Community · Weekend · Basic
Build a Document Kit That Survives the House
Ready.gov and the CFPB disaster checklist name the records to copy, where the copies go, and why one home safe is not a backup.
This is for educational purposes only. Not professional medical, electrical, or safety advice.
Warning
A single copy in a home safe can be destroyed by the same fire or flood as the original. Ready.gov warns against sharing personal financial information — do not hand out account numbers, Social Security numbers or account-recovery links.
- 01
Copy the identity records first
Driver's licenses, passports, Social Security cards, birth certificates, marriage or divorce records, and your household contact list. Ready.gov's financial-preparedness page tells you to gather critical personal and household information before a disaster, not after.
- 02
Add property and money records
Home deeds or titles, vehicle titles and registrations, insurance policies, bank-account records, investment and tax information, pay stubs and employer benefits records, and an inventory of belongings. The CFPB/Ready.gov disaster checklist specifically names copies of insurance policies, identification and bank-account records.
- 03
Include medical continuity
Medical conditions, current medications and prescription details, and the insurance information that goes with them. Ready.gov advises gathering medical information alongside personal, household and financial records — this is the file a pharmacy or clinic will need when your own records are gone.
- 04
Make a second copy that leaves the house
Keep a portable waterproof copy with your go-bag and a second copy offsite or in a secure cloud account. The CFPB checklist advises making backups regularly and keeping them somewhere safe; a copy that lives only in the same building can be lost with the first one.
- 05
Protect the originals
CFPB advises keeping originals in a watertight container, a fire safe, or a bank safe-deposit box. Keep digital files in a secure account and do not put passwords or sensitive account data somewhere a stranger could reach.
- 06
Pack it for evacuation
FEMA/Ready.gov's emergency supply list includes copies of important family documents — insurance, identification, bank-account records — in a portable waterproof container, alongside cash and change, prescription medicines and pet supplies.
- 07
Refresh it when life changes
Update contacts, insurance, prescriptions and account information whenever they change, and store only the sensitive data you actually need for recovery. A kit with a lapsed insurance policy and an old prescription list is a false sense of readiness.