I have had an ‘Emergency-Take” Rubbermaid container for years. It is 22 x 16 x 8 tall. There are larger ones available. It has all my important papers—birth cert -h s grad diploma-records of college classes- vehicle registrations & titles-horse registrations- papers on house ownership—divorce papers, Dad’s will—Mom’s will, etc.
I got evacuated 2 years ago due to a fire next door. THAT container was the first thing I put into my truck, along with my purse. Having your important papers ALL IN ONE PLACE is beyond important. I cannot emphasize this enough.
IF you are a person who isn’t very organized-—MAKE A LIST of what you should take first. It also works to have a “GO BAG” backed & ready for each person in the household. You will NOT have time to dither around the house making decisions.
I hitched up my truck to the horse trailer—packed my items—rounded up & loaded horses & was OFF the property in less than 43 minutes. I could have done it quicker IF I also didn’t have all the business records of a local non-profit also in my house. The loading up of those business records took the majority of the time.
You sound like my wife, and I’m better than the average guy after our last earthquake.
We have a close friend, who now lives in Floriduh. They have go bags and stuff ready at anytime and never let a vehicle get below a half tank of gas due to hurricanes and possible fires.
He recently before our fire, via texting, checking out our go bags and other stuff.
He asked if we had a safety deposit box at a local bank.
His next question was if your house burns and that key gets melted, how are you going to access that box with the serious id requirements at banks now to get into one of their safety deposit boxes?
His suggestion was to have your own little so called strong box in a tote or beach bag ready to go and to put your safety deposit key in that little strong box to take with you.
A couple of years ago he suggested having our photos on Google Photos and Amazon Prime. So we have most of our photos saved in their clouds.
He also suggested a video walk by of the outside our home and a good video inside re art and other valuables. Again, that is stored on the Google and Amazon clouds.
I always had two lists...one for if you have to leave almost immediately, and another for when you have more time (like an hour).