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Quick! You have 10 minutes to get your most important documents out of your house. What do you need?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s another scenario: you\u2019re away from home and you find out there was a fire. Are you confident that you have all your important information somewhere you can access?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s never fun to imagine disaster scenarios<\/a>, but that doesn\u2019t mean you should avoid the necessary preparation. Building a good emergency kit checklist\u2014and digitizing the things you can\u2014is one of the easiest things you can do to give yourself peace of mind. Today, I\u2019m covering all the things that can and should go into your digital go bag.<\/p>\n We’ve had this article on our calendar for a while now, and it’s part of our campaign to celebrate World Backup Day.<\/a> But, we never want to be the ones shifting the focus from the victims of natural disasters. With the devastating storms that rolled through the U.S. South and beyond this weekend, we wanted to take a moment to say that our thoughts are with everyone affected, and if you have the ability to donate, this is a great boots-on-the-ground charity<\/a> helping folks out right now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It may seem far-fetched that you\u2019ll be in the position to get the essentials in only 10 minutes, but speaking from personal experience, that\u2019s exactly what happened to me when the 2003 Cedar Fire<\/a> struck in San Diego\u2014there\u2019s nothing like seeing your friends\u2019 homes on the national news, let me tell you. And, having spent much of my adult life in hurricane-prone New Orleans, disaster readiness is just a way of life. It\u2019s common to discuss the incoming storms with the old-timers in your neighborhood bar over a $2 afternoon High Life, and they are almost always right in predicting if a hurricane is going to turn and hit Florida.<\/p>\n One of the things these experiences have taught me is that disasters and recovery happen in stages. There\u2019s the inciting event\u2014a house fire, a hurricane, etc.\u2014and then there\u2019s the displacement and recovery. You\u2019re trying to call an insurance company when the lines are all tied up, and when you finally get through, you need to give them information that they need when you\u2019re far from home and in crisis. You may have renter\u2019s insurance, but when you\u2019re trying to re-buy your book collection, really, which ones did you have? And, there are some things that can\u2019t be replaced\u2014photos are a great example. Finding a way to organize and digitize these things means that you don\u2019t have to worry about stuff<\/em> when you should be worrying about people<\/em>.<\/p>\n All that to say, the more you can do to be prepared ahead of time, the better. That means not only having your documents in a place you can access, but also knowing what documents you need in the first place. While this type of file organization started out in response to natural disasters, it\u2019s actually helped in many other ways\u2014I always know where my files are to give to my tax guy, and I\u2019ve implemented a good 3-2-1 backup strategy<\/a>, which means I\u2019m confident my data is protected and accessible.<\/p>\n As it happens, there\u2019s a name for this type of intentional preparation when you\u2019re building an emergency kit: folks call those kits go bags. It makes sense right? You have a bag that holds the things you need to go. These days, though, many of the things that you\u2019d traditionally include in that physical bag can also be digitized. So, with all that in mind, let\u2019s talk about how to build your (digital) go bag.<\/p>\n A little caveat here: just because you can digitize something, doesn\u2019t mean that should be your only copy. There are some things that you just flat-out need to have in person, like your driver\u2019s license, though some states have experimented with digital wallets <\/a>that contain official, legal copies of those things. Nevertheless, having a digital backup of your important physical documents means that you\u2019ll have the information to replace them should you need to.<\/p>\n After that, you can break your go bag checklist into a few different categories.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve shamelessly borrowed this information from a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) list of essentials<\/a>, and we\u2019ve added a few notes as well. Let\u2019s break down each category.<\/p>\n These are all the things you need to prove you are who you say you are, and to prove that your kids, pets, and spouse are, in fact, your kids, pets, and spouse. It may seem like this isn\u2019t important, but there were whole organizations dedicated to reuniting pets with their rightful owners after Hurricane Katrina<\/a>\u2014and it wasn\u2019t easy. And, imagine if you\u2019ve divorced and don\u2019t have custody papers in an emergency. Sure, courts have records of those agreements, but sometimes those papers take weeks or months to get copies of.<\/p>\n If your home or income is affected during a disaster, you\u2019ll need documentation to request assistance from your insurance company<\/a> or government disaster assistance programs. Remember that even after you get assistance, all that comes with tax implications down the road (for better or worse). Both of those processes take time, so in addition to having your information organized and ready to go, try to keep some emergency cash on hand during high-risk time periods.<\/p>\n Even more so than the other sections on this list, it\u2019s important to make sure you have thorough documentation for each member of your household. Remember that there are some items on this list that you\u2019ll need sooner rather than later\u2014think prescription refills. And, make sure that allergy information is front and center, especially life-threatening allergies (like to seafood or nuts).<\/p>\n Finally, you\u2019ll want all of the contact information you may need in one place\u2014it\u2019ll save you time and headaches when you\u2019re trying to make calls, plus you may be able to delegate some phone calls to others. The exercise itself is useful to help you remember any miscellaneous items you may have forgotten in your other documents. Bonus: you can keep a list of extensions or direct phone lines and skip the automated phone tree.<\/p>\n Most of the things that fit in this section aren\u2019t able to be digitized\u2014your wedding dress, heirlooms, jewelry, and the like. Still, don\u2019t forget that those things may have a paper trail you want to keep in your records, especially if you have additional insurance on things like the jewelry.<\/p>\n And, you can never forget to mention photos in this section. While most of us are now in the habit of using our smartphones as cameras, so most of our new photos are already stored in the cloud, don\u2019t forget to digitize all of your photos<\/a>, including the ones passed down by relatives, taken by professionals, and so on. And, even though it seems like our phones are safer than other formats, you\u2019ll want to back up your mobile devices<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the short answer to the question of what to digitize: anything you can. Even if the digital copies aren\u2019t legally acceptable, like in our i.d. example above, you\u2019ll at least have the information to fill out online forms or re-order the documents as necessary.<\/p>\n Once you have digital copies of all of these documents, it\u2019s also easy to backup your information. We recommend that you follow a 3-2-1 backup strategy<\/a>: having three copies of your files in two separate locations with one of those locations off-site. That way, you can grab your documents and go if you\u2019re at home, or if the worst happens and you can\u2019t access that on-site information, you can access all that information in the cloud.<\/p>\n Good question. This is the most important information in your life, and we\u2019re asking you to store it all online, the playground of cybercriminals. There\u2019s a lot you can do to protect yourself, though. You\u2019ve already achieved one of those things: setting up a backup strategy. You should also store your data in a secure location.<\/a> Watch out for clever phishing attempts.<\/a> And, make sure you follow password best practices<\/a>, including setting up multi-factor authentication (MFA).<\/p>\n Remember that a lot of the information on this list will change over time. Maybe you\u2019re the type of person who remembers to update their files continuously or when something big changes, but it\u2019s a good idea to set one day per year (Around tax day? Maybe going into hurricane season? Groundhog’s Day?) that you intentionally set as Update Important Information Day. (We\u2019re big fans of holidays that combine the whimsical and the practical<\/a> here at Backblaze.) Feel free to workshop the holiday title and celebrate judiciously. Then, use a backup service like Backblaze Personal Backup<\/a> that continuously and automatically backs up your data, and you\u2019ll be pretty well prepared for whatever life throws at you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you live in a world where natural disasters can strike quickly and be devastating, it’s important to know what things you can do to prepare. Here’s your checklist of important documents to have at the ready\u2014and don’t forget to digitize what you can. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":108374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[121,434],"tags":[469],"class_list":["post-108354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backing-up","category-featured-1","tag-consumerbackup","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\nEditor’s Note<\/h4>\n
Disaster Prep: Better Known as Recovery Planning<\/h2>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Jim-Cantore-2.jpeg\")
What Documents Do I Need in My Emergency Kit?<\/h2>\n
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Household Identification<\/h3>\n
The List<\/h4>\n
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![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pexels-samson-katt-5257603.jpg\")
Financial and Legal Information<\/h3>\n
The List<\/h4>\n
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Medical Information<\/h3>\n
The List<\/h4>\n
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(Emergency) Contact Info<\/h3>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/pexels-kampus-production-8204313-scaled.jpg\")
The List<\/h4>\n
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Valuables and Priceless Personal Items<\/h3>\n
Go Bag: Go for Backups<\/h2>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bb-bh-3-2-1-Backup-Strategy-Refresh_Design-B2.png\")
Is My Go Bag Safe Online?<\/h2>\n
Make It a Holiday to Update Your Information Regularly<\/h2>\n