Did you experience any power outages yesterday? We knew our family in Texas was experiencing these, but we hadn't even thought about it for here until......around 1 PM the power went out. Peanut butter and jelly came to the rescue for lunch, working on our puzzle answered the problem of "what can we do without internet and TV or being able to continue doing our laundry."
As we processed what a power outage meant, we realized our only "lifelines" to the outside world were our smartphones. Yikes! Mine was only half-charged; would it last for the entire power outage? I then remembered the external portable chargers we have (primarily purchased for when we are traveling....which hasn't happened in almost a year!)So, I dug my charger out of the bottom of the drawer aware that it had not been charged for a long time. What a pleasant surprise! It was still fully charged and ready to supply power to my phone, if needed.
A portable charger may not be used very often but yesterday it provided great relief knowing it would provide several full charges to my phone, if needed. An external charger can also charge tablets and computers but with the internet down, those devices were pretty useless.
If you are unfamiliar with how external chargers work: A portable charger is plugged into the wall to receive its charge. Your smartphone or other device can then be plugged into it anywhere/anytime to receive a charge which will probably take a couple of hours.
I purchased our chargers a couple of years ago but they are still very adequate for our needs - and provided a great sense of relief yesterday afternoon. If you do a lot of traveling, have an older phone that doesn't keep its charge, or just appreciate the security of knowing you can always plug in your device to charge it, then you might want to consider purchasing an external charger. This is the one I have and I am still very satisfied with it, but there are newer (faster, more expensive) charging units available. I strongly recommend the Anker brand; I've never been disappointed by any of their products.
What will today bring? After an overnight low of -17, I think we are on our way to a high of 11 degrees! We haven't had any power outages since yesterday afternoon but are ready with our flashlights and our external chargers! If you have an external charger you may want to get it out and make sure it is charged. If you don't have one, maybe you want to use this day to do some online shopping!
Stay warm, stay safe, and stay inside!
