Many people watched Californians running from those dreaded fires. What was it like, having such intense heat so close to your homes? To smell the choking smoke, to have it in your hair and your clothes so such degree that it won’t leave – even after showering?
What must it have been like to return to your home, smoldering in ashes, with little melted relics strewn across the ground, like so much flotsam and jetsam?
For some blessed individuals, they returned to homes still standing, but now impregnated with that awful smell – a smell that lingers as few other smells can.
Both groups of people needed many things – and one of the more essential “things” was insurance documents. The first group needed not just that, but papers of all kinds – now most likely incinerated.
Do you have your important papers ready to go in an emergency? If not, here are a few tips to flee any impending disaster.
First, get gallon size plastic bags. Go buy a box of them at the dollar store if you don’t have any. These are essential little helpers and yet are so cheap! You will use them to store copies of your documents, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Second, get a box of some sort – small enough to sit on your counter, but big enough to hold the important papers you’ll be gathering over the next week or so.
Third, get a piece of paper and some stickers (whether shiny stars, little animals, or even smiley faces). Tape the paper to the fridge and put the stickers somewhere close by (but out of reach of little hands and mouths that might want to eat them!).
Next, let your family know that you’re having a scavenger hunt … and for every important “treasure” found, they’ll get to pick a sticker on the paper on the fridge. Explain that the treasures are: important documents that have information about Mommy, Daddy, the kids, their home, etc.
Then all through the week, keep an eye out for or begin a serious hunt for all the “treasures” that would make a difference in your life IF THEY WERE LOST.
In other words, if your house burned down, you would need proof of ownership (if applicable). Find that paper and put it in the box. If your spouse passed away, you would need a copy of the life insurance policy and the life insurance agent’s phone number. Find those and put them in the box. Anything and everything that is important, you’ll be putting in the box. It won’t be for permanent storage, however. The box is essentially just the first step towared getting your papers copied and stored safely.
Look for what to do next in the blog titled, “I Have My Important Papers – What Next?” (filed under the tab, “Preparedness).
The Lord would have a prepared people. Here is one simple way to be so!
