How Do I Securely Store Legal Documents in My Home?
Your home is full of things that can’t be replaced. From rare antiques to sentimental family heirlooms, you take precautions to keep these items out of harm’s way.
Your legal documents should get the same treatment! These records are hard to replace, and you’ll want to keep them hidden away from those that may see your Social Security card as dollar signs.
If you’re not sure how to keep your files and folders safe and sound, be sure to keep reading for some of the best tips to ensure your documents are locked away and damage-free.
Protect Your Pages
First thing’s first – you’ll need to protect your documents from tears, water damage, and dirt. Keeping your will, birth or death certificates, social security card, and vital bank documents in plastic covers is crucial.
Think about it this way; you put a case on your phone or tablet to protect them, so you should keep your papers in a sleeve in order to shield them from spills.
Many page protectors have holes, so you can place them in a binder and organize them with dividers from the TabShop for easy access. After they’re safe, you can file as usual.
Invest in a Safe
Getting a secure safe that you can keep your files stored in is a great way to keep them protected from natural disasters or potential thieves and burglars.
While no one wants to think about it, fires and floods can happen to homeowners. Document storage is crucial to ensuring your files will remain in pristine condition, and the best safe will be fireproof and air-tight.
Make Copies
Another thing you’ll want to do to keep documents safe is making copies. This is a great way to back up files, papers, and records to ensure that you always have an extra copy.
You can make physical copies to keep in a filing system while the original remains in a safe.
However, scanning documents to a computer is a great way to access what you need when you need it. Keeping documents digitally stored also ensures you always have a copy to print.
Shred Securely
Finally, you’ll want to shred documents after a certain amount of time in order to keep your information secure and private. While you’ll want to keep specific files forever, others can be disposed of after a certain length of time.
Once a document is no longer necessary, you’ll want to destroy it. You should shred anything with bank account numbers, pins, your social security number, or passwords.
Keep Your Legal Documents Safe and Sound
Not only is it a challenge to replace essential documents, but it can impact deadlines and due dates, making your life more stressful than it needs to be.
Finding a file taxonomy that works for you is crucial to ensuring that your documents remain secure. Remember, once your records are safe, you’ll still want to keep them organized in order to find them quickly.
Did you find these tips to keeping your legal documents secure informative? If so, you’ll want to visit the rest of our website for more great business tips and tricks.
