How We Organize Our Important Documents

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Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston when I was almost five. My family rarely evacuated for hurricanes (and still doesn't!), but my dad was away, and my mom made a last minute decision to head inland to my great-aunt's house for this one! I remember her carrying boxes of photo albums and important papers to the car just as the rain started. 

Fast forward 32 years, and packing up photo albums isn't something my family does during hurricane season. One of the benefits of living in a digital world is that pretty much everything is replaceable. We personally don't have any sentimental letters or photos that aren't also digital. 

We do keep all our important documents in this fireproof and waterproof safe, however, because while replaceable, these are items we don't want lost or somehow finding their way out of our house.

The dimensions are not quite large enough for a file folder to lie flat, which is fine because most of the items are smaller than an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper anyway. But I didn't want everything just tossed in, so I found these clear zipper envelopes at Home Depot, and they work perfectly!

We keep personal identification, home, and vehicle information in our safe:

• Birth Certificates
• Social Security Cards
• Passports
• Marriage License
• Property Deed
• Car Titles

We also keep documents that would be helpful for our family to easily access if something were to happen to one or both of us:

• Will
• List of all financial accounts with usernames and passwords

I'm working on getting digital files (mainly photos) backed up on an external hard drive that will also go in the safe. And it's a good idea to keep an inventory of household possessions, so that's on the to-do list, as well!

Nice and tidy!

xoxo

Erin