15 Things You Should Always Have in Your Car

The New Year is here....how prepared are you for a DISASTER?!?!?!

Ok, I'm being a little dramatic. BUT, it couldn't hurt to take a couple steps in safety you may not have considered before.  We test our smoke detectors each Daylight Saving Time, right?  Lets use the New Year to have our car safe.

We spend LOTS of time in it, after all, and with a Buffalo winter coming, better safe than sorry.

Admittedly, this list seems a bit exhaustive...with all this stuff in the car, I'm not sure where the fast food wrappers, empty coffee cups, and ziplocks of cheerios go.

According to Ready.gov, these are 15 things you should always have in your car.  How many do you have?

1. jumper cables
2. at least one flashlight (with extra batteries)
3. first aid kit
4. non-perishable food (think energy bars or canned good)
5. can opener (for said canned good...or for tight parking spaces LOL!)
6. at least three gallons of water per person (this means 23 gallons for a family of four, so if you're going camping that would be worth it...otherwise, lets all that overkill...plus it'll hurt your mileage)
7. basic toolkit (wrench, pliers, screwdriver)
8. food/water for pets
9. hand-cranked radio (or one with fresh batteries)
10. cat litter or sand for traction
11. shovel
12. ice scraper
13. extra clothes, including a jacket
14. blanket or sleeping bag
15. old cell phone, making sure it stays charged. even if it's deactivated, any cell can still call 911.