In the event of a hurricane or other disaster, you will want to make sure you have important documents in a safe place.
Most of us have our homeowner, wind and hail, flood and other insurance policies in hardcopy as well as online. Take a few minutes now to review them to make sure you know what is covered. Check with your insurance agent if you have any questions.
Scan to your computer or the cloud your personal documents such as your marriage license, divorce decree, birth certificates, passports, wills, deeds, Social Security cards, mortgage documents, car titles, receipts for valuable objects, serial numbers for expensive devices, and tax, banking, and other important documents. If you don’t know how to scan documents to your computer, ask your children or grandkids, or get a computer service to help you. No help from that quarter? Then gather together your important documents in a Ziploc bag placed where you can easily grab it as you evacuate your home.
You also might consider receiving important bills electronically since you may not be home to receive them or mail delivery may be interrupted. Make use of the online bill paying feature offered by your bank.
Now would also be a good time to take an inventory and make a video of your house contents. Most of us can take videos with our smartphones. You might save the video to the cloud or to a hard drive that you can take with you.
Remember, be prepared; stay safe.
–Tidelines Editors
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