When you venture out in the campground, go on the trail, or on the lake, do you carry your driver's licenses, health insurance cards, etc.?  I always feel I should have them handy but I also worry about losing them or worse, having them stolen.

So I think I'd recommend (and would love thoughts from full timers) carrying not the real thing but fake ID's.  I mean taking my driver's license, my health insurance cards, and any other important ID/card for that matter and scanning it onto a single electronic page.  But then, before printing, cover up all the important numbers.  Cover up the driver's license number, social security number, health insurance number, etc.  Why?  Because if you lose this, you don't want someone picking it up and using that information to order a bunch of credit cards. 

Doesn't that make these useless?  Nope--why would they?  You are only carrying them around in case of emergencies where you can't help identify yourself.  In an emergency, the copy of your license still shows your name and from what state you are licensed.  A quick lookup by the local law enforcement group will figure out your numbers if needed.  Same for medical--a hospital can call your insurance company and give them your name and other info and determine your status.  (Of course, carry the real deal when actually driving!)  Be sure to copy both sides of the card if it has important info on the back.

Of course, put other information on your sheet like cell phone numbers, emergency contact info, allergies, health issues, etc.  And leave space for "We are currently staying at _____" so that if someone finds you, they can quickly locate your rig (and partner) too.

Now, stick this paper in your shoes, or a little plastic wrap so you can always have it with you, even if you are just walking around the campsite.  You just never know when you'll need identification and now you won't have to worry about losing it at the bottom of a lake or to the pocket of a person who steals identity.

Whatya think?  Too crazy/paranoid?

Maybe a little bit paranoid.

I don't know how many full-timers actually do this, but it is a good idea.  In the class we teach on Getting Ready To Full-time, we discuss having all the information you mention on a single sheet that is kept with you at all times, but not necessarily copies of all the documents with certain items stricken - same basic premise. 

You know what gets most peoples' attention?  When we mention that this is really valuable if something happens and they have a pet in their rig that needs attention.  That's when folks perk up and say "I never thought about that."  They don't seem to care quite so much about what happens to them, but pet owners hate the thought of poor fluffy or fido being left in their rig starving and no one knows they are there.  They will fill out the sample form we provide right there on the spot. 

Nice post.

  Not a bad idea, maybe a printed business card with your name, cell number and a blank space to fill in your site number (or even any medical conditions, meds, etc.).  Heard of a few cases where a person collapsed in a campground and it took an extended period of time to find the spouse becasue of no ID.

  You can't be too careful when trying to prevent ID theft.  Do you have a shredder?

  Best Regards!

 Paul D

-- Edited by Old Snipe at 21:45, 2006-08-21

So, what documents should I carry? Do I have to come to a LOW to find out? We have taken the effort to scan all of the documents into PDF format and burned them to CD's which we distributed one each to our children. These CD's have all of the pertinet information such as living wills, wills, copies of marriage certificates, birth certificates, copies of driver licenses, social security cards....well, the list goes on and on. We also have a copy in a single folder of these documents on our computer which we will have with us, and that is backed up on an external drive. Updates for the distributed CD's are easilly made with a mouse click. The only question we have now, what do we do with the originals besides put them in a storage unit that we hope will go away soon. Are there originals that we may need when we start FT next month? Decisions. Decisions.. Robbie (and Alice)

I've been scanning the regular bills, credit card statements, and anything I might ever want to see later for several years now.  Since I'm at home, I haven't gotten the nerve to shred everything so I just put them in a yearly envelope and put them in the basement.  However, it is so much easier to find something on-lnie than thumbing through hundreds of papers.

Here's a list I put together awhile back of what I thought would go in the fireproof RV safe:

• Living will(s)
• Power of attorney
• Title & registration to your RV and cars
• Passports
• Certified/original birth certificates
• Spare credit/debit cards &/or checks
• Backup CD/DVD of your computers (kept up to date every month or so)
• An envelope of "emergency" cash
• (a copy) of your medical records
• Emergency & medical contacts, although I'd expect a copy of this would be more easily available somewhere in the RV or vehicles as well
• Copies, front and back, of any cards you do carry in your wallet/purse in case they are stolen or lost

None of the above would fill even the smallest of safes.

 

You can easily carry the originals of those documents in a small locked safe box and tuck it somewhere not easily found, keeping the key separately. We bought one at Office Max. It's about 15" X 12" X 6"D. Not too expensive and fit nicely in the space we wanted it to.