Why we measure readiness in days, not percentages
Most apps that score you do it with a percentage or a grade. We deliberately do not. Prepared? tells you how ready your home is in days, and it is worth explaining why, because the choice is the whole philosophy in miniature.
A percentage hides the thing that matters
Imagine an app told you that you were “82% prepared”. It sounds reassuring. But what does it mean? Usually it means you own a lot of things, and the score rewards you for owning them. It can be high even if you have almost no water, because a stack of tinned food and a first-aid kit pulled the average up.
That is exactly backwards. In a real disruption you do not experience an average. You experience the thing that runs out first.
Days tell the truth
So we measure the weakest essential, and we report it in plain days. If you have four days of food but one day of water, your figure is one day, because that is how long you are genuinely comfortable. It is less flattering, and far more useful. It also points straight at what to do next: top up the water.
Competence over kit
The same thinking runs through the rest of the app. Owning equipment you have never used counts for less than knowing what to do, because in the moment, knowing is what helps. We would rather show you a small, true number and a clear next step than a big, comforting one that leaves you no wiser.
Being ready is not a grade to pass. It is a quiet confidence that, whatever the week throws at your home, you have thought about it. Days get you there. Percentages just make you feel like you already arrived.