Every six months I check my emergency preps. The fact that I have emergency preps might seem a little out there, but I do keep a few things handy in the car and house just in case. For instance, we live in Colorado, and the weather here in winter can be a little severe sometimes, so if we ever get caught in bad weather, I have a bag in the trunk that holds a few bits and pieces just in case we ever need them.
The Car Kit.
The purpose as mentioned above of the car kit is to keep us warm, allow us to potentially hike home or double as a bug out kit in case of evacuation (natural disaster type of events).
The gear
As you can see, all the gear fits into a medium sized backpack. The bulk of the gear is clothing, It gets cold here so I have two fleece hoodies, gloves, socks and wooly hats. I also have masks if there is a fire for instance and the air quality is poor. I have a radio, some other electronics, a tarp, some survival items like fire starting kits and a couple of flashlights. I keep the batteries in battery holder, and I keep them separate so if they degrade, the battery acid is not going to ruin any of the other items in the bag. This is also one of the reasons I check this bag every six months; I check the state of the batteries and make sure none of the clothing has mold or anything like that.
Also included is a small firearm for self defense. Obviously the decision to carry a defense weapon is a very personal one, but I would rather have one than not. I know in many regions of the world this is not just frowned upon but is illegal. Here though, I have a permit to carry and I do.
Tool Kit
My tool kit is basic, and consist of a warning triangle, shovel, saw, some cord, a tow strap, jumper cables, and a small kit of hand tools and sockets just in case I need to do some repairs to the car. It also has spare fuses. I have used this kit and in fact just recently the car was hit in the rear and I had to use the saw to remove some of the rear plastics as they were dragging on the road. I check the condition of everything in the tool kit to ensure it is all in good and serviceable condition.
Flashlight
I also keep another LED flashlight in the car itself. This one has a magnetic base, and has white and red modes for signaling. I check the batteries and operation of this to ensure it still works.
Home Preps
I don't keep a lot of specific home preps, but I do keep a small bag of lanterns and batteries in case we have a power outage, and I keep a small first aid kit. I cycle out the batteries to make sure that they are always fresh and I make sure all the lanterns still work.. The first aid kit is checked for anything that is out of date or anything that looks rough and that gets replaced.
All in all, doing this every six months is not a big deal, as it takes me maybe an hour or so, and gives me peace of mind that I have the minimum I need in case anything happens. It's like having a fire extinguisher, I hope to never use it but if I need to, the stuff is there.