September is National Preparedness Month!
Whether you have a single house fire or a huge national emergency, there are steps you can take to ensure your personal and business paperwork is in order.
Documents to keep in a fire proof safe or safe deposit box:
- birth certificates
- social security cards
- passports
- list of insurance policy numbers/contact info
- list of bank account/credit card numbers
- home inventory photo CD
- car title
Disaster Preparedness Resources
www.ready.gov
www.redcross.org
Other Preparedness Tips:
- Create a 72 hour kit – with enough water, food & other supplies for each member of your family to survive for 72 hours. Visit the above websites for a full list of what to include in your disaster kit.
- Regularly back up non-financial business files to the cloud for easy retrieval.
- Use an external hard drive for financial files and store in a fire proof safe, safe deposit box or off-site storage.
- Choose a day each year to update your home inventory photos/list. Patriot’s Day (September 11) is a good day to serve as a reminder.
- Take photos of each area of your home to remind you of the items you own. Generate a list from these photos that includes serial numbers, copies of receipts, etc. This will make it much simpler, if you have a need to prove ownership to the insurance company.
If you need help organizing your paperwork for disaster preparedness, call Lasting Order at 812-858-2457 for a FREE 15-minute phone consultation!