This is well timed. I just finished winnowing and organizing my paper trail. I also had a plastic filing box. Bought it about 10 years ago. Eventually the handle cracked off, but it's going strong otherwise.
I'd suggest reading this:
http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/p/0006.html. It's blog written by a guy who bugged out in front of Hurricane Katrina. It has a very handy section on getting your documentation in order.
Here's my take. I spent some time helping people enroll in the armed forces, and these are the vital documents I dealt in:
- Birth Certficate;
- Vaccination records;
- Medical results (not bills, just test results);
- Passport;
- Social Security Card;
- Driver's License;
- Credit & Debit cards;
- Other credentials (USCG, TWIC, CAC, Pilot's License, greencard, visa. Anything that allows you to operate something, or access some place. The kind of stuff that makes you go white and shaky if it dissapears);
Store the originals in the magic box, except the licence & bank cards obviously. Just store hard photo copies of those. Second, make a digital scan of each document, and store on a thumb drive somewhere
safe that is also
outside of your house. If you have any sort of emergency go-bag, store hard copies in there as well. Pro tip, put them in a ziploc bag.
Taxes. Not quite as educated on this, but I keep a hard copy of everything Turbo Tax produces. A digital copy goes on the thumb drive.
Important work documents follow the same system as vital documents. A hard copy in the box. Scanned copies on the thumbdrive. To me, important means someone might ask for it at some point. So my security clearance paper work gets filed, but the certificate that I participated in EEOC gets tossed real damn fast.
Some people say to make scans of all the membership cards, etc you keep in you wallet. I couldn't be bothered.
Yowzah, long post. I hope this helped, and wasn't just me spewing over the internet. I really recommend the site.
