The time to find out your kerosene lantern has no fuel is not during a winter power outage at nine in the evening with two kids asking why it's dark.
Emergency preparedness inventory fails the same way every time: people buy the supplies once, feel prepared, and never check them again. Three years later, the water purification tabs have expired, two of the D batteries are dead, and the emergency candles have been raided for birthday parties. The checklist that was mentally "done" is no longer accurate, and nobody knows it until the grid goes down.
Eighteen Items, Zero Ambiguity
This template runs entirely on boolean fields. Eighteen items, each a yes or no — present or absent. No quantities, no expiration dates, no conditions. That simplicity is deliberate for a checklist that needs to function as a rapid-audit tool during a supply run or a seasonal check.
The items map to four functional categories that an emergency preparedness planner would recognize:
Light and heat: Kerosene heater, kerosene lanterns (×2), kerosene fuel, waterproof matches, emergency candles, emergency flashlight. These six items form the thermal and visual survival layer for extended outages in cold climates.
Water: Bottled water, water purification tabs, water jugs. Three distinct approaches — stored, treated on-demand, and bulk container — because a single water source that fails leaves you with nothing.
Power and communication: Emergency radio, AA/AAA/C/D batteries. The four battery sizes reflect the reality that critical devices — radios, flashlights, medical equipment — span all four form factors and will not tell you which one has run out until you're holding the device.
Food and safety: Emergency rations, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, portable stove. The stove pairs with the fuel layer; neither is useful without the other.
Why a Database Instead of a Printed List
A printed checklist lives in a drawer. A Memento database record is searchable, can have notes attached, and is accessible on a phone that travels with you to the hardware store when you're trying to remember whether you already have water purification tabs or if that was something you were going to get.
The boolean structure also means checking off items during a rapid audit takes seconds per item. You're not entering quantities or dates — you're confirming presence. Run through all eighteen fields in under three minutes, identify the gaps, and you have a shopping list before you leave the house.
The same database supports multiple records over time — a household can track spring and fall audit states, compare them, and see which items cycle in and out of readiness. A kerosene fuel item that flips from true to false between audits without a corresponding purchase record is a gap that needs explaining.