For a large part of the US and many other countries,
Winter brings with it the chance of ice, sleet, or snow.
And that means you can get caught in hazardous driving conditions.
Because of that, I want to show you what I recommend that most people leave in their vehicle during the winter
just in case they get stranded, slide off the road, get stuck in deep snow, or even get involved in a minor fender bender.
These items will help you deal better with situations like that.
I'm going to put on a warmer hat,
open up my trunk, and show you what I'm talking about.
Everything I'm going to recommend that you need is in this canvas bag
and this plastic container.
I'm gonna start here with the tote bag.
The first thing in here is a one gallon gas can.
It's empty. But it can come in handy of you run out of gas,
and you know you're not too far from a gas station or a town,
and conditions aren't bad enough that you shouldn't walk there, and you won't be putting yourself in danger.
You can take this there, fill it up with gas, and walk back.
A one gallon gas can isn't going to weigh too much when full, so you should be able to carry it without too much trouble.
I also have a pair of winter boots in there. I don't normally wear boots when I'm driving,
so if I have to walk around in the snow, I'm going to put these on instead of my regular shoes.
And I keep a warm blanket in there.
If you're running low on gas, you only want to run your engine about 10 minutes every hour in order to warm up the car.
So a blanket will really help you keep warm if you're stuck somewhere, and you know you're going to have to wait a while before help can get to you.
Now we're going to look at what's inside the plastic tub.
I've got it packed pretty tight.
And right on top, I've got a pair of gloves.
I keep warm gloves in my coat in the winter, but these are just an extra pair. These are insulated but they're flexible.
And they would come in handy if I had to change a tire, or do other things out in the weather.
I have a flashlight. This one has come in handy several times for me.
It has a base that rotates, so you can put it on the ground and point it in a certain direction, such as if you are changing a tire, and you need direct light in a certain area.
It has a hook on it.
So you can hang it under your hood in case you had to check something under there or add fluids.
It lights up here with a wider beam, or you can switch it to a more narrow beam here .
The base is also magnetic,
so I can stick it to the side of my car, and point in down into my work area such as if I'm changing a tire.
So this has really come in pretty handy.
And you can tell I've used it lately, because it's a little dirty...sorry about that!
But any kind of flashlight or worklight will come in handy.
It doesn't have to be one like this, just get yourself a good flashlight.
But if you're going to have a battery-operated flashlight in your vehicle,
you also need to keep extra batteries.
That flashlight uses AA batteries, and I carry eight extra,
the flashlight itself needs four,
so I have two battery changes in there just in case I need it.
I always keep an ice scraper in the car, but just in case, I keep a spare.
This is a ski mask, or more exactly, a balaclava.
If that's how you say it. I usually say things wrong.
It can cover your whole face, except for the eyes.
And that can really help in bad weather.
I also have just a bottle of water.
It's important to stay hydrated.
So in case you didn't bring any water when you started on your trip,
there's a little bit if drinking water there in your trunk.
I have electrical tape and duct tape.
Electrical tape is very sturdy and it can stretch.
And it can be used for a lot of purposes on your vehicle.
Duct tape is not as flexible, but it has many uses.
So the two of these together can handle a lot of situations.
Ones I can think of are hoses that can break, or if you're involved in a minor fender bender
duct tape can be used to hold a piece onto the car
like if you have a mirror that's flopping,
this can keep it from falling off, or just banging against the side of your vehicle as you drive off.
This is an extra phone charging cord.
I've had several cords go bad,
It's important to have something to charge your phone with, so I keep a spare cord.
Here's something I've used many times.
And I highly recommend it if it's in your budget.
And I understand if it isn't.
This is a portable jump starter.
I can jump my own vehicle by myself, I don't need another vehicle, or another person around to help me.
This portable jump starter also has a built-in flashlight,
and two USB ports.
And with those, you can charge up your phone, or power any USB device.
I make sure I keep this fully charged.
It comes with it's own cables. It's very foolproof and safe.
And its helped me out of a bad situation a few times,
and its enabled me to help other people out very easily by having it.
Now these cost anywhere from $70 -$80, to $100+
But if you don't have one of these and aren't planning on getting one of these,
Make sure you have some jumper cables in your car.
Cables that are 12-20 feet long are probably the best.
But to be honest, I love this thing.
I have some basic tools that I can do some minor repairs with.
Pliers, needlenose pliers, Phillips screwdriver,
slotted/flathead screwdriver, vise grips,
and a multitool too. So between this,
and those tools, I can do a lot if something goes wrong.
If you're stuck on the side of the road, or have to pull over for some reason, particularly at night,
It's important to have some markers or some flares of some kind, to let other drivers know that you're there,
to get their attention.
Some people aren't comfortable using regular flares, the kind you have to light and place on the ground,
in that case they do make some LED flares, these are battery-operated.
These need to be checked ever once in a while to make sure they still work.
On the interstate, you could put these out at different intervals behind your vehicle, 10 ft, 50 ft, and 100 ft behind your vehicle would be good.
When you place your flares, put them so they angle out towards the road,
This let's approaching traffic that they need to keep to the left.
If you're on a two lane road or a country road,
you might also put one flare in front of your vehicle a distance aways,
so traffic coming from that direction would see it right away.
And then put the other two behind your vehicle.
So get some type of reflector to put on the ground, some type of flare,
either battery-operated, or ones that you light.
This is something I hope you would never need, but this is a small first aid kit.
It can cover the basics. It's not meant for anything heavy duty.
Anyone that has a background in emergency training or medicine would probably want something better than this,
but for the average person, this will help.
It can help with minor cuts and abrasions, things like that.
This is something that has really come in handy for me too,
a collapsible shovel. It goes from this, out to this.
And that's not real big, but it can do a lot for you.
If you get stuck in the snow, you can use it to dig around the front and the back of your tires.
An important thing too, if you're stuck in snow, you want to dig around your exhaust pipe.
If this gets covered with snow, and you're running your engine to keep warm ever once in a while,
those exhaust gases are going back into the cabin of your vehicle, and that could be dangerous.
I had to use this once when I was stuck in about 12 inches of snow,
and I didn't think I was going to get out, but I got this shovel,
dug around my tires, and I was able to pull away.
This is another thing I have that I love, because its been there for me.
Here are some work gloves. They're sturdy, and they're good for protecting your hands if you have to move things out of the way of your vehicle.
Change a tire. Yank a loose piece of something off of your vehicle in case you were in a small fender bender,
and you just needed to do that so you could drive away.
There's lots of reasons you could use some gloves, some good sturdy work gloves.
I also have a trash bag. Never know when you might want to use those.
If you have to work outside your vehicle,
and you get your gloves wet and dirty,
or some of your other clothing,
or you wore those boots and they were all snow-covered,
you could put them in this trash bag, and not worry about the inside of your car getting all dirty and sloppy.
And here are some non-perishable food items.
Things that will store for a long time in your trunk
and they'll still be fit to eat when you need them.
Beef jerky keeps well.
Raisins and granola bars.
And the longer you're stranded or stuck out in the weather,
the more important it is to have food to keep your energy up.
I also keep some Fix-A-Flat.
It comes with the built-in hose that will hook up directly to your tire valve.
And with this, if something punctures your tire and it goes flat,
this will actually fix the flat, it will seal the puncture area.
And it will air up the tire too in the process.
So this can really come in handy, and can get you out of a bad situation quick.
The last thing in the tub is kitty litter.
This is really handy if you're on snow or ice,
and you can't get any traction.
To get the most good out of it, dig around all your tires with your shovel.
Get that as clear as possible.
And then put some of this in front and behind your drive wheels.
This is a front-wheel drive vehicle, so I especially want to put kitty litter in front
and behind my front wheels.
You can also put some behind the other wheels too,
but it's most important to put it around the tires that are going to be doing the pulling or pushing.
Put the kitty litter down,
then go forward and reverse as much as you have to
to get unstuck from your spot.
That's what I keep in my trunk,
but I keep a few other things in my car.
These are portable phone chargers...I have two of them.
This one's 20,000 mAh, this is 10,000.
I make sure I keep those charged.
If I'm stuck somewhere and I'm trying to conserve my battery,
I don't want to use my car charger to charge up my phone.
I also keep a couple of tire pressure gauges.
This one's battery operated and digital.
And this is just a regular manual pencil type.
If you think you've lost air in your tires,
this will let you check to see what your tire pressure really is at.
And if you have to add air, this will let you know when you're at the right pressure.
I also keep some l ock de-icer in my car.
If I have to go somewhere and then park my car, and leave it out in the freezing cold for a while,
I take this with me.
If I leave it in my car and I come back and the lock is frozen,
it's not gonna do me any good.
A couple of things I also keep inside my car, are these window breakers.
They also have seatbelt cutters built into them.
If you would happen to get into a minor accident or run off the road
and your door would get a little bit bent or twisted,
it might not open.
In that case you could use these glass breakers to shatter your window,
and you'd be able to exit your vehicle.
I have two of them because I keep them in the front seat.
One on the driver's side and one on the passenger side.
So both people would have access to one of these in an emergency.
And these go in the door pockets on either side in the front seat.
I also have a cheap swiss army-style knife up here too.
And at the first sign of bad weather, get those supplies
out of the trunk and into your back seat if there's room,
so they'll be handy, and you won't have to worry about your trunk freezing over and not being able to get it unlocked.
That was a little bit cold out there,
but it was worth it to get to show you some of the basic things that might help you
if you get caught in the middle of a winter storm.
Take these as a recommendation,
and you can add to them or subtract from them to fit you and your needs.
And I do hope this helped somebody.
Thanks for watching, drive safe, and have a great day!