Need help understanding my generator needs.

Hello. I am needing help understand a few things on choosing the right generator. I've researched and learned quite a bit over the last 4 days. I think I have most of it down however I come across some posts and websites that leave me with some questions.

The purpose of the generator is strictly for emergency purposes. We live on the Gulf Coast and with the last hurricane, even though we just had wind, we were without power for a week. I am on a budget so I'd really like to keep it under $700 total (shipping, tax, cables, etc).

I've found out the watts required for the things we want to keep powered which is the fridge, freezer, a window a/c, tv, dvd player, stereo and 3 lamps. It would be 2577 running watts.

The generator at the top of my list currently is a Wen 3750/4750 that is $430 total. It has electric start, two 20A 5-20R outlets, a 30A rv TT-30R outlet, and a 30A L5-30 outlet.
If I need larger Im looking at the Smarter Tools 5500/6500 for $610 total. It has four 120V 20A outlets, a 120/240V 30A AC L14-30R, a 120V 30A AC L5-30R and one 12-Volt 8A DC outlet. It however doesn't have an electric start.

Question #1 - Surge Watts - I'm not quite understanding the surge watts. I know that they can vary according to the appliance. I've read that most people either just double the running watts and use that, and others say to just double the highest running watt. After looking at how generators are setup 3500/4000 etc, Im guessing the last is the better way to go? If not I can't figure out why gens are not more like 3500/7000. I tried to calculate my surge watts best I can on each individual appliance and come up with about 5020 watts.

Question #2 - Overload - My running watts total is 2600, that would mean a 3750/4750 would be running at 70%. Is that too high if it's just used for emergencies? It would be running non-stop for maybe a week at most. (hopefully)

Question #3 - Cords/Adapters - I am hoping that I am able to plug most of my items into the 5-20 outlets using two of the cords that have the triple tap ends and then

running extension cords from that to each appliance. I also hope to use a 30-to-15 adapter I saw at Lowes to hook either the fridge or the a/c to the L5-30. Do you see any problems with this? The only 10g cord I found at Lowes is $90. Is this the one I would need for the L5-30 or could I get a smaller cord since I would be using the 30-to-15 adapter?

Question #4 - Amps - I was just about to choose a generator when I came across a site that said to also check my amps. So I did that, mostly from estimates provided on other sites. I total about 24 amps (fridge 9, freezer 5, ac 6, tv/dvd 1, lamps 1.5, stereo .5). Does those sound about right?. The site went on to say that even though an outlet on the generator may be a 20 amp outlet and that even though there maybe 2 or 4 outlets that if the circuit inside the generator is only 25 amps that is the most I will get total from the generator. So I couldn't plug 20 worth of amps into EACH outlet because they are going to share whatever's inside the generator? I have to say this is what has confused me the most.

Question #5 - 3750 or 5500 - So do you thing the 3750 would be good or would I need bigger?

Thank you for ANY help in ANY this!

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Need help understanding my generator needs.