Prep Series Week 6: Finances & Documents

This is part six of our ten-part toolkit series providing a step-by-step guide about how to prepare for disaster. You can read Parts 1-5 in the Resources & Toolkits page of Cramming for the Apocalypse.

Some of the less “sexy” aspects of preparedness are addressing your finances and documents. Yes, yes, we all need to have an emergency fund (three months or more of necessary expenses is an ideal first goal). But financial preparedness is often slow going and requires a lot of self discipline over a long period. 

As we noted in the outset, you’re not going to “be prepared” the moment you finish this 10-week preparedness journey. But you will have the tools. Financial preparedness is one of those long-term preparation topics, but there are a lot of things you can do today which we’ll cover here. 

It’s not sexy, but we still need to do it! Lots of small catastrophes can be lessened by having access to liquid finances. For example, I (Brekke) had to replace my entire septic tank last month. It could have caused an emergency for our family. But, we’ve been diligently saving so we were able to manage this essential need (and avoid a pretty nasty disaster!).

So, be on a plan to pay down debts, start saving, and managing your income and expense flow. Not sexy, but essential. If you are looking for a tool, check out the “Budgetnista” Tiffany Aliche, Michelle Singleterry and her personal finance column, “The Color of Money” from The Washington Post, Financial Feminist and Lydia Senn (she also has a great Youtube channel that’s very down to earth).

Because there are so many long-term planning resources out there, we’re focusing on what you can do in the short-term to make sure you’ll be ready for you and your family to get by if you don’t have access to your accounts. This is not long-term financial planning advice, but in-case-of-disaster financial planning.

Cash Is King

Even with a savvy savings plan, you will need to consider what happens if you can’t access your money from a bank. Whether from a power outage knocking out credit card machines to a natural disaster preventing you from getting to an ATM, having a plan for accessible cash is important.

The simplest way to do that is to make a plan for how much you need to buy groceries and gas in cash for one week. For my (Brekke) family of 6, that’s a baseline of $300. Our family’s goal is to have $1000 in cash which would be about one month of groceries and gas. But we’re not there yet (somehow we always seem to spend some of it…).

As you save cash on-hand, try to keep it in small bills to purchase food and gas. If you only have $50s, then that bag of groceries that might cost $35 suddenly is $50 because folks might not have enough cash to break larger bills. 

Save a mix of $1, $5, $10 and $20 keep the least amount of $50 and $100. Diversify where you’re storing your cash. We keep $50-$100 in each go-bag, so that we don’t have to scramble to find cash if we have to leave in a hurry. We keep the rest divided between a filing cabinet, and another undisclosed location (not in the freezer!). 

Figure out what works for your household, then ensure that someone other than you knows where the cash stash is–we don’t want your money getting lost if something happens to you!

Get your Paperwork in Order 

This is an area that is so easy to overlook, but is essential not to. Having quick access to essential identity documents in an emergency can be a life saver. While I do think that originals need to be kept safe (in a safety deposit box, firesafe or other location), copies of passports, marriage license, deeds, etc are necessary to have on hand, especially in the event you need to leave your permanent residence quickly. Having paperwork about your major medical needs, your kids, even your pets can come in handy. 

Here is a list of paperwork you want to have copies of (laid out in checkbox form in the workbook!)

• Passports

• ID Cards/Driver’s License

• Birth/citizenship/naturalization certificate

• Marriage license/domestic partnership cert

• Social security cards

• Power of attorney/will or trust info

• Medical/Immunization recrods

• Pet ownership/medical records

• Insurance policies (life, home, car, etc.)

• House or property deed

• Mortgage Docs

• Vehicle title, registration, and loan paperwork

• Adoption paperwork (if applicable)

• Separation/divorce paperwork (if applicable)

• Military records (if applicable)

• Business records (if applicable)

If you want to keep those documents in an encrypted file on your phone, check out Cover Me. Even Dropbox has an encrypted vault that you can access from a mobile device. In an emergency, when you may be separated from your residence and document storage, you need to be able to prove who you are and what you own (and possibly what medical needs you may have). If possible, you can make a second backup of documents on a thumb drive that is permanently stored (in a waterproof bag!) inside your evacuation kit. I (Brekke) like having the documents stored on my phone, since I will likely always have that with me, but might forget or lose a thumbdrive. 

In addition to mobile access, download and print paper copies of maps with highlighted routes for getting out of town should there be a reason to evacuate. Lots of people using their GPS could interrupt the service and having one or two routes marked and ready will get you out of dodge faster and more efficiently. We’ll go into this a little more during the evacuation plans week.

These small acts or preparation can save you hours of headache–and maybe even property or identity disputes–later on. But be mindful about cloud storage and always choose an encrypted storage option.

Prepping Today

The great thing about managing paperwork and finances is that you can start right now. There is no gear to buy or storage to set up. Of all the weeks we cover, this is one that everyone can do. If you’re reading this article on your smartphone, you can download Cover Me right now or find an encryption service you like and upload your identification documents right now. 

Don’t put it off! Knock it out and take the win! Start looking at your finances and make a plan for bulking up savings and slowly building your cash reserve. Don’t worry about precious metals, or trade and barter items, the level of societal collapse for those to be truly valuable is beyond catastrophic and is in the .0001% chance of happening. Focus instead on what you can accomplish today–which is quite a lot!

Action Steps

• Calculate how much your family needs for one month of groceries and gas. Make a plan to put that cash in an easy-to-remember place. Make sure everyone knows where it is. (See pg. 28 of the workbook)

• Make copies of all your important documents and put them in your evacuation kit. (See pg. 28 of the workbook)

• Download an encryption service and upload your important documents (See pg. 28 of the workbook)