I first set up our Important Information Binder back in 2012, soon after our first child was born.
It was the peace of mind I needed “just in case” something happened to Dave, to me, or to both of us and another family member had to take over our home, our finances, my business, our children, etc.
At the time, my worst nightmare was not being able to care for my new baby, my business, our home, etc. Honestly, this “fear” is still at the top of my ‘nightmare situations’ list, which is why our Important Information Binder is so… important for me!
Thankfully, we have yet to need anything in our binder for emergency purposes — however, I actually use it for my own personal needs on a very regular basis.
It’s a handy tool to quickly lookup an account number, find a password, access contact information, etc.
Personally, I feel EVERY household should have some type of Important Information Binder for emergency situations… and I hope this post will help you get a jump start on creating your own binder!
So… what exactly is an Important Information Binder?
An Important Information Binder is exactly like it sounds — a simple binder or folder where we store all the documents and information that is very important for us, our family, our home, our finances, etc.
Sometimes we make photocopies of important documents for this binder and keep the originals in our fire-proof safe. Most of the time, the originals are in our binder.
This post shares LOTS more about all the specific documents we keep in our Important Information Binder.
How Often Do I Update Our Important Information Binder?
I update our Important Information Binder at the beginning of every calendar year, or if we have a major life-change in the middle of a year (new home/address, changing insurance companies, a new baby with a new SSN, etc.)
I keep one copy of the information saved on my portable hard drive, one “encrypted” copy saved in Dropbox, and then I print off a hardcopy to actually put IN the binder itself.
How to set up YOUR OWN Important Information Binder:
Start by downloading my free printable (links below).
Then, gather all your important documents (most of these are listed out in the printable)
Finally, organize everything into your binder.
It might take you a bit of time to set up your own binder, but once you do, you’ll have such a huge sense of peace knowing that your affairs are in order and someone else could step in to run your life if need be.
Get the FREE Printables:
These are the exact same printables we use for our binder — they are simply Word documents, and 100% editable (nothing fancy but they work!) All I ask is that you don’t republish them on your own site or try to sell them!
Download the Word document
Download the Word 97-2004 document
Helpful Resources:
The Amazon link to the exact same Samsill Duo Binder we use — however, it looks like there’s only a few available (and only in hot pink!)
A very similar binder with more in stock.
My original post about How I Store and Organize My Important Information
A blog post about how we store and organize ALL the paper in our home.
As I mentioned above, I feel it’s crucial for every single household to have some type of Important Information Binder where ALL their important documents, account numbers, passwords, etc. are safely stored and easily accessible in the event of an emergency.
I know it might initially feel “unsafe” to keep so much important information in one spot. My suggestion for this is to simply keep your binder in an “odd” location and only tell a trusted friend or family member where it’s hidden.
I don’t have data to prove myself, but I have to believe that the likelihood of your binder falling into the wrong hands is far less than needing to use the information in your binder due to an emergency-type situation.
I guarantee the peace of mind you get from organizing all this information into one easy-to-access binder will be WELL worth the effort you put in!
Amber Woods says
Thank you for the organization tools to do this so easily. I had read your posts in previous years, had even ordered the binder 6 months ago, but I finally sat down and dis it last week. Thanks for the motivation!
Andrea says
Awesome! I’m so happy to hear this Amber!
Rebecca says
This has been on my list of things to do for at least a year. Two weeks ago, my husband had a stroke. He’s 55 years old, 170 lbs., non-smoker, healthy eater, exercises and has no family history of strokes. To say that this rocked my world, would be an understatement. I saw the stroke happen; both my daughter and I know CPR so we immediately called 911. He was given the reversal drug for the stroke and flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital for a Thrombectomy. Luckily, he is doing well but is not able to work yet. With all of this being said, I never in a million years thought this would happen to my family. So it is on my list of ‘to do’s’ to get all of my information put into a binder. Thank you again for this reminder.
Andrea says
oh wow — that’s so young! I’m glad he’s doing OK… and yes! get your binder together!!
Jane says
I think this should be a monthly post because it is so important. My mother passed away earlier this month after being diagnosed with stage IV cancer only a month before her death. She was only 66 and did not have any of this stuff taken care of. It is devastating losing a parent so quickly but then to try to deal with all the paperwork (loans, mortgage, credit cards) and not having access to computers, phones etc. is so hard. My step dad doesn’t even know the password to their wifi. This binder would have been so helpful. I started mine a while ago but will be finishing it soon.
Andrea says
Sorry to hear about your mom Jane!
I can’t even begin to list how many times people have said this exact same thing to me… “this would have been so helpful to have before ______ passed away”.