During my time at University, my mother always made it her priority to make sure I had all the essentials to start this major journey. To her that was mainly 2 things: a first aid kit and a fireproof, waterproof lockbox safe.
The first aid kit was obvious, but I was always curious on why the lockbox safe was an essential to her. She had to remind me that I was an international student so I would be travelling with a lot of important documents like my passport, or new bank account information, and eventually my social security card and I needed to keep them in a safe place. So for my 4 years abroad I always kept that lockbox with extra cash and all my important documents in my dorm rooms.
In today’s high-tech society it is now commonplace for jobs or other institutions to ask you for copies of important documents like copies of your passport and driver’s license, birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc. Maintaining these documents in electronic form, kept in your email or other online storage locations has its obvious benefits, especially ease of accessibility. But in case of an emergency or disaster event it would be very beneficial to have these documents in electronic forms in case the physical copies are lost or damaged that way you can still have access to them until you are able to retrieve another physical copy. Here are some things to consider:
- It is important to keep the physical copies of important documents in a safe and secure place.You should keep forms of identification in a sealed bag, like a Ziplock bag, and have them in easily accessible places in case to need to take them with you in an emergency evacuation.
- When scanning and making electronic copies of personal papers and documents, you should keep them stored in a secure, password protected location (Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, or an External Hard Drive). Also scan these documents as PDF files, unless they are photographs.
- Although some of these documents may not be considered valid as a legal document because they are copies (ie passports and birth certificates), it would be better and easier to get a replacement if you have a copy of the original. This is especially true after a disaster event where government agencies or other institutions may be more willing to accept a copy rather than nothing.
* Your copies aren’t meant to be replacements for the actual documents. They’re just meant to provide proof and security for your original documents in case it takes a while to get new documents created.
Documents you should consider scanning:
- Passport
- Driver’s License
- Birth Certificate
- Marriage and Divorce Certificates
- Education Degrees and Certificates
- National Insurance Cards
- House/Property Deeds and Titles
- Insurance Information or Policies (Health, Life, Auto, etc.)
- Immunisation Records
- Medicine Prescriptions
- Vehicle Titles
- Financial Stock and Bond titles
- Banking information (Bank Account Number, Branch Information, Credit Card Numbers)
- Wills and trusts
- Family photos
If you’re a business owner you should consider keeping copies of these documents:
- Articles of Incorporation/ Business License
- Partnership Agreements
- Financial Records and Payroll
- Insurance Policies
- Customer/Client Lists
*You don’t need an actual scanner to create scanned copies of your documents. There are apps on your smartphones that can also scan your documents, which can save you some time. Here’s a link that can help you get started on storage options.
