If you want to protect your paperwork as fully as possible, your best solution is a waterproof/fireproof safe. These safes will keep your documents protected from the type of water damage caused by the recent hurricanes, and should also prevent your paperwork from being destroyed during a house fire.
While it’s also possible to store copies of your documents in a safe deposit box, you may have trouble accessing your bank in the immediate aftermath of an emergency.
Locating Your Documents After an Emergency
The point in organizing your paperwork for an emergency is to be able to access it quickly after the crisis is over. Unfortunately, emergency situations like natural disasters often result in serious injury or even death, meaning you may be unable to retrieve your paperwork yourself.
To make sure that your paperwork can be found after a disaster, you should be sure to tell a trusted friend or family member the location of your documents and any other information they would need to access them, including combinations or passcodes. Trusting this information to someone you depend on will guarantee your paperwork can be retrieved if you are unable to do so yourself.
Make Your Preparations
While you will have advance notice for some types of emergencies, such as hurricanes, other disasters can happen at a moment’s notice, throwing your life into turmoil and leaving you no time for preparation. Organizing your paperwork before an emergency occurs will give you peace of mind and will help you start the rebuilding process as soon as the dangerous situation has passed.
