Do you have a plan?

What happens if you are suddenly not available? Can your spouse take over without issue? Do they know where everything is?

That is not the case in my house, while I keep my husband informed, he lets me take care of “administrative things” record keeping, taxes, insurance, kid’s health information, etc. He doesn’t try to commit it all to memory and that is ok, he has enough on his plate. While he remembers their pediatrician’s last name and could Google his phone number, he doesn’t know their insurance details off the top of his head. While he knows that Zen has multiple allergies, he can’t recite the list from memory. This is ok while I am around but what if suddenly I am not?

I recently witnessed an acquaintance going through this challenge when his wife suddenly became unavailable for several weeks. I don’t want my husband to go through the same.

So I have set out to figure out a way to make sure that if I have an accident or suddenly become seriously ill that he can know where to find everything without having it memorized.

Some people have “Emergency Binders” but I am too techie for that, I just don’t see myself keeping a binder up to date. So I took inspiration from my USB stick of important info in my bug out bag and set out to make an alternative for which he doesn’t have to remember an encryption password (this is the guy that doesn’t remember his e-mail password).

My solution? A “Cheat Sheet” in the cloud.

There are various options to do this but I choose Google Docs as it was easy to setup “sharing” with his e-mail address and send a link in his e-mail to ensure that he doesn’t have to remember where it is, he just needs to go to his e-mail and find the link to the file or log on to his Google Drive and see it.

Since it’s a cloud file he will always have access to the latest information without me having to e-mail or print a new version every time I make an update.

The document lists essential info including:
– location of important documents such as: birth certificates, social security cards, medical records, house deed, insurance records, tax records, etc
– where to find the key to my documents safe
– contact information for all healthcare providers, insurance and prepaid Legal Plan
– list of allergies, medications, blood types and any other relevant medical history for the kids and I
– details on insurance payments, renewal due dates, etc
– Umbrella School enrollment information and contact info

For security, I didn’t include social security numbers or account login information on this document, instead I reference where he can locate these documents in the house.

 

What is your plan?