Preparedness 101: Information Preparedness with a Family Reference Binder

Our 72 Hour Bags are done. Are you feeling better about your resilience in the event of an emergency? Just having three days worth of basic essentials makes you a preparedness superstar compared to most Americans.

Today we’re going to start putting all our important emergency and home information in one spot. When we’re done, you are going to have all the information you need to manage day-to-day stuff, minor emergencies or major ones. There’s a couple ways to do this. I prefer the “Family Reference Binder” approach.

Some advantages of a Family Reference Binder:

• Hard Copy – I literally don’t know my daughter’s phone number. She’s in my phone as “Daughter” and I push a picture of her face if I want to text or call her. This isn’t like the old days when you had to memorize 10 digits for every person you called on a regular basis. Imagine your phone is destroyed or all the contacts became unavailable because of an emergency. Some neighbor says you can borrow his working phone to text your kid – would you even know what phone number to punch in? Hard copy still has a place.
• Universal Reference Tool – A binder is easy for anyone to use, to find exactly what they need – including caregivers, grandparents, or babysitters who would not have access to your digital files. We have handed our binder to trusted friends and family in more situations that I can count, confident that if a question comes up, they will be able to find the answer.
• Not Dependant on Electricity – In an emergency, don’t waste precious time or phone battery trying to look up basic household contacts.
• Easy to update – Just update and reprint one page at a time as information changes or children grow.

How I Use My Family Reference Binder

I made my first Family Reference Binder about 10 years ago. It lives in my kitchen “junk drawer.” I’ve added on and revised it many times since then. It’s consistently one of the most useful tools in my house, and the time I initially spent putting it together has been repaid many times over in fast access to important information and peace of mind.

When Nick and I have traveled, we’ve handed the binder to house-sitting grandparents and said, “here’s everything you need to know.”

When I was outside chatting with neighbors and the street started to smell strongly of rotten egg, I grabbed my binder, flipped to the contact info for “Gas Company” and had a representative out to check the source of the gas leak in just a few minutes.

When babysitters have watched the kids, we’ve pointed them to the relevant pages with our full address and directions to our house, just in case the babysitter has to call 911.

When we run family evacuation drills, we review the map in the binder with our kids that shows our family meeting places.

If there’s a local emergency – like an earthquake – our Family Reference Binder has our out-of-town emergency contacts. If we need to evacuate quickly, it has the names of several hotels.

When my son woke up on Thursday, covered in blister sores, I shouted at my husband to call the pediatrician and get an appointment today while I bandaged my poor boy up. Homebrew Husband didn’t have to waste any time looking up the contact info for our pediatrician and was able to book a speedy appointment.

The Family Reference Binder, in other words, isn’t just for emergencies. It’s a way of putting all the crap that lives only in Mom or Dad’s head down on paper. It’s a way to avoid hunting through the To Be Filed folder if you need a utility account number. It’s a record of how the household functions, plus the information you’ll need to get it back to functioning if an emergency does happen.

Here’s What Your Family Reference Binder Will Look Like When You Are Done

As with the 72-Hour Bags, I will be presenting a framework for emergency readiness that works for me and my family. Please feel free to adjust the framework or the specific information to best suit your family needs and situation.

If you follow my framework, you will end up with a 1-inch binder that contains the following easily accessible information:

 

What We Are Going To Do Today

You won’t get your Family Reference Binder done in a single day. Today we are going to assemble our basic family, household, and insurance information. If you look at the Table of Contents above, you’ll complete everything from “General Information” through “Family Members: Workplace Information”

In our next article, we’ll cover how to develop emergency-specific plans for your household, and we’ll finish up our binder by adding all our emergency procedures and (if you want) family vital documents. If I tried to put all this information in one post it would take forever to read and get super overwhelming.

Let’s get started on information preparedness with our Family Reference Binder.

General Information

In a document (recommended) or on a sheet of paper, type or write out the following:

• All family members – Full Names, Phone numbers, Email, Relevant social media for all immediate family members
• Full home address
• Map and full directions to your home
• Several local emergency contacts, including neighbors, family, etc.
• At least two out-of-town emergency contacts

Emergency Contacts

On a sheet of paper, write or type out the following:

• Emergency number – probably 911
• Poison control – phone number
• Local police – emergency and non-emergency phone numbers
• Local fire – emergency and non-emergency phone numbers
• Nearest Hospital – name, address and phone number
• Preferred Hospital – name, address and phone number
• Preferred Pediatric Hospital – name, address and phone number
• Nearest Emergency Veterinarian – name, address and phone number
• Preferred Veterinarian – name, address and phone number
• Several Personal Contacts for Emergencies – repeat or expand from Page 1.
• Local Emergency Contacts – Local NOAA Weather Radio call sign and frequency, Local Power Company’s Twitter username, Local Gas Company’s Twitter username, Your nearest city’s Emergency Information Twitter username, etc.

From one of my amazing Patrons: Here’s the link to find your local NOAA Weather Radio station.

Medical and Dental Contacts

On a sheet of paper, write or type out the following:

• Family Doctor – Name, Address, Phone Number
• Pediatric Doctor – Name, Address, Phone Number
• Any Specialty Doctors – Name, Address, Phone Number
• Family Dentist – Name, Address, Phone Number
• Ophthalmologist – Name, Address, Phone Number
• Dermatologist – Name, Address, Phone Number
• Any other medical professionals your family sees – Name, Address, Phone Number

Property And Utilities Contacts

On a sheet of paper, write or type out the following:

• Electricity – Company Name, Account Number, Customer Service Phone Number, Emergency/Outage Phone Number, Twitter Username
• Gas – Company Name, Account Number, Customer Service Phone Number, Emergency/Outage Phone Number, Twitter Username
• Water/Sewer/Storm – Company Name, Account Number, Customer Service Phone Number, Emergency/Outage Phone Number, Twitter Username
• Trash/Recycling/Yard Waste – Company Name, Days for trash pickup, Account Number, Customer Service Phone Number, Emergency Phone Number if relevant, Twitter Username.
• Phone – Company Name, Account Number, Customer Service Phone Number, Emergency Phone Number if relevant, Twitter Username
• Internet – Company Name, Account Number, Customer Service Phone Number, Emergency/Outage Phone Number if relevant, Twitter Username
• Home WiFi Network – Network name and password
• Streaming Services (Netflix and similar) – Company Name, Account Number, Password, Customer Service Phone Number, Twitter Username
• Nearest Transfer Station – Name, Hours, Address, Customer Service Phone Number, Twitter Username
• Nearest Hazardous Waste Station – Name, Hours, Address, Customer Service Phone Number, Twitter Username
• Any additional property or utility contacts

Insurance And Financial Contacts

On a sheet of paper, write or type out the following:

• Medical Insurance – Company Name, Account Number, Customer Service Phone Number, Emergency/Claims Phone Number, Twitter Username
• Home or Renters Insurance – Company Name, Account Number, Customer Service Phone Number, Emergency/Claims Phone Number, Twitter Username
• Auto Insurance – Company Name, Account Number, Customer Service Phone Number, Emergency/Claims Phone Number, Twitter Username
• Supplemental Insurance (Flood, Earthquake, etc.) – Company Name, Account Number, Customer Service Phone Number, Emergency/Claims Phone Number, Twitter Username
• Bank – Company Name, Customer Service Phone Number, Local/Secondary Phone Number, Twitter Username. I choose not to include account information for financial contacts. If you are confident in your information security, you can include account information for checking, savings and other financial accounts.
• Credit Cards – Company Name, Customer Service Phone Number, Local/Secondary Phone Number, Twitter Username. I choose not to include account information for financial contacts. If you are confident in your information security, you can include account information for credit cards accounts.
• Any other financial or insurance contacts

Insurance Support Documentation

Behind your Insurance And Financial Contacts Page, add the following:

• A copy of your most recent home or renters insurance declaration page
• A copy of your most recent auto insurance ID cards (front and back if appropriate)
• A copy of your medical insurance card (front and back if appropriate)
• A copy of any supplemental insurance you carry
• A flash drive with files containing a recent complete home inventory (see below)

Children’s School Information

On a sheet of paper, write or type out the following for each dependent family member who attends school, daycare, regular extracurricular activities, etc:

• School or Daycare – Name, Child’s Grade, School Main Phone Number, Student Absence Phone Number, Address, Twitter Username or other social media presence
• Teacher – Teacher’s Name, Teacher’s Direct Phone Number, Email, and Website if relevant
• Transportation – Child’s Bus Number, AM bus pick-up location and time, route, and drop-off location and time, PM bus pick-up location and time, route, and drop-off location and time, Bus line phone number (in the event your child gets on the wrong bus or is dropped off at the wrong location)
• School Administrative District – School District Administrative Address, Administrative Main Phone Number, Emergency Phone Number, After Hours Phone Number.
• Additional Activities – Extracurricular Activity, Company or Organization Name, Address of Activity, Main Phone Number, Additional Phone Number, Twitter Username, Email, Website if relevant.
• School Emergency Evacuation and Meetup Procedures (we will cover this more in depth in our next post)

As you put this together, look into what emergency procedures your child’s school has in place. Most school districts have robust emergency procedures, but do you know what they are? Where would you meet up with your child in the event of a natural disaster like an earthquake?

We’ll talk more about this in the next article, but if you can think ahead about Evacuation and Meetup information for places your child would be when they aren’t with you, you’ll be ahead of the game.

You may want to consider getting emergency ID bracelets for your children, particularly younger kids who may not be able to convey their personal information to a trusted adult in the event of an emergency.

Workplace Information

On a sheet of paper, write or type out the following for each member of the family who works outside the home:

• Workplace Name
• Address
• General Phone
• Direct Phone
• Twitter
• Emergency contact information for at least two coworkers
• Typical commute route and departure time, bus number, train line, etc.
• Workplace Emergency Evacuation Procedures (we will cover this more in depth in our next post)

As with the last section on children’s schools, look into what the emergency procedures are at your and/or your partner’s workplace. Is there a standard evacuation place? What resources and plans does your workplace have in the event of an emergency?

We’ll talk more about this in the next article, but if you can think ahead about Evacuation and Meetup information for places where family members – including older teen and young adult children – work, you’ll be in a better position to tackle the next challenge.

Today’s Preparedness 101 Challenge: Assemble Your Family Reference Binder

Keep it simple. A 1/2-inch or 1-inch binder is plenty of room. Make a Word doc, type all this stuff out (or modify my framework for your own needs) and hole punch.

If you aren’t very organized with things like bills and account information, it will take you a bit longer to pull all this info into one place. Don’t give up! If you’re naturally a little more haphazard with filing and paperwork, this tool will actually be more useful to you than to someone who is naturally extremely tidy and orderly when you are done!

If you want, you can add dividers for categories like “Contacts” and “Insurance Support.” It’s nice if you like that kind of look, but it’s not essential. This doesn’t have to be perfect! Your important information in one place (but ugly) is better than no information preparedness at all. Please don’t keep lack of dividers, the perfect binder, or the right font keep you from completing this challenge. Done is better than perfect.

Try to complete your home inventory this weekend. If you follow my “video and narrate” approach it shouldn’t take too long. But do be thorough. Again, done is better than perfect – don’t worry if beds aren’t made or your living room is covered in dog hair and toddler toys. That stuff does not matter for this inventory.

I hope you never need to look back through those files and videos to make an insurance claim, but if you do – that home inventory will be one of the best gifts of resilience and recovery you’ve ever given yourself.

Great job!!!

In our next post, we will finish out our Family Reference Binder by developing procedures to keep us calm and focused in an emergency.

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Preparedness 101: The September Series

• Preparedness 101: What’s Your Preparedness Philosophy
• Preparedness 101: Everyone Has A Zombie Apocalypse Scenario
• Preparedness 101: Assembling A 72 Hour Bag
• Preparedness 101: Information Preparedness with a Family Reference Binder <— You are here

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