First, look at your family's daily lives and the things you use therein. Then look at the things from that list to see what you MUST have (special food, medicine, etc.). Start from there to build your supply list. [My $100 knife will do me little good if my wife is off her meds for more than a day] Once that is complete, get your finances and documents in order. This is the least "fun" part, so do it first. Kinda like PT in the morning; Once it's gone, you can get on with the day.

Now that you have all the REALLY important stuff done, and the budget for your BOB (remember finances earlier), make a plan.

The plan will need to have all possible "threats" you face (fire, tornado, unemployment, deployment, et.al.) Said plan FINALLY tells you what you need. If going to grandma's house to be out of hurricane range is the plan, do you really need a 6 person tent? Maybe you will if all 20 relatives are going to grandma's 2 bedroom house, but that is dependent on your unique situation.

Now we have the really important stuff done. We have a plan, and a budget. Let's make two lists. What do I really need, and what do I really want.

Fill the NEED with affordable quality items that will do the job first. Later when you replace NEED items with WANT items, you have backup items for other locations or family.

I hope this helps, I had to do 4 BOB's at once. I was lucky enough to be able to afford it, but not all can. Then I had to do a 5th from a no-notice start, and it was easier because I had a plan.

There is a website I found here at ETS. This family lived the nightmare of Katrina and thought they were ready. It tells of his experiences and lessons learned. It is probably the best first person After Action Review (AAR) of that disaster available to date. Listening to Katrina

I wish you luck, and welcome you to the fire. You will find a warm place here, but please bring a "log" (information/ideas/questions) or two.