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The book · Full edition
Power Out… Organised
Keeping your household safe, warm and connected if the lights go out
Most of us only notice electricity when it stops. Get your household ready for a few hours, a night or a few days without power, then keep that readiness alive.
About 70 minutes to read · Ebook and audiobook editions
Everything is an organisation
In this book, the organisations are the household, the street and the power system: a household that keeps what matters running, neighbours who check on each other, and a grid that will sometimes fail.
Inside the book
Find out what a power cut really does
Most UK power cuts are short and local, but a long one shows how much quietly runs on electricity. Walk the house room by room and list what depends on power, find the stopcock, fuse box and meters, and sort dependencies by consequence rather than cost. Start an event log of outages you've already lived through, and learn the first move: is it just us?
Describe a calm outage
Picture the happy path: torches in known places, everyone knowing their job, the radio on, the freezer kept shut. Calm is a design outcome, not luck. The government's Be Ready baseline is three days without outside help; set your own levels for light, water, food, warmth and communication, and respect your household's capacity and budget.
Design the kit and the plan
Use torches, not candles, and a battery or wind-up radio. Store 2.5 to 3 litres of drinking water per person per day, plan a three-day no-cook menu and keep a thermometer in the fridge. Never use a generator, barbecue or camping stove indoors. Join the Priority Services Register if you're eligible, agree meeting points, and write your household plan on paper.
Practise, maintain and look out for others
Ticked is not ready: run a drill and find the torch in the dark in under a minute. Entropy comes for every kit, so set a rhythm: monthly torch and alarm checks, and a ten-minute review when the clocks change in March and October, tracked with the Habit Tracker. Knock on your neighbours' doors, restore power safely, and review after every real outage.
Free companion printables
The Ready Household printables
Print a copy and write on it: paper works in a power cut. Start on page 2 of the planner, "Start here: 5 things in 20 minutes". Each chapter of the book tells you which planner page to fill in.
The Ready Household plannerThe full 55-page colour planner, A4.
Ink-saver plannerThe same planner in black and white on white pages, for home printers.
Phone PackPhone-sized pages: eight scenario summaries, key UK numbers, contacts, meeting points and medical information. Save them to your phone so you can see them offline.
Wall posterA one-page household emergency plan for the fridge or hallway.All four files, plus the Phone Pack as 12 separate images for your phone's photos.
Independent guidance, referenced to the UK Government's Be Ready campaign and not endorsed by the government, the NHS or any company named. Prices in the planner were checked on 28 October 2026 and change often. In an emergency, follow the emergency services. If life is at risk, call 999.
Finish with a plan
The book closes by setting up a Todoist project called Organise Power-outs, with a section for each D and the Habit Tracker integration switched on.
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