Today I am gathering up important documents to place in the “grab and go binder”. Normally we keep all our important documents in a fire-proof safe. The previous idea was to grab the entire safe and run out the door in the event of an emergency. Based upon what I’ve learned reading various survival sites regarding lightening your load when bugging out, I have revisited that idea and feel we need to keep the items in a binder in case we run out on foot. The safe would be too heavy to carry!
I found a sturdy binder in the school supply drawer and added plastic sleeves to protect the documents. I am adding the following documents into the binder:
- birth certificates
- passports
- marriage certificate
- personal records such as baptism, confirmation records
- social security cards
- school records-diplomas, report cards
- vaccination records
- vehicle ownership record/ “pink slip”
- credit card statements and other bills
- printout of address book
- insurance policies
- checking and saving account statement
- retirement account statements
- apartment lease
You will need to personalize this list according to your own situation. For example, homeowners would need copies of deeds and home loan documents etc. Needless to say, guard this binder in a secure place: loss of this binder will lead to identity theft, since it contains all your personal and financial information.
The Apartment Prepper's Blog 
We’re working on our GNG Binder too. I’m thinking about where to keep it where it will be easy to remember and get to on a moment’s notice.
I scanned all of my stuff and put it on a thumb drive, along with a bunch of family photos. The originals are in a safety deposit box at my bank.
I am with Michael… Think about going to your doctor and getting a copy of your medical history as well. A document outlining what prescription medications you are on, etc.
You should not only scan all of that documentation into the PC, I would get a couple of heavy duty USB keys (8GB is usually large enough) and put copies of all that information on them as well.
Also, don’t forget copies of your drivers license, gun permits, CCW permits, ownership paperwork for guns, etc… Anything you need to verify you own, are who you say you are, that can save your life, or can save you from being locked up should be on the USB Key as well as have copies of that paperwork copied and cached at your BOL, with friends, etc…
Just my 2 cents…
@Michael – The Patriot act allows our Federal Govt. to go into the bank and go through safety deposit boxes without a warrant… If I were you I would make multiple copies to cache with others and in other locations as well…
Thanks for all the comments and additional document suggestions. I like the scanning into a flash drive idea, but have paper backups in case of no electricity. I used to have a safety deposit box at the bank but no longer trust the banks so I took everything out.
Some very good advice! Being a self proclaimed security guy, you would think I would have backups all of my paper documents, well I don’t! I guess this weekend I will be very busy!
[…] We recently assembled our grab and go binder, containing important personal documents, as described in this article https://apartmentprepper.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/the-grab-and-go-binder/. […]