Red Princess Phone from Etsy user PeppermintNattyInc.
No, I’m not kidding. Let me explain: I visited my parents over the weekend to find that really bad storms had ripped through the area. Our neighbors’ cable line fell, a school zone sign dangled from a nearby streetlight, and my brother recounted how not one, but two trees within blocks from our house had been split completely in half by lightning. On top of all that, the power went out several times over the week.
Every time there’s even the tiniest weather alert you can find me frantically calling home. Typically, I’m met with my mother’s confused voice asking what’s wrong with me, that it’s not even raining. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I’m convinced that one day they’re going to be stuck at home for hours with no power and as a result, no phone. Their cell phones would die eventually, and anyway, the tree-filled neighborhood is already a dead-zone without rampant 50 mile per hour winds.
What many people forget is that clunky corded phone collecting dust in the attic is powered by the telephone line, not electricity. As long as the telephone lines are intact, you’ll be able to make calls even when there’s an outage. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have an emergency phone and you can still incorporate the phone into your decor – one quick Etsy search will prove the corded phone dream is indeed alive and well:
Vintage phones from Etsy sellers, left to right: Light Blue Touchtone Bell Princess Phone/ToysnSuch, White princess phone/PhatDog, Deco-Tel Ivory Candlestick Phone/VancouverVintage, Vintage green rotary telephone/BrandosFunkyFinds, AT&T Noteworthy Wall Phone/Vintage Shopping Spree, GTE Push Button Phone/WhatsNewOnTheMantel, North Electric Galion desk phone/CalloohCallay, AT&T push button phone/goodmerchants
Do you have a corded phone hooked up at home? Tell us what else you keep at home in case of emergencies in the comments below.
I don't have a corded phone but that's a good idea. I have a battery operated weather radio for weather-related emergencies.
That's a great idea! That's on my list of things to get for an emergency kit as well!
We have everything but the corded phone. I live in a hurricane evacuation zone, so we have a full on hurricane emergency kit in the closet: bottled water, massive first aid kit, glow sticks, MRE's (meals ready to eat, my husband's in the military), emergency radio, blankets, flashlights, batteries, candles, matches, and I'm sure my ever-prepared husband has stashed a bunch of other things in there, too. Including tourniquets (let's hope I never need those!)
Love the older phones.
Remember you need to pay for the line as well, just plugging it in won't do much of anything.
You can call 911 from any phone connected to a line, whether or not the line is activated. Same with cell phones: if you have battery and signal, all cell phones can dial emergency numbers whether or not they have been activated/have a SIM card.
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