Taking care of your documents
So, you got moved in to your rural home, you got your utilities turned on, now on to setting up a post office box. Oops! Did they forget to tell you get your mail at the post office or at a rural route box? You still need to make a trip to the post office to set up your box. Do you know where your documents are to prove who you are?
Maybe some of your paperwork is in this box and some in that box. What about the kids school information, can’t find it quickly? Maybe you need a documents binder to sort all of those lost or missing pieces of paper so this doesn’t happen again.
I keep copies of all of my important documents in a 4” binder so they are easy to access at any time. The originals I also keep in a binder but they are stored in a fireproof safe. The copies can be used for your everyday needs but you will know you have the originals if you need them. Please remember these are your personal documents so put this binder up where others can’t see it. You can certainly scan all your documents and save copies on your computer or on a flash drive, but what do you do if the power goes out and you need one of those documents immediately!
Now you need to decide what kind of documents are you going to keep copies of, let me see if I can help with a basic list of some.
- Birth certificates for each family member
- Marriage license
- Divorce papers (just an FYI: did you know that women need to have these as well as any and all marriage certificates if you are changing your driver’s license to a real ID driver’s license, if you don’t know what that is, it’s the license that has the star on it so you will be allowed to get on an airplane).
- Titles to your vehicles, I recommend keeping a copy of your vehicle’s registration too.
- Deeds for property
- Insurance papers
- Insurance ID cards for your vehicles
- Medical records for each family member be sure to include family medical history
- Immunization records for the kids (you will need these to register for school)
- Court records if you are dealing with child custody issues ( you will need these for school also)
- List of medications each family member takes
- Copy of each family members driver’s license
- Any paperwork for your pets.
- A list of account names, account numbers and the phone number associated with each account.
- A photo and identifying information for each family member and don’t forget your family pets photos
There are many more items you can add to your list once you get your binder started. Choose your favorite color binder, get your copies made and start your family document binders. Be sure to either buy page dividers or make your own (I used file folders) and put tabs on the pages to separate each category. Stop back by and let me know how your binders are coming along.
