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Thread: Reminder - important documents

  1. #11
    Senior Member Tradd's Avatar
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    I remember reading in an article about the Lahaina fire that a couple had $50K in cash in a supposedly fire proof box. Gone!

  2. #12
    Senior Member Tradd's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by iris lilies View Post
    I don’t try to protect an archive of tax filings. Wouldn’t the IRS have copies available if I needed them?


    I don’t keep anything of significance in the cloud. All passwords to our financial accounts is on a thumb drive with a paper print out. We keep track of the paper print out and thumb drive. That’s probably excessively paranoid, but… To me, those are the only things that are really not available publicly. We keep it in a bag in a convenient place and we would grab it if possible. If not possible, I’m not sure it’s all that hard to re-create.

    My state does not have abstracts for real estate. Those were very expensive and precious documents in Iowa, but not here.
    I wouldn’t count on a thumb drive being the only electronic backup. I hear lots of horror stories about those going bad. An extra hard drive might be a good second option.

  3. #13
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tradd View Post
    I wouldn’t count on a thumb drive being the only electronic backup. I hear lots of horror stories about those going bad. An extra hard drive might be a good second option.
    That’s what Is recommended elsewhere, for sure. I just have not got around to it. I consider the real backup to be paper.

  4. #14
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    Well, I know someone who lost their home in one of the California wildfires. They had about a 20 minute evacuation warning. He took a duffel bag to his standing 600lb safe, and scraped each shelf clean, into the bag. When he was able to access the property 10 days later, there was a molten puddle where the safe had been. He was lucky they were home, could just as easily been off traveling.

    For those with dogs, I recommend keeping extra collars and leashes, bowls, food and water in your car. You can get out a lot faster if you just pick up the dog and walk out, instead of locating and putting on collars and leashes.

  5. #15
    Senior Member Tradd's Avatar
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    Bumping this as the California fires are a good reminder.

  6. #16
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    If we had 20 minutes to leave, I would tell DH to take care of the household financial stuff, and he could do that easily by pulling out our legacy bag, and throwing checkbooks into it. I would get the animals situated and in the car, Two cats and a dog. Throw Ipads and phone into backpack. If time left I would run upstairs and get clothes and throw medications into a bag. We could do it in 20 minutes.

    I doubt I would worry about any animal food or their medicines since everything they get is easily available elsewhere.

    if I was thinking straight, which I probably would not be in that situation, I would grab my own car keys to my fun car and take off in it while DH drove himself and the animals out.
    Last edited by iris lilies; 1-12-25 at 4:08pm.

  7. #17
    Senior Member SiouzQ.'s Avatar
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    The LA fires have spurred my to finally sit down and do a complete inventory of our household contents, especially living where I do in the high desert. There have been countless fires in our village since I have moved here. One was in a cabin uncomfortably close to us two years ago.

    We do have a safe deposit box that has important stuff in it. My task is to put this household inventory on a flash drive and put it in the safe deposit box. I can also scan important documents and put those on the flash drive. as well.

    I certainly need an involved project to do, as I have a lot of time these days (still not working).

  8. #18
    Senior Member Tradd's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SiouzQ. View Post
    The LA fires have spurred my to finally sit down and do a complete inventory of our household contents, especially living where I do in the high desert. There have been countless fires in our village since I have moved here. One was in a cabin uncomfortably close to us two years ago.

    We do have a safe deposit box that has important stuff in it. My task is to put this household inventory on a flash drive and put it in the safe deposit box. I can also scan important documents and put those on the flash drive. as well.

    I certainly need an involved project to do, as I have a lot of time these days (still not working).
    Take a video , too. Open every drawer, cupboard, closet, under the beds, etc. You can save that in the cloud.

  9. #19
    Senior Member flowerseverywhere's Avatar
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    We have two safety deposit boxes, one here and one near my kids. My kids, husband and I are on both. Wills, copies of all financial statements from accounts, copies of birth, marriage and so on are in both. Plus we have a list of our various accounts, like who our TV, water, electric company and so on are. Plus copies of what meds we are on and MD names. We update each box yearly.

    We have had friends who were widowed and had no idea what to do. Or kids who had to clean out deceased or nursing home parents houses.

    also, we have a hanging bag in the garage with a couple of changes of clothing, toothbrushes and a few other personal supplies. Plus cash in both boxes. Plus filling gas tanks at 50%.

    we live in hurricane area, but you never know what can happen. Floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, fires, ice storms. No one is 100% safe.

    I cannot imagine what the residents are going through. And the fire fighters must be exhausted physically and psychologically. Where are all these people going to go. Where are they going to work?

  10. #20
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    We have had friends who were widowed and had no idea what to do.
    This is one of my worries as DH has very little interest in financial or general household administrative matters. I need to create a step by step list for him in case I disappear first.

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