You’ve bought a safe to protect against fire or burglary, now what do you put in it? Some ideas of things you want to protect, some you have obviously thought of and others to help to get you thinking of things you may have forgotten.
I was just talking to a friend who just got a great deal on a Cannon Safe. The store was going out of business and she couldn’t pass it up. She knew she needed a safe to protect her valuables and important documents,
but had been putting it off until she had more time (like that will happen!). So she called and asked me what she should put in her safe. Normally, I would say that is one of many questions that should be asked BEFORE buying a safe. But ... lets just take a general look at possible things that she could store in her new Cannon Safe.
There are three main categories of things that should go in a safe: documents, valuables and (new in the modern era) digital media. So lets take a look at each of these areas and see what we may recommend for my friend to protect in her Cannon safe.
When it comes to documents, it seems fairly obvious: birth and marriage certificates, passports, social security cards, wills and living trusts, credit cards (or a list of all cards and account numbers, credit limits and customer service phone numbers to each company), automobile titles, mortgage papers, business and investment papers, tax returns, insurance documents (after all, if your home is destroyed in a fire, this is information you will want protected!), family photos etc. I am sure the list goes on, but you know what is important to you and your family (perhaps genealogy records), and those documents should be stored in your safe. For our family that would also include important religious documents, such as records of baby blessings and baptisms.
Anything of value should also be kept in a safe. This can include cash, jewelry, family heirlooms (whether it has monetary value or not, somethings you have to keep safe because of sentimental value), and collectibles (my son collects coins, a collection he has worked hard to accumulate and has a bit of value).
Digital media is a new consideration of safe manufacturers and consumers, especially in the last 20 years. It may be hard to keep all of your family photos in your safe, but it is not so difficult for my friend to have her digital photos backed up and placed in her Cannon safe. The same can be said of a lot of important documents. Some you need to have the actual hard copy, other information you can store digitally. For the last 10 years, all of my banking information is kept on my computer, I have no hard copy of my check books or statements. A back up of this type of information can easily be stored on an external hard drive, flash drive or memory stick and placed in a safe. Just remember to regularly update the digital media that is stored away for safe keeping. Sometimes this is very helpful to have, not only to protect against damage and burglary, but in case of a computer crash. Other forms of digital media could include important CD’s or DVD’s, family movies and films, perhaps actual cameras and video equipment, GPS systems, MP3 players and cell phones (depending on how handy it is to access your safe!).
So, my recommendation of what she should put in her Cannon safe, is the things most important to her, things that she would be most upset to lose in a fire, flood or burglary.
