HOT oil, boiling water, electrical plugs, chemicals, wood, matches, lighter fluid and fabric. Sounds like a recipe for disaster? Well, it is. These are the everyday ordinary items we all have in our kitchens that combine to make it one of the most dangerous rooms in the house.

But it makes no sense spending money to redesign your kitchen when one careless mistake can send it and the rest of your house up in flames. That said, let’s review some basic kitchen fire safety techniques posted on NSWFireBrigade.com:

. Unattended cooking can cause a fire; if you must leave the kitchen whilst cooking, turn off the hotplate.

. Wear clothing with close-fitting sleeves when cooking.

. Keep children away from hotplate and ovens whilst cooking, consider installing a stove guard

. Tea towels, oven mitts and other flammable items should be kept far away from stoves or cooktops.

. Use cooking oil carefully, heat it slowly and use the right size saucepan and keep the heat low enough to avoid fat splatters.

. Turn pot and pan handles inwards so they won’t be knocked over.

. Clean your stove grill after each use and clean range hood filters and all kitchen cooking appliances regularly.

. Water does not put out fat fires – never throw water on burning oil. Water put on this type of fire can cause the fire to spread more rapidly and also produce horrific burn injuries.

. Consider installing non-slip matting around the stove and sink area.

. If cooking oil catches fire, turn off the hotplate and slide the lid over the pan or use a fire blanket to smother the fire. Don’t carry pans of hot or burning oil through the house as this may spread the fire and cause severe injuries. Allow the oil to cool before removing the lid as the oil may reignite.

. Ensure that cooking appliances are turned off after use.

. Install a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and familiarise yourself with how it operates. They should be located at least one metre away from the stove, and between the stove and the nearest exit.

In the case of fire extinguishers, it should be a crime not to have one at home as they are relatively cheap. Ann Anderson, sales and marketing manager at General Safety on Constant Spring Road, displayed three extinguishers that are suitable for residential use.

Shown in a cluster of three (left), the options are the one-and-a-half pound extinguisher that will suit any budget at $2,097 (including general consumption tax). Next is the five-pound model, but we think the best buy is the 10-pound extinguisher, which sells for $17,475.

Anderson also notes that unattended candles could also spell danger. But there are better options than candles or kerosene lamps to use in the kitchen (or any other part of the house) when there is a power cut.

Also shown in a cluster of three are the cordless lights (Right), two of which are rechargeable. The budget buy is the water-proof flashlight that sells for $1,165. The best buy is tied between the cordless rechargeable lamp, which can go for up to eight hours and the portable spotlight which also can shine for eight hours. Both retail for $5,242.50.

Emergency savings – three questions

Now that you know what to do to keep your kitchen safe from emergencies, what about your finances? How much money do you have stashed away in case an unexpected expense pops up? Am I the only one who thought it was a cruel coincidence that we had a hurricane scare during pay week? If you had a few months’ money stashed away, visiting the supermarket to stock up wouldn’t have been a traumatic experience.

However, so many of us live from pay cheque to pay cheque. What will happen if we have a hurricane in the middle of the month? Yea, we know. So to give your credit card a well-deserved break, let us look at emergency savings options.

1 How much should you put aside? A rough guide would be this chart that calculates how much you should have stashed away based on your gross earnings. The reserve is three to six months of your salary after taxes (that is, two thirds of your gross pay).

2 If you don’t have the money already, where would you get it from? SoundMindInvesting.com suggests two ways.

Boost your savings by eliminating impulse buying

. Never buy anything unless you have budgeted for it. Instead, write it down on your impulse list.

. Get at least three prices for the same item from different sources.

. Wait at least 10 days to buy it.

. Never have more than one item on your list.

Boost your savings by automatic deposit

It often helps to have some of your money put aside automatically before you have the opportunity to spend it. Instruct your workplace to have a certain dollar amount (you decide how much) automatically transferred from your salary to a money market mutual fund. It’s easy, convenient, and offers some useful discipline.

3 Where to save the money? Kiplinger.com suggests, “When you’re ready to set up your savings, look for a place that offers these three key features:

Accessibility. By definition, an emergency is something you do not anticipate, so you want to keep your money someplace where you can get to it – but it shouldn’t be too accessible.

Safety. The idea is to preserve your money. So investing in the stock market with all its ups and downs provides no guarantee the money will be there when you need it. You want to keep it some place stable with zero risk of depreciation.

Profitability. You don’t want the money to sit stagnant. After all, three to six months worth of living expenses can add up to quite a nice chunk of change. Forgo the “under-the-mattress” strategy in favour of an account that will pay a nice rate on your savings.

So, after you buy your fire extinguisher, call any of the investment houses like Jamaica Money Market Brokers, Dehring Bunting & Golding, Barita Investments or Capital and Credit Merchant Bank to see what they can do to assist in making your finances ready for any emergency.