You never really think an 18-hour blackout will happen to you, do you? An 18-hour blackout just seems like something that happens to other people. But let me tell you, when that 18-hour blackout hit my neighborhood a few days ago, it ended up costing me a brutal $2,000+ lesson.
This 18-hour blackout was honestly one of the most disruptive, stressful events I’ve experienced in my daily life to date.
And believe me, by the time those 18 torturous hours of blackout were over, I was out over two grand in costs, damages, and sheer inconvenience.
So let me give you the full scoop on this crazy 18-hour blackout and why it made such an exorbitant dent in my wallet.
Because after dealing with this 18-hour blackout, you can bet I’ll be preparing a lot better for the next one.
It Started Like Any Other Day…Until the 18-Hour Blackout Hit
It was a pretty typical Wednesday morning when this whole 18-hour blackout saga began. Despite the 18-hour blackout chaos that would ensue, the day started out ultra-ordinary.
Little did I know, an 18-hour blackout was right around the corner to shake things up.
I was chugging away at my work computer when suddenly, BOOM – the power cut out. At first I thought, no biggie, probably just a short 18-hour blackout that will be over in a jiffy. Boy was I ever wrong about this 18-hour blackout situation.
You see, this wasn’t your run-of-the-mill 18-hour blackout that gets resolved quickly. Nope, this particular 18-hour blackout was a full-on neighborhood nightmare that would last, as the title gives away, around 18 excruciating hours.
As the 18-hour blackout dragged on, some very costly repercussions started to pile up for me. Costs that could have easily been prevented or mitigated if I’d been better prepared for such an excessive 18-hour blackout event.
The Food Costs of the 18-Hour Blackout
One of the most painful costs of this 18-hour blackout? The sheer amount of food I had to toss due to the power being out for so long.
You know how it is – after an 18-hour blackout that stretched nearly a full day, food just doesn’t keep in the fridge or freezer.
Since this was projected to be an 18-hour blackout lasting a long while, I had no choice but to trash pretty much everything perishable to be safe. So yeah, the cost of having to restock my kitchen after this 18-hour blackout was not cheap.
I’d estimate the food costs from this 18-hour blackout were easily $500-600 between the grocery haul and all those meal delivery kits I tossed. Definitely an expensive component of this annoying 18-hour blackout experience.
During the 18-hour blackout, I could have mitigated more food losses if I’d invested in a power generator. With this being such an extended 18-hour blackout, unfortunately those cooler packs just didn’t cut it after several hours.
The Work-From-Home Costs of the 18-Hour Blackout
But the food costs were just the start of the crazy 18-hour blackout expenses that racked up, thanks to my line of work. Since I’m fully remote and work from home, this 18-hour blackout severely disrupted my ability to work.
My home internet and computer were totally fried without power for the full 18-hour blackout, so I had no choice but to find an alternate working situation.
I ended up having to rent a hotel room with a day rate for the remaining 12 hours of the 18-hour blackout so I could work.
Just that hotel room cost nearly $300 with taxes and fees, all due to this ridiculous 18-hour blackout that left me powerless at home.
Even once that 18-hour blackout was over, I still had to put in extra hours to make up for the lost time from the power being out.
So all told, I’d estimate this 18-hour blackout cost me $500+ in lost productivity and having to rent that temporary office space. Not cool when you’ve got hard deadlines and clients counting on you!
The Boredom and Entertainment Costs of the 18-Hour Blackout
To make matters even worse, this 18-hour blackout also meant my home was without any sort of TV or internet for pure entertainment once the work day ended.
Somehow my phone’s hotspot couldn’t provide enough bandwidth either during this 18-hour blackout for streaming shows or anything.
So yeah, I basically spent the night bored out of my mind during this 18-hour blackout, just flipping through old magazines with a headlamp. Not exactly an exciting evening in the era of 600 streaming services, video games and all that jazz.
Thus, in a lame effort to keep myself entertained during the final hours of this 18-hour blackout, I’ll admit I ordered way too much delivery food from restaurants. Which wouldn’t have been necessary if I had power, since I had plenty of food at home already!
Those totally unnecessary dinner and snack delivery orders added at least another $100 to the overall cost of this dumb 18-hour blackout. Money I just wasted out of boredom and lack of preparation for such an event.
The Repair and Replacement Costs of the 18-Hour Blackout
Unfortunately, the costs of this torturous 18-hour blackout didn’t stop there for me. Nope, the grand finale were all the repair and replacement costs once the lights finally did come back on in my home.
Despite doing my best to unplug everything before the 18-hour blackout, it seems the power outage and resumption of electricity fried my home internet router and HVAC system.
Not to mention, a bunch of LED light bulbs needed replacing post 18-hour blackout too.
I had to pay a repair guy to come check out and reset my HVAC, which wasn’t cheap. Then replacing the router and lights added a couple hundred dollars more. Ugh, what an expensive and preventable disaster from this 18-hour blackout!
All told, I’d estimate the damages from the power vacuum of this 18-hour blackout adding an extra $300-400 to the overall cost for me. And this could have been avoided with some smart strip protectors and other preventative gear.
The Grand Total Cost of the 18-Hour Blackout
By now I’m sure you can sense my utter frustration and feeling of being nickeled-and-dimed by this 18-hour blackout from hell, right? To really put things in perspective, let me break down the full 18-hour blackout cost for you:
- Food losses and restocking: $500-600
- Lost work time/hotel office: $500
- Entertainment costs: $100
- Repair/replacement costs: $300-400
When you tally it all up, this miserable 18-hour blackout ended up costing me over $2,000 in hard, quantifiable damages and expenses.
And that doesn’t even factor in the hassle, stress, and personal frustration from the whole experience!
Reflecting on Preparing Better for the Next 18-Hour Blackout
To say I was utterly unprepared for this 18-hour blackout would be an understatement. While I knew power outages could happen, I never really took the time to plan for an extended blackout of this magnitude.
As such, I paid the price to the tune of over two grand once all those 18-hours of darkness were over. Looking back, here are some of the top lessons and takeaways I’m implementing to prep for any future 18-hour blackouts:
- Getting a gas-powered generator for essentials
- Installing whole-home surge protectors
- Keeping$100+ in cash on hand for emergencies
- Buying a quality portable battery pack
- Investing in LED lanterns and other light sources
- Stocking up on non-perishable emergency food/water
- And maybe even looking at solar panels/backup power
You can consider this my personal public service announcement after this 18-hour blackout incident: don’t be like me and get caught blindsided! Take some key steps now to ensure you’re not hemorrhaging money if an 18-hour blackout rolls through your area.
Remembering All the Silver Linings from the 18-Hour Blackout
While this 18-hour blackout was absolutely a nightmare that cost me dearly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention some of the silver linings and bright spots that came out of the stressful situation too.
For one, being without power and a million electronic distractions for 18 hours allowed me to really appreciate aspects of my life I normally take for granted.
Playing board games and card games by candlelight with my family was actually really fun and refreshing compared to just zoning out to TV every night.
This 18-hour blackout also reinforced how grateful I should be for the little things – having climate control, being able to store and cook food easily, entertainment at my fingertips, and working productively from home. It was a sudden jolt into how life would be without our modern power grid amenities.
Additionally, going through an 18-hour blackout made me even more motivated to explore backup power solutions like solar to prevent such a costly, disruptive event from happening again.
Few experiences light a fire under you to become self-reliant quite like having no electricity for nearly an entire day!
Most importantly though, this 18-hour blackout reminded me that dealing with unexpected challenges and setbacks is just part of the human experience we can’t fully control. As stressful and expensive as it was, I made it through without anybody getting seriously harmed.
So while I’ll be far better prepared financially and logistically for any future 18-hour blackouts, I also gained some welcomed perspective about not taking the little things for granted. A bit of humility and chance to unplug from our frenetic modern lifestyles is healthy every now and then.
The 18-Hour Blackout: An Unforgettable $2,000 Lesson
At the end of the day, this 18-hour blackout was one of those crazy life events that leaves you shaking your head, feeling drained, but ultimately grateful it’s over. While being powerless for so long was beyond disruptive, it really hammered home the importance of being prepared.
Between the food losses, work disruptions, entertainment costs, and repair bills, this 18-hour blackout easily drained over $2,000 from my bank account. With some smarter planning and preventative actions, the vast majority of those costs were completely avoidable too.
So while I’m certainly not looking to experience another extended 18-hour blackout anytime soon, I am grateful for the unforgettable lessons it taught me about self-reliance, managing the unexpected, and not taking our powered-up modern lives for granted.
Those are lessons I’ll keep with me to prevent such a disastrous financial hit in the future.
Because when it comes to home preparedness for power outages and blackouts, it’s clear I was caught severely lacking this time around.
As they say, you live and you learn – usually the hard way through events like this ridiculous 18-hour blackout debacle! Just call me $2,000 wiser when the next one rolls around.