WRITTEN BY:  MOTHER OF 7

Ok I have to tell you if you are unable to stay in a particular location than your going to have to be moveing around. In the event that you have to move from place to place your going to have to have a way to stay warm, expecialy when your asleep. A sleeping bag is something everyone should have, regardless if you get to stay in your safe place or if you have to move from place to place. You may not need it if you are staying some place safe, however it would be good to have if you have people show up, and do not have extra beds for them.

I for one am in love with the North Face sleeping bags. I have a few spair ones around in the event that I ever need them, and for when we go camping, expecialy at high altitudes in Colorado.

North Face sleeping bags are very light, and have very good loft. The goose down fill keeps even me warm, and I am cold natured. Thay also roll down to be very light weight and portable if you have to carry them a long way.

There are meny brands on the market and you need to do a bit of research.

Name brand is not always the best, but it can be the most expensive.

Important things to check when getting a sleeping bag.

1. What is the tempature range? You want to get the coldest weather bag that you can get. -15 to 0 is a good starting point. Some are rated up to -45 and if you can afford one of those all the more power to you.

2. What materials is it made from? I personaly like down, however it has a huge down side. When it gets wet it stays wet a long time. It becomes very heavy since your now carrying water also. It takes a long time to dry and if you can't dry it out in a day or 2 it can actuley start to mold and mildue. I hate that part, however I am still a hard core downie!

There are synthetic fiber fill down like materials also, thay dry much faster, and do not mildue when wet for several days. If you are alergic to down like one of my sons is, than you will need to get one of these type bags.

3. How much does it weigh? This may well be the most important questian of all. A bag weighing 2 pounds that is rated for 10 to 32 degreese may in some cases be the better choise. Even though it is not quite as warm, it is very portable and can be caryed for a very long time. Also it will not take up alot of space in your pack.

Those are the most important things to remember when getting a sleeping bag.

Pros/cons and tradoffs.

1. You should be able to get a military issue artic bag. These are down, the inside and outer lining is canvas, and thay have an extra canvas linning, and in many cases a canvas bag to put them into.

Now these bags for the most part stay dry. Thay are super warm, probably the warmest bags you can get. Thay are pretty cheep if you get them used and a surplus store, at our store here thay range from 65 to 90 bucks. Chances are your going to stay warm, and you will be dry, however the down side is thay are very heavy, and super bulky. Thay have 60 oz. of down, and canvas weighs alot. With the extra cover, and the bag, were talking over 15 pounds. Now 15 pounds may not sound like much rite now, but when your moving around for meny miles you may change your tune.

2. Lighter bags have nylon, polister, or other thin fabric making them light to carry for long distances, thay take up very little space, and are easy for even a small child to hall for quite some distance. When carrying food or other item in a back pack these little beauties can realy be a space saver, and much easyer on your back. If your a woman, and have children, these can be a great things to have. But the drawback is that the thin nylin can rip. If it rips you loose your filling. With out loft you get cold, and if your cold you can get hypothermia.

See there is no perfect solution but my family has all gotten lightweight high loft extreme weather bags. My 8 year old has a youth bag weighing only 20oz. and is very easy to carry for ever. If we use a piece of plastic on the ground and we have a tent we stay dry. We have camped in some pretty extreme weather, and still have been just fine. We also have a few extra bags in the event we had to lay on one, and cover with an extra one. Or we had to give one to a friend in transit who did not have one.

Think people, you can go out and get a bag today, or tomorrow, but you may not be able to get one next month!

This can save your life!

Rule #1 You can dye from exposer faster than anything!

Take care of rule #1 rite now!

Ebay has lots of sleeping bags for sale rite now. You can go in and snipe one last minute and get yourself an awesome deal on a used bag. If you can't afford new, than but used!

This is just 1 thing that you can do to insure that your going to be around for longer than 1 or 2 days if you happen to be in a cold climate.

If you live in a warm weather climate, you do not know that its going to stay a warm weather climate. No one knows! If the world did a flip flop tomorrow and the poles changes, and everything was mixed up, the climate you have today could be greatly alterd!

Please just do this for every member of your family!

PLEASE!