"Personal effects" -- the term generally comes into play on a cop show when they're discussing some person who recently died. They want to return his or her "personal effects" to the next-of-kin. These usually include wallet and ID, photos, Social Security card, jewelry, watch, cell phone, etc.
The thing to notice is, everyone has personal effects. I have those items that mean nothing to anyone but me. You have small things -- photos, mementos, souvenirs -- that mean something precious to you, but not to anyone else.
I remember watching an episode of some zombie show on TV (a rare event, since we don't have a TV anymore!), and 2 men were commiserating about what their wives snatched up when forced to leave their home in a hurry. While the men had been gathering up essentials of life like food and winter coats, the women had both been concerned with pictures. They gathered up the photo albums and took down family photos off the walls to carry away with them.
I know a lady whose house burned a year or so ago. She said she was fortunate that no one was hurt, and that she was able to get out with her photo albums. Now she keeps her photo albums by the front door, so if there is an emergency in the future, she can grab them on her way out.
If there were an emergency, and all the people involved were safe, what would be the items of most concern to you? What would you pause and grab to take with you, even in the greatest of emergencies?
I was thinking about this, this morning, after having a distressing dream in which I found myself crying out, "I want my pictures! I want my family photos!" But I couldn't get them. There are some people who are no longer with us, and the only memory we have outside our heads is the picture hanging on the wall -- my mother, my husband's father, a dear friend who died too young, and the best dog we ever had. They're all gone now, but the pictures we have of them allow us to relieve precious moments of the past that we had with them.
So, with this on my mind, I was thinking this morning, How can I make sure I have irreplaceable photos and valuable documents stored somewhere that they would be safe? I don't want to put my pictures away where I can't see them, and those valuable documents need to be someplace where I can retrieve them as needed.
What about a backup?
There are places online where photos -- and pictures of documents -- can be saved, off-site.
If you have a printer, most of the time it has a scan capability. Maybe your phone has the ability to take a clear photo of a photo and upload it to the Internet. Any documents you scan into your computer should be saved as a pdf.
Sites online that allow off-site storage of any image include Dropbox and Photobucket. Read the fine print, though, and make sure they allow you to download materials you store there. Some people store images at a social media site like Facebook, although that is not nearly as secure as the other options.
If nothing else, open an online email account at a place like Yahoo or Zoho, and email your personal items to yourself there. You can even set up a designated folder in your email account and move the emails containing personal effects to that folder.
Don't wait until disaster strikes or the thief breaks in to back up your precious things. Do it now, while the opportunity is there.
The thing to notice is, everyone has personal effects. I have those items that mean nothing to anyone but me. You have small things -- photos, mementos, souvenirs -- that mean something precious to you, but not to anyone else.
I remember watching an episode of some zombie show on TV (a rare event, since we don't have a TV anymore!), and 2 men were commiserating about what their wives snatched up when forced to leave their home in a hurry. While the men had been gathering up essentials of life like food and winter coats, the women had both been concerned with pictures. They gathered up the photo albums and took down family photos off the walls to carry away with them.
I know a lady whose house burned a year or so ago. She said she was fortunate that no one was hurt, and that she was able to get out with her photo albums. Now she keeps her photo albums by the front door, so if there is an emergency in the future, she can grab them on her way out.
If there were an emergency, and all the people involved were safe, what would be the items of most concern to you? What would you pause and grab to take with you, even in the greatest of emergencies?
I was thinking about this, this morning, after having a distressing dream in which I found myself crying out, "I want my pictures! I want my family photos!" But I couldn't get them. There are some people who are no longer with us, and the only memory we have outside our heads is the picture hanging on the wall -- my mother, my husband's father, a dear friend who died too young, and the best dog we ever had. They're all gone now, but the pictures we have of them allow us to relieve precious moments of the past that we had with them.
So, with this on my mind, I was thinking this morning, How can I make sure I have irreplaceable photos and valuable documents stored somewhere that they would be safe? I don't want to put my pictures away where I can't see them, and those valuable documents need to be someplace where I can retrieve them as needed.
What about a backup?
There are places online where photos -- and pictures of documents -- can be saved, off-site.
If you have a printer, most of the time it has a scan capability. Maybe your phone has the ability to take a clear photo of a photo and upload it to the Internet. Any documents you scan into your computer should be saved as a pdf.
Sites online that allow off-site storage of any image include Dropbox and Photobucket. Read the fine print, though, and make sure they allow you to download materials you store there. Some people store images at a social media site like Facebook, although that is not nearly as secure as the other options.
If nothing else, open an online email account at a place like Yahoo or Zoho, and email your personal items to yourself there. You can even set up a designated folder in your email account and move the emails containing personal effects to that folder.
Don't wait until disaster strikes or the thief breaks in to back up your precious things. Do it now, while the opportunity is there.