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Like so many of you, we’ve been so sad to see the devastation and heartbreak occurring in California as a result of the wildfires there. Our hearts go out to all the people who have lost their homes, businesses, pets, and more. It brings up the disturbing memories of the Marshall Fire here a few years ago and it is a reminder that natural disasters are an unpredictable and enduring part of our existence. Ken and I have not been proactive in getting our financial docs prepared, shelter-in-place supplies, or go-bags ready so this week I compiled all that we need to take care of to get our lives ready in case of such an emergency. I thought I’d send this out to you all as well so hopefully we can all take steps to prepare ourselves in case such a disaster were to strike here again in our neck of the woods. I made several printable lists that I’ll use to prepare a shelter in place kit for our basement and also a go-bag (I am realizing they can be one in the same for the most part) in case we would need to evacuate quickly with Scarlett and the dogs. I also made a list of financial documents we will scan in and save to the cloud in case we were to lose our physical copies. You can click the link above to see the lists I compiled from the Red Cross and other online resources. Our home insurance broker, Steve Hakes with Rocky Mountain Insurance Center, recommended that we should also take interior videos of our home and garage. He said these videos would help to jog our memories in the case of a total loss of personal property and resulting insurance claims. He recommends:
This video should be uploaded to the cloud as well and shared with family/friends. Steve also recommended that we get a fire proof safe for the physical copies of our important documents. We did, and then promptly accidentally locked ourselves out of it (I know, I know. I am not proud of this fact!) I am going to work on getting this opened up as well. Another thing to consider- if you haven’t recently, it’s a good idea to check in with your home insurance broker to make sure your home is adequately insured. After the Marshall fire and now in California, we are hearing the stories of people who were under-insured and will be without money to rebuild. A year or so ago I put together a list of questions that people should ask their homeowners insurance agent to make sure they have enough insurance coverage. Click here to link to 6 questions to ask your home insurance broker. If you'd like to run your insurance needs by Steve Hakes you can reach him by email at SHakes@ Let me know what emergency preparedness tasks you will be taking care of this week and also if I missed anything! And please check in with me, too! I'd love some accountability to get this stuff done. Until next time- Allison and Ken |
