Emergency Binder

The Emergency Binder is where all important documents and information are kept for quick access. Having an organized home helps my anxiety, so it’s not a surprise that I also have important documents organized. Instead of keeping the really important stuff in a safe or a big filing cabinet, I have an Emergency Binder. I do keep it in a fireproof/water resistant bag just in case, but I also keep it accessible, in hopes we’d be able to grab it if we had to leave in a hurry.

This binder includes all of the documents you would assume, as well as some extra info you might not think of. Everything important and difficult to replace that we would want safe in an emergency is kept here. It’s also everything our executor or surviving spouse would need in the event something tragic happened to myself, my husband, or both.

Here is a list of what should be included in your binder. I will go into more detail and how to organize these items further along in this blog post.

Emergency Binder Contents:

• Marriage License

• Birth Certificates and copies

• Social Security Cards

• Drivers License Copies

• Passports

• Voter Registrations

• Vaccination/Immunization Records/Covid19 Vaccine Cards

• Power of Attorney Healthcare

• Last Will and Testaments

• Vehicles - Titles, Registrations, and Insurance

• House/Property - Warranty Deed, Title Insurance, Mortgage

• Education - All Diplomas, Children’s School Attendance Records

• Pet medical records

• Emergency contacts and beneficiary contact information

• Financial Records - all bank accounts, credit cards, stocks, IRA’s etc, and logins

• Tax Return - most recent

• Expenses - Recurring household expenses, frequency of payment, and how they are paid

• Other Accounts - any other accounts you believe a loved one may need access too if you are unable to do so for them (social media, memberships, etc)

• Checkbook

• Credit Cards - anything you don’t use frequently that needs a safe home

• Flash drives - anything important to you that is/can be kept on a flash drive. If you prefer to keep some of the items listed digitally, a flash drive in the binder with the physical documents you need is a great option. The drive can be put in the pocket of your binder.

• Extra car keys - these can go right into the fireproof bag, since they won’t fit well inside the binder.

I know this list seems like a lot, and in a way it is, but I promise you already have most of these things. All we are doing here is putting them in one well organized and safe place. I’m going to break all of this down, but first you’ll need a few supplies.

Materials:

• 3-ring Binder

• Page protectors

• Fireproof bag

• Copy machine/Printer

I chose this fireproof bag because it is actually designed by firefighters. It's big enough to hold a 3 inch binder (with room to spare), has reflective material to help find it in an emergency situation, zips closed and has fireproof material covering the zipper. They even have a video on the Amazon page, showing how they tested it in fire. I'm not going to test it myself (and hopefully it never gets tested) but this was the only one I felt good about after doing a lot of research, shopping, and reading tons of reviews. Again, this keeps my paperwork safe from fire and water but also easily accessible, vs a floor or wall safe.

Once you have gotten your materials for making your Emergency Binder, the next step is gathering everything together. This will actually be a few different tasks.

1. Gather - Any/all documents that are already in your possession.

2. Print - Anything that is digital but should be included in the binder.

3. Create - Documents that need to be created before they can be added.

Gather - Take the time to go through your documents and pull the important, hard to replace items. You can either grab everything at once, or break this down into one section of the binder at a time, depending on how much time you can spend on this in one sitting. Chances are a lot of these items are already in the same area so if it were me, I’d grab them all.

Print - Some items will be primarily online. I chose to print these out and include them for ease. It’s not always easy or possible to access online information in a pinch. For me this included:

• Kids vaccination records (I wrote their blood types on this as well)

• Pet’s vet records and photos

• Current driver’s licenses copies (for everyone who has one)

Create - This is the part that might take a little more time. Whatever documents on the list that don't exist yet need to be created, but I’ve included templates to make it a little easier for you to do that. This would be emergency contacts, financial records list, and your expenses list. If you don’t have a Will or Power of Attorney then those fall in this category as well. Below are FREE document templates you can download and edit for your binder:

• Emergency Contacts

• Financial Records

• Expenses List

If you need to create a Last Will and Testament and/or any Power of Attorney paperwork I highly recommend www.freewill.com. The site walks you through the whole process, you print it out, sign it in front of witnesses (and a notary if you choose) and that's it! It makes it so easy, it’s totally free and will bring you so much piece of mind.

Build Your Binder - This is the fun part, putting it all together! Since a number of these documents are important I chose to use page protectors. This way I can keep everything in a binder without putting holes in anything. It makes everything uniform as well even when items are different sizes. To make the binder a little smaller, and keep certain items together, I put multiple things in each page protector. It makes for less page turning too. You can sort your binder in whatever way works best for you. I chose to sort my documents into the following categories.

Binder Categories:

• Contacts - List of all emergency contacts including beneficiaries in your will.

• People - This is where all personal documents are, and I break it out by each person in the family. A number of these items are smaller than a sheet of paper, so I place everything in one page protector sleeve for each person. Each person’s section includes:

  • Birth Certificates and copies

  • Social Security Cards

  • Drivers License Copies

  • Passports

  • Voter Registrations

  • Vaccination/Immunization Records/Covid19 Vaccine Cards

  • Health Insurance Card Copy (ours is the same for the whole family so I have one copy in its own sleeve placed in front of the people section.)

  • Marriage Licenses/Divorce paperwork

• Vehicles - I put all of this in one page protector sleeve for each vehicle.

  • Title (and lien release)

  • Vehicle registration

  • Car insurance copy

  • Records - the most recent oil change info, any large maintenance work done on the vehicle, and the most recent tire purchase information.

• Home - Everything for all properties you own and/or live in.

  • Mortgage (or rental contract with the full address)

  • Title Insurance

  • Warranty Deed

  • Rental Property - this should include all of the above, and the tenant's rental agreement

• Pets - Each pet gets a page protector sleeve, I just pull the whole stack and rifle through if I need something.

  • Purchase records

  • Vet records - contact information, medical records, and vaccination records

  • Prescriptions - and where they are filled if the scripts is kept by that pharmacy

  • Photo of the animal with their name - I recommend a profile of the animal's side showing markings, not just a portrait shot. This is important in an emergency. It gives you something to show emergency personnel or a pound in case your pet is lost or in a house fire. It’s also helpful for anyone who might need to take care of your estate).

• Education - I keep all diplomas here. You can put them with each person if you would rather, but we are not likely to need them often, and they don’t need updating so I keep them towards the back of the binder. (One page protector per person)

• Taxes - A copy of your most recent tax return.

• End of Life - This is where you’d find everything else someone would need in case myself or my husband passed away. These items are at the back of the folder because they are least likely (hopefully) to be needed, and certainly not frequently. They include:

  • Last Will and Testaments

  • Power of Attorneys

  • Financial Records

  • Expenses List

  • Other logins/passwords or membership information

• Other - Anything else you want in the binder! For us this includes our rarely used credit cards and a stash of emergency money. Since a checkbook is a bit heavy for a page protector, I keep that in the front pocket of the binder instead.

Feel free to download this FREE checklist doc and edit it to fit your binder. Mine is the very first page of my binder.

That’s it! You did it! I hope it helps you feel a little more prepared and organized.

Keep it Updated - Remember to keep your binder updated! Every new credit card, changes in passwords, if you move to a new home, or purchase a new car. Keeping it up to date will keep things simple in the event of an emergency, and helps with peace of mind. My suggestion is to glance over it when your car registration needs to be swapped out each year. You’ll be accessing the binder to replace this annually anyway, so it’s a great time to double check that license copies are current, kids records are up to date, and nothing else needs to be changed. Now I just need to get my parents to make an emergency binder too!

Happy organizing!