On the heals of my other post on being prepared, it’s important to think about the important things in your life and keeping them safe in an emergency.
We lived in New Jersey during Hurricane Sandy. I remember sitting up all night, being too freaked out to really sleep. We had prepared the best we could, as we had learned so much the year before with our ten day power outage. We had a generator ready to go, food for our family, gas for our cars and things tied down all over the yard. It was really frightening to think of how little control we had over the situation when we had done all we could.
I was scared as to if our house would be ok. We have a very large tree in front of it and with the winds and damage they were reporting, I was very scared that the tree would come down on top of the house. Our power went out and that made the night even longer. Hearing the wailing wind was unlike any other storm I had ever heard. It was terrifying and I remember it very well still.
When the storm had subsided and the morning came, we apprehensively went outside to assess the damage. We didn’t know what to expect and I think my husband and I both expected the worst. We went outside and several trees were down, but a quick look around made us realize that the worst damage our property had received was that our shed door was gone. Completely ripped off and no where to be seen. I don’t know where it went.
We were very fortunate and realized just how blessed we were. We went on checking on friends and neighbors and found that not everyone was as lucky as we were. But even further towards the shore, horror stories were coming in and we realized that our area sustained very little damage in comparison.
We did have our power out for over 15 days, which was an inconvenience, but hardly something to complain about when people in our state had lost all their possessions. It was so sad and my husband and son went out as often as they could to go and help in clean up efforts. As the clean up efforts were restricted to those that were older due to the dangers that may be onsite, my boys and I did what we could to help with clothing and food donations.
I can’t imagine having to pick up the pieces of your home and losing everything.
This summer, I had the pleasure of meeting Sentry Safe at an event in New York City. A photo they had up struck me really hard. A photo of a family that had lost everything, but had places their important papers in a Sentry Safe. The damage of Sandy had been too great for their home, but remarkably, their safe stood through the storm and allowed them to find crucial documents that would be so important for picking up the pieces of their lives.
I hadn’t thought about it before, but how hard would it be to start over with out important identifying documents, insurance policies, and financial information? I decided then and there that I wanted to have a better system than the one that I had to keep my important documents safe.
I received one of these awesome safes from Sentry Safe to help me in my quest to be better prepared. The large privacy lock file is the perfect size to hold all my important papers, passports, birth certificates, some photos, and such safely. If it can withstand Hurricane Sandy and is also fireproof, I have immense confidence in the product and know it is a great way to help preserve peace of mind in a disaster situation. I am so happy to have taken this step of getting organized and my information in a safe spot in case anything ever happens.
If you haven’t thought about the importance of keeping your papers and important documents in a safe, think about it now. What would happen to them if a fire were to happen? A major disaster such as a tornado or hurricane? It’s National Preparedness Month and now is the perfect time to get your household in order. Imagine a great place to file away and keep organized those documents and valuables and that they also protect them from disaster.
You can learn more about the different sizes and styles of safes by visiting their website. Also, on Tuesday, September 16th, you can visit their site to see a live burning of a safe via internet streaming and join in with @thesurvivalmom for a disaster prep twitter party at 10:30am EDT.
*product was received to facilitate a review, all opinions are my own.
themommyavenger.com 
That looks like a super tough safe. You really need a safe to keep your sensitive documents safe.
I forgot to mention that I need to get one of these!. If a natural disaster ever happens here, I’ll loose all of my documents.
I keep telling my husband that we need a water/fire proof safe for our important papers, photos, etc. You just never know when mother nature will hit.
Having a safe is really important for your valuable records. It would safeguard them in case of emergency.
This is so important and the photo really makes me feel insecure with the way I’m storing our family documents. I need a safe!
Having a safe is so important. Whether it’s a fire or a hurricane, losing major documents can be such a headache! Such a great reminder.
xoxo
Candace
http://www.FromCtoC.com
we have safes that we don;t use. when my son was younger he liked to hide things in them in his room… maybe he still does.
That is a great safe.. very indestructible.. we lost power for 8 days with sandy, and it was very hard to do anything.. like you just some trees down, but no other damage.
I love having a fire proof save. I feel better knowing that my marriage certificate and the boys birth certificates will not be lost to fire when we are not at home.
Since I’ve had kids, I’ve grown very wary of the weather & have a plan so to speak for everything. Although i have to say that i never thought of keeping certain things in a safe.
Being prepared is super important! Thanks for sharing about the safe!
We have a safe too for all of our important documents, its not as big as this one, we should really upgrade. I’m glad to know you survived hurricane Sandy with little damage. What a scary situation. I lived in Tornado alley as a little girl, so I understand some of the fear, but have since moved away from any hurricane or tornado prone areas.
Everyone should have a safety kit in there home and in their car. Kudos to your family for all the clean up everyone was doing after Sandy. I always weary about my boys when there is storms here now. I seen on a Weather Channel program that lighting can come straight down and hit you when you are in the house thinking you are safe. It is a scary though.
I can’t even how awful and scared everyone in the area must’ve felt at that time. Having a robust safe is a good idea to be prepared for emergencies. Thank you for sharing the safe, and your experience.
My family has one of these and we are very happy to have it. Great to keep all the important stuff big and small inside.
You can never have too many safes. It’s great to place all your important papers and valuables in.
That looks like a great safe. We have a similar safe for all of our papers. We also keep a CD with a copy of all our photos on it. We are in Fl so if we ever get hit hard by a hurricane we still have all the pictures ever taken of our family.
Hurricane Sandy ripped through so many states and parts of it hit here in Cleveland, Ohio. It was frightening here I just can’t imagine what everyone went through where it was way worse! It’s such a great feeling knowing that your extremely important papers are safe no matter what!
It’s great to have a safe to protect important documents. We never know when not just burglars will strike but disasters. They little powerhouses help to protect.
I bet that experience when the Hurricane Sandy came was like in a movie. Everything was like falling apart then you don’t know what to do. Safes are good to have in any home.
Having a safe that will protect your things from incident like fire and storm will be of great help. Protecting important documents and stuffs..
That is a real state of the art safe for sure, and it’s a lot bigger than our little box that we have. We have two of them, and one has our jewelry and the other has our Birth Certificates, marriage license, and the deed to our house oh yes, and the titles to our cars. Hmmm Did I forget anything? I just wish I could get a big one like that for our pictures the old ones. My heart would break if I lost those.
We use SentrySafe as well. They are a great company. Thanks for sharing your post. =)
I’ve never really thought about a safe before, our papers are all over the place in the house, it’s definitely worth thinking about to keep important documents safe.
I have thought of it. Those documents would certainly not be easy to replace and a potential hassle for years to come!
My parents have a safe and with the scare of tornados here in Oklahoma where houses are toppled it is a really good idea along with a storm shelter of course. I live in Moore, OK where the really bad tornado hit not to long ago and it was scary and so many people lost their lives.
wow i totally forgot about that sandy hurricane. having a safe like that really helps. those documents are indeed important
This was such an informative post and you are very fortunate to have survived Sandy. I live in TX where tornados unfortunately are quite common, so having a safe like this would definitely be a great idea.
[…] something great to have on hand for emergency situations. With a freak fall snowstorm in 2011 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012 hitting my neck of the woods, we were out of power for a very long time. Over 25 days […]
This kind of safe is great when there’s a calamity or disaster in one country. It’s nice to keep all the important things there. Really safe!