Have you ever thought about this question? Do you know what items in your home that you consider important things? These are mainly things that would be very difficult, or impossible to replace if they were lost or destroyed.
Imagine that you are in an emergency situation like a natural disaster, maybe a tornado, hurricane, flood or a fire. Sheltering in place is not an option. You could potentially have just minutes to evacuate your home. Obviously, the most important things to grab are not things, they are people and pets – your family members.
After everyone, people and pets are there ready to flee, what important things would you grab on the way out the door? These things as mentioned above, that would be very difficult, or impossible to replace.
You may be thinking about items like your house/car keys, purse, cell phone, medications, etc. These are certainly important things to take, and hopefully located near an exit door. But what about items that cannot be, or would be difficult to replace?
Everyone will have a different idea of things that are important to them. Most feel that paper photos from years gone by are important things, memories that can’t be replaced, and they are correct. Others think of sentimental items that came from relatives that have passed away; art, antiques, toys from their childhood, jewelry.
All of these important things may or may not be able to be replaced. They also may not be able to be taken with you due to their size, weight or available space. Remember, you are in an emergency situation, have very little time and will be under an incredible amount of stress.
The thing is, you need to understand what you own, what you deem to be important things, and how to access them before you end up in an emergency situation. You need to have a plan – what to take, where these items are located, and the means to grab them and go!
Keeping your to-go items minimal and all in the same location is critical. A portable fireproof safe that can hold all of your important things is key.
Even though you won’t be able to take everything that you deem to be important, you can keep records of the things you own including your precious memories. Not paper records, digital records.
Creating a home inventory with pictures can provide peace of mind in so many ways. When you have your records in a digital format, if the tangible records or things are lost or destroyed, you have the digital print of that record or thing. It may be able to be recreated or replaced.
Check with your insurance company to see if they have a smartphone app, or another way to create a home inventory.
Depending on how you store your home inventory, in the cloud, on your smartphone or computer, or on an external hard drive, you will have access to records of your important things. Storing information in the cloud allows you access from any computer device connected to the internet.
When you store information on a smartphone, a flash drive or an external hard drive, these small devices can fit into a portable fireproof safe.
Now is the time to determine what things are most important to you. Now is the time to create a home inventory. Now is the time to create an emergency plan. You don’t know when or if you will end up in an emergency situation. But if you do, you want to be prepared to grab your family, pets and important things and get out the door to a safe place!
