In just a few days we will enter the month of September. It is this month that is often labeled National Preparedness Month. September is the month that we are called upon to review our disaster plans and make sure we are all prepared in the even of a true disaster. Whether a hurricane, a tornado, an earthquake, or even a fire at your house – all are potential victims of a disaster.<\/p>\n
Are you prepared?<\/p>\n
One of my big points is to make sure you have an emergency fund. It is that money, set aside specifically for an emergency, that will allow you to recover and move on from that specific crisis. For most, that magical number is six months of your normal monthly living expenses.<\/p>\n
What if you experienced an emergency, a disaster, and you lost some or all of your possessions? Do you have a list of those items that will help you replace those possessions? Going through the crisis is to the time to say you wish you had something to help. Now is the time to prepare.<\/p>\n
Documenting and storing a listing of your contents may be easier than you think and your smartphone may be just what you need. Simply use your phone as a video camera and walk though your house videoing your possessions as you narrate the specifics. “This is the 42 inch Sony TV that was purchased around 2008 and the model number is ……”.<\/p>\n
Remember, your intention is not an Academy Award, but an easily accessible list of your possessions.<\/p>\n
Once you have videoed everything (you may want to break into several videos depending on the amount of possessions), now is the time to store that safely and securely.<\/p>\n
In today’s Internet world use the “cloud” to store those videos off of your phone, out of your house, and in a place that is being backed while you can retrieve the file(s) from so many places at any time.<\/p>\n
All of this can be done freely after the expense of your phone. You can do it, but you may need the help of a more technical person (yes, a teenager) to help you correctly store you video in the “cloud”. Document and safely store any instructions, ids, and passwords.<\/p>\n
Like shampooing, repeat this process every year to make sure you stay current.<\/p>\n
Now, if you are hit with a disaster, the availability of this information will make your recovery much easier for your insurance company and you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In just a few days we will enter the month of September. It is this month that is often labeled National Preparedness Month. September is the month that we are called upon to review our disaster plans and make sure we are all prepared in the even of a true disaster. Whether a hurricane, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance","category-planning"],"yoast_head":"\n