain actual product and personal guidance.
Evaluation and limits: Visible review August 26, 2026; metadata first published May 15, 2024, last-updated January 26, 2024 and republished August 27, 2026 are separate dates. Selected hazard warnings only. No numerical generator setback, wiring, food/water treatment, medicine, medical symptom or temperature protocol adopted. No generator, heater, household condition or clinical need assessed.
Alternatives: Current local emergency direction, appropriate professional help and actual manufacturer instructions.
Open CDC power-outage hazards and safer alternatives
Ready.gov shelter modes and local direction
Use it for: Keep stay-at-home, shelter-in-place and mass-care choices distinct.
Access and cost: Public HTML is free; equipment, professional help, services and actual program terms are separate.
How to use it: Read the definitions with actual hazard-specific local instructions and the household’s essential needs.
Evaluation and limits: Visible update September 24, 2026. Targeted recheck preserves earlier evidence. Generic sealing, ventilation and stay-home outdoor-activity wording is hazard-dependent and not adopted universally. No stay/leave decision, live shelter, admission, accessibility, pet policy, SMS service or safe return verified.
Alternatives: Current event-specific official direction and confirmed actual accommodation.
Open Ready.gov shelter modes and local direction
Checklist
- List essential functions and the people who depend on them.
- Identify utility, equipment, service and support dependencies.
- Resolve personal professional and manufacturer questions.
- Keep current hazard-specific local instructions available.
- Confirm an alternative location, transport and assistance.
- Maintain an accessible record and review unresolved gaps.
Related guides
Backup power and energy storage (SG-D09-S06); Heating choices and wood heat (SG-D09-S02); Cooling, shade and ventilation (SG-D09-S03); Household risk and continuity planning (SG-D34-S01); Essential supplies and practical kits (SG-D34-S02); Evacuation and temporary shelter (SG-D34-S03); Emergency communication and coordination (SG-D34-S05); Review, practice and improvement (SG-D34-S08).
From the historical registry to current practice
The Book of Survival and The Survival Book review contrasts nearby everyday hazards with remote-area survival concerns. Household continuity and assistance navigation are modern extensions using current sources. No old medical,childbirth,violence,animal-handling,water,survival-time,cultural-stereotype or technical instruction adopted. Spring 1969, PDF page 101, printed page 99.
Whole Earth Catalog Spring 1969 archive
For a proposed correction or coverage gap, give the editor the guide ID, disputed passage or missing subject, dated original source and reasoning. Preserve earlier evidence and the editorial decision.
Sources and review notes
Scoped first-pass planning and source navigation; broader coverage remains open. Current local instructions, personal needs, equipment and program terms require separate confirmation. Linked manuals, forms, PDFs, videos, accounts and actual services were not comprehensively audited. No household assessment, device test, drill, live warning query, personal-data submission, application, purchase, provider contact or insurance research performed.
