Motivational Monday #44 - Are You Prepared?

You have 15 minutes to evacuate your home....Go!  Okay, time is up.  How did you spend your time?  What did you take with you?  More importantly, what did you forget?

With the continued natural disasters around the United States, we are reminded that sometimes an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure.

As the focus of my blog is preparation, (you forgot that didn't you?) I thought it was time to once again remind my readers about being prepared for emergencies.

There are many things we need to take into consideration when leaving our home.  Some are obvious, such as:

1. Our family
2. Our pets
3. Food (for people and pets)
4. Medicine
5. Clothing
6. Shelter

Some may not be so obvious:

1. Our important paperwork (insurance, financial, and vital records)
2. Cash
3. Evacuation Plan

When I asked you to evacuate, did you grab everything on the list? Did you have all your important documents ready to go?

Often I hear people tell me they have everything in the filing cabinet. My question to them is, during an emergency can you find everything you need?  The likelihood you will be able to load your filing cabinet in the car is small. I have never met a person so organized that in an emergency they can find everything they need in the filing cabinet.

During and emergency your mind will begin to race, you will be focused on protecting your family, and you will forget what seems obvious when you are calm.  After the initial burst of adrenaline is over you will realize you have overlooked some things.  Unfortunately those things can be important.

Having your important documents with you can be a big deal. Having contact information for family members, insurance agents, doctors and schools can save you a lot of time and energy.  Knowing medical histories can help you get the medical attention you need sooner.  Having a way to access money from you bank or credit account, even when you are not near home, can be the difference between sitting in a shelter and sitting in a hotel. It really is important.

Prepared Binder is my solution to this problem. I developed it after watching Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  I saw so many people on the news say they had no money because the had no bank account numbers or ID to prove who they were. I saw people who were struggling to get insurance money because they had no way to contact their insurance company.  I saw families trying to enroll their kids in new schools with no immunization records or birth certificate.

It wasn't the "stuff" they were missing, it was the paperwork.

So I challenge you to get prepared. Take the time now to get your paperwork together. Organize it and put it in a portable format.  You can use Prepared Binder, or you can find a method of your own...but do it!