Important: Make an Emergency (Go Bag) USB Key

In light of climate change being extremely real, you may have been thinking about creating an emergency Go bag of sorts.

The one thing you should add to that bag, in addition to water and non-perishable food, is a USB key of your most important documents.

Many people don’t take the time to scan their documents, and even if you don’t ever plan on creating an emergency USB key, at least keep a virtual copy somewhere, JUST IN CASE your original gets damaged, lost, etc.

Basic documents to scan and add to your USB key

You can get an easy, portable scanner like this one. I own its predecessor and I am still using it, 15 years later.

IDENTIFICATION

• Birth certificate(s)
• Passport
• Social security card
• Citizenship papers
• Immigration papers
• Driver’s licences
• Health cards

ASSETS

• House or land deeds
• Car titles / registrations
• Any other sort of physical assets that warrant a registration, deed or title
• All your Insurance documents – Home, Car, Health…

STATEMENTS

• Your will and testaments
• Bank Statements to prove you are a customer
• Credit Card statements
• Void cheques from your banks
• List of your financial banks and assets and where they are
• Health documents – records, prescriptions, special medications, etc

RECOVERY CODES

• Purchased product keys
• Recovery codes for social media for instance

BACKUPS

• Backup of my Things To Do app with my thousands of notes
• Passwords – only the most important ones because you can always reset a password that is outdated or forgotten as long as you can access your phone and/or emails

NOTE: Text file with the date of last updated

I also created a text file and renamed it with the date I last uploaded the documents into the USB key so I know what / where to check to add new files.

Other essential documents I have added

• All my photos and videos of Little Bun from when he was born, until present day. When I back up my items, I plan on updating the photos and continuing to keep this USB key up to date.
• Any special photos or videos of family or other (I have very old photos of my great-grandparents for instance).
• Scan or photos of family artwork long lost or given away, so I have a copy
• Recipes – Family ones, that is, that have been scanned and stored.
• Sheet music of piano pieces from long ago
• Programs – more for ease of finding them rather than having to hunt where they are and so on
• My company files
• My career documents – CV, project information

MORE “TO DO”S…:

• 5 things for 2025 – Well, for any year really.
• 10 Essential Documents – Get your affairs in order