RE: Zombie Apocalypse - Will You Still Have Access to the Information You Need Most?
First off, great post! This covers in detail so much of the information that people need if something happens. I'll add a couple minor points that might help someone.
Buy a Fireproof Safe to store important paper documents at home.
These safes may not burn, but they get hot enough to melt or even burn paper inside of them. Do not rely on these as a end all be all. Also know that ones purchased at box stores like Home Depot are very easy to break into and the electronic ones only need a rare earth magnet to open and the old dial style only need a drill hammer and screwdriver with about 45 seconds of time. So invest in a real safe, not one that is $200 at a box store if you want real security.
Other Assets or Valuables Information
In this I would include a Home Inventory. Most people who suffer a catastrophic loss of any sort don't have any sort of home inventory. This inventory will save your butt in case of a fire or other major loss. One simple way is to go room by room taking photos that show what is on each shelf, in each drawer, and on the walls. Any items that are higher value which have serial numbers should be noted as it will help police if there is a theft.
Anyways that is just a couple things to expand on what you wrote. Your post is very comprehensive and should be followed for sure. Going to look into that USB for sure, like it better then what I've been doing currently.
you are absolutely right on both items. Funny about the home inventory suggestions. At the top of my post in the Things To Do List: I had do a video walk through of your home but then decided to pull it out since I didn't feel like going into it later in the post but I should have kept it. I actually use HomeZada to record my home's inventory. I like it a lot. There is a lot of work to add everything and I am only a fraction of the way through but again, hopefully wasted time but better to be safe than sorry.
For my home safe, well damn, I bought a box store safe (lol). I looked at the review for the one I purchased and the suggestion is that its contents would survive so I guess I need to rethink that.
thanks so much for your comments.
I recently had to break into a home safe from a big box store, it was a sentry dial safe. The research took me 30 minutes as I was really trying to find a way to keep the safe usable and had never cracked a safe before. In doing the research I watched someone open the electronic style ones in 3 seconds flat, slap the rare earth magnet on it and slide it across a spot which released the lock. Crazy!
The dial style was a little harder as I had to drill a whole and then slide a screwdriver into the whole and give it 3 or 4 strong whacks. With that I popped it right open. Took me no more then 90 seconds on my first attempt ever for cracking a safe. Now that I know how to do it and all I need is to see the model and pull up a youtube video showing where to drill (and it's there for every mass produced safe.
On the fireproof side it takes a hot fire to cause the inside items to burn, but it happens. The bigger issue is melting. Plastics and solder don't take much to melt just enough to ruin a USB drive. Know someone that had some rare collectibles melt enough to ruin all value while inside a fireproof safe, so it happens.
Anyways after knowing some people that have dealt with fires I can say that preparation to be covered in the event of a loss might be a pain in the butt, it's totally worth it. If you can't show that you owned things you may just be out of luck. More important without photos or a video to remind yourself you will NEVER remember everything you owned that needs to be replaced.