ken&ann
Rockport, TX
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We will begin full-timing in May 09 and are preparing to sell our home and dispose of most of our personal possessions. We will be scanning thousands of family photos and will preserve them on DVDs but need advice on how to store documents such as transcripts, diplomas, military separation papers, etc. We have a small fire-proof safe for birth certificates, passports, etc, but it is not large enough to store other documents. Any advice or suggestions will be appreciated.
Ken and Ann
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PapPappy
Wilmington, NC
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Joined: 12/23/2007
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My first thought would be to buy a larger fireproof box. You can get one that is the size of a small file box, which should keep all your valuables intact. Copies is a good idea anyway, and you could probably store them with family, to keep your "on the road" inventory reduced.
Storing scanned documents on either CDs or Memory Sticks is a good idea too.
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kknowlton
Wisconsin Border Country, IL
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Another idea is to have a safe deposit box at a bank in whatever area you consider to be "home base" - preferably in the state where you have your legal residency.
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WTTCS
freedom , U.S.A.
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My thoughts are a lot different. Why would you do all that? Are you going to sit around the fireplace and look at photos and documents? Do you not have a family member that could store that stuff for you? If not, why keep the stuff.
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hitchup
Fulltiming in Gainesville, VA
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When we lived in Hurricane country, I purchased a financial organizer from QVC to keep most of our important documents.
It broke a couple of years ago when it slid off the bed when we pushed in the slides. I transferred the inside folders to a laptop case. I keep it handy in case of fire. We wouldn't be able to grab the fire box, but can grab this in a hurry.
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Aridon
SE Florida
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Safe deposit box for stuff that you think you need but no telling when or if you'll actually need it.
Fire safe for the rest like passports, birth certificates, perhaps some cash, gold or whatever you want to keep close at hand.
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Serena
US
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I still think the digitizing is a great idea. The advantage is that you would then have all that stuff in a format you could both keep AND share easily, which is a wonderful gift to the rest of your family.
BUT - it's a mountain of work. I've got space taken up in my RV with a whole mass of this stuff yet, and only because it's more work than I can reasonably do and I have never found a service that could do it at anywhere near a reasonable price. (A few people's lifetimes of genealogy work, research projects, and such.) So I've been stuck.
I may actually try to outsource this to some people of good reputation and skill that I know well. I will be speaking to someone about that later on today and will let you know the results, if you're interested. I can't see why on earth it should cost 80 cents a page or more to merely scan documents. Restorations, yes. Simple scanning, no.
That said my strongest suggestion to you is to go right ahead and do it - but do it BEFORE you unload the house, because you're right. You won't have room for all that later (she said, looking at the stuff stacked by the wall that really ought to be in a basement compartment). Once the digitizing is complete, you can then turn over the hard copies to someone else for safekeeping, as was suggested.
Serena
I Know Where I Been, Cuz I Was There When I Went.
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Bushey562
Norco, CA
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Serena wrote: I can't see why on earth it should cost 80 cents a page or more to merely scan documents. Restorations, yes. Simple scanning, no.
80 cents!!! This is the business I am in. If you got a quote for 80cents a doc you better shop around. The going rate is anywhere between 4 cents and 10 cents a document. If its a few hundred pages its worth it to do it yourself in spare time because most places have a minimum. Search the web, there are some places that advertise 1 cent scans.
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ken&ann
Rockport, TX
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Thanks for the suggestions - I think digitizing is the best decision. Serena, i would be interested in hearing what information you gather.
We're going to organize our photos by year and trip in folders on a DVD, so we will add a documents folder.
Don't know what is harder to part with --- the documents, the Roberts Reel-to-reel recorder with hundreds of tapes or the 50 8mm films of trips with our children!! Precious memories! Too expensive to digitize all of it.
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Serena
US
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Bushey562 wrote:Serena wrote: I can't see why on earth it should cost 80 cents a page or more to merely scan documents. Restorations, yes. Simple scanning, no.
80 cents!!! This is the business I am in. If you got a quote for 80cents a doc you better shop around. The going rate is anywhere between 4 cents and 10 cents a document. If its a few hundred pages its worth it to do it yourself in spare time because most places have a minimum. Search the web, there are some places that advertise 1 cent scans.
Yeah - that's what I said! But thanks for the info. This'll be more like a couple thousand pages, so yeah - you're talking more like reality.
I haven't gotten my call returned yet, but will advise when I do.
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