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If you have a fireproof box and you ever wonder ‘what should I keep inside of my fire safe box ?’… these items will help you to determine just that.
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The other day, I went to my brother and sister-in-law’s house for a little visit… we mostly stopped by to see my niece, Lia, and my nephew, Dylan. Our kids love to get together with them:
Anyway, while we were there, my brother showed me where they keep their firesafe box, as well as the key. He was showing me the things that they keep in their box and when we left, I went home to add a few things to mine. We only recently bought this one last year. I used to see them at the store, but they were always a little more money than I wanted to spend, so I kept putting it off. I finally decided that I better just buy one- “Better safe than sorry”, right?
Here are some important things to keep in your box:
1). Your will and/or power of attorney… and the lawyer’s information. You will want to keep the lawyer’s info with the will so that they will know just who to call if they need it. .
2). Original birth certificates
3). Social Security Cards
4). Property Insurance info (and again, the number of your insurance company).
5). Medical information: Doctor’s numbers, prescriptions, etc..
6). Passports
7). Cash – in case of emergency
8). Titles to your vehicles and one spare key for each car and a key and deed for your house.
9). Marriage Certificate
10). We haven’t done this yet, but you need to make a DVD of the items in your home. I have heard horror stories of people that have had to try to remember everything that was in their house with the price of all of it! This would make things so much easier!
Bonus~ You don’t need to do this, but I also have a family picture in our fire safe box. You could even keep a flash drive of your pictures.
Keep your fire safe box in a place that your family can find it. Keep the key near it or let them have a copy of the key.
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About Becky Mansfield
Hi! I'm Becky Mansfield ~ founder of Your Modern Family. I am the wife to Mickey & the mom to four little blessings! I am a teacher turned play therapist and stay at home Mom. I love to share my organization tips, kid ideas, money-saving tips and recipes with you. Read more...
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Cat says
Thanks for this great post! I saw it on Pinterest. I also keep zip drives with family pics in ours.
Becky (Your Modern Family) says
Smart!
Sofia says
This a great tip! I have one but I need to get some essentials stored. I’m dating myself now, but before photos went digital, we used to get photos developed. I have photo negatives stored in a nice neat box in my safe. Lots of pictures saved! External hard drive and flash drives are also a good idea to keep. Oh, and my wedding proofs are in mine as well. (And wedding invitations, birth announcements, christening invites…)
Zoe Kendrick says
My husband often talks about how we need to get a fire safe box. I never really understood why we would need one until I read this article. It never occurred to me that there’s so much that we’ll want to save if there’s an emergency. I love what you said about including spare car keys and cash. Neither of those things immediately popped into my mind when I was thinking about what to put in. Hopefully we can get a good box soon! Thanks for the post, Becky!
Becky (Your Modern Family) says
Sure!
Rose M. says
Hi Becky thanks for sharing. I would like to share with you a tidbit rhatwould help othefs. You’re welcome to share it.
Instead of storing stuffin your fire box of items in home. I simply made a Gmail account.
Taking pictures of expensive items aand seriel numbers and store them on google cloud. Free yo store and private. But I wouldn’t put personal info on it like social security numbers. I also did the same thing with medical health cards, doctors, perscriptions,meds,etc. Feel free to share
Becky (Your Modern Family) says
Good idea!
Rose M. says
Sorry about the typo’s my phone doesn’t auto correct.
Susan G Preston says
What about f financial info. Like life insurance, investments, all that stuff tray family should have…
Jen says
I put cash money in ours when we first got married, within a few months it had gotten mold on it, I guess because of moisture. Since then, I have been hesitant to use ours for anything. Anyone have experiences the same?
Sabrina Bowen says
Fire safety boxes keep things safe from flames, but not heat. Digital items, like DVDs, CDs, and flash drives, tend to melt when placed in a firebox. Not only is there a risk of these items being ruined, but of them ruining everything else in your box as well. Photo paper also tends to melt or deteriorate in the kind of heat a fire creates. It’s best, instead to upload photos to online services and use regular printer paper to print photos of your home content, along with notes such as price/value and purchase dates.
Heidi says
We had a fireproof safe that we used for all of our most important documents including our soc sec cards, birth certificates, passports, marriage certificate, and my husband’s wedding ring that didn’t fit anymore. We woke one night to flames so we got the kids and quickly rushed out of the house, which burned to the ground within 20 minutes. We never even found the fireproof safe. I know they aren’t designed to withstand a total house fire but we couldn’t even find a hint of it in the rubble. It’s like the thing vaporized. Anyway, now I tell everyone that unless you have the presence of mind to grab it on your way out, you’re better off putting those things in a safety deposit box.
J. M. says
These are great ideas. The only thing I have to disagree with is putting the key near it. While that makes sense after a fire, it also makes it crazy easy for a potential burglar to get at all this important, valuable stuff. Just my two cents worth.
Becky Mansfield says
Good point.