Important Documents

Last night we had a lesson on what important documents we would need in an emergency as well as ways to store those documents. Brother Skoubye gave us some great information about advanced directives and living wills. We each need to get one! It doesn't have to be anything fancy, but we need to have something so the doctors and our families understand our wishes if we are unable to speak for ourselves. He encouraged us to give this information to our doctors and then sit down with family members and make sure they all understand our wishes. We were also encouraged to have this discussion with our aging parents. Brother Skoubye also suggested we have secure ways to store our passwords and other important documents. He gave several suggestions for different websites that will store your information on the cloud. The best advice he gave is make sure you communicate with a couple of people that you trust so your important documents can be found and accessed. Sister Schramm taught a few ways to store documents. You can scan documents in and then store them on a computer, back up hard drives, a thumb drive, or print them for a binder. Sister Schramm talked a lot about not putting all of your information in one place, but have back ups for your back ups. Have the documents in a safe place in your house that you can get to quickly if you have to leave your home in a hurry. It was also suggested you have a copy in a place other than your house. Give a copy to a trusted family member or put in a safety deposit box. She had a copy of some documents as well as a flash drive for her 72 hour kit. Here is a check list of important documents you should consider having with you or with a trusted family member. Click on the image for a larger view.