Whether it’s birth certificates, Social Security cards, tax returns, or cherished family photos, your documents play a crucial role in your personal and professional life. That’s why it’s so important to make an effort to store these papers properly. 

By learning how to store important documents, you can protect them from damage, loss, or theft. Don’t just consider the physical documents in your life. You also have to protect your most important digital documents, too. Pursuing the right storage for documents will ensure that you always have a record of your life’s most meaningful events.

Why It’s Important to Store Documents Safely

Your physical and digital documents are at risk if you don’t try to store them properly. Natural disasters aren’t common, but flooding or fire only has to strike once to destroy your most important documents in minutes. Even common life events, like a move or a major declutter, could lead to you losing or accidentally tossing your documents. 

Likewise, digital documents face risks, from computer crashes to ransomware attacks or data breaches. Think about the fact that years of tax returns, business records, and your most cherished photos could be wiped away instantly.

This isn’t meant to scare you but to underscore the importance of good storage for documents, physical and digital. Taking time to learn how to store important documents could save you many headaches, frustrations, and heartaches. 

How to Store Paper Documents Long-term

Some of your most important documents come in physical form, including birth certificates, Social Security cards, and property deeds. These can be difficult and time-consuming to replace if you should ever lose them. It’s helpful to know how to store paper documents long-term to stop that from happening.

For smaller documents you want to keep close at hand, like your Social Security card and birth certificate, consider putting them in a fireproof safe in your home or a safety deposit box if your bank offers this service. 

What if you have a lot of documents you want to protect, like family records, historical documents, or old tax returns? If you don’t have space in your home for these records, consider renting a storage unit. Store your documents in waterproof plastic containers rather than cardboard boxes. As an extra precaution, add silica gel packets, which can absorb even small amounts of moisture. Another good option is to put a filing cabinet into your storage unit. Use acid-free folders and label each folder clearly so you can easily find your storage documents in the future.  

How to Store Old Documents Safely

Older documents, like family letters and photographs of past generations, require special care. Paper becomes more fragile over time as its acids cause yellowing and deterioration. Any exposure to light, humidity, and extreme temperatures can speed up this breakdown process.

Store your older documents in acid-free archival folders and boxes. If possible, store them in a cool, dry place with no direct sunlight. If you plan on putting them in a storage unit, opt for a climate-controlled storage unit that will protect them from extreme heat, cold, and humidity. 

Digital Storage for Documents: How to Keep Your Files Secure

In today’s increasingly digital world, any discussion of storage for documents has to include digital documents. On your computer, for example, you may have your bank and credit card statements, tax returns, medical records, insurance policies, resumes, academic transcripts, passwords, and estate planning documents squirreled away into folders. That’s not even to mention all your family photos and videos. These documents deserve protection.

A comprehensive digital storage strategy should include multiple layers of protection. Start with investing in a dedicated external hard drive for local backup. This will give you access to all your most important documents even without internet access. 

As your second layer, use some form of cloud storage to back up your computer. Programs like Google Drive, Dropbox, or Microsoft OneDrive can all serve this purpose. They can also automatically sync across multiple devices so that you can save everything on your desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone. 

For your most sensitive documents, consider using encrypted cloud storage services to give you extra security features like end-to-end encryption and secure file sharing.  

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Storing Important Documents

Even with the best intentions, people often make simple mistakes when storing important documents. While these errors can be innocent in nature, they could lead to storage documents being damaged, destroyed, or lost forever.

  • Poor storage location: Resist the temptation to store your documents in a basement, attic, or garage where they could be exposed to extreme temperatures, moisture, and pests.
  • No duplicates: Don’t keep all your documents in one place. Make copies of all physical documents and back up all digital documents.
  • Poor long-term storage: If your storage documents are going into long-term storage, ditch the manila envelopes and cardboard boxes. Instead, use waterproof, acid-free containers.
  • No updates: Your external hard drive won’t be useful if you haven’t updated it in five years. Make sure you regularly update your external backup and sync your cloud storage so your most current files are saved.
  • Weak passwords: Obvious, short, or weak passwords are practically an invitation to hackers. Use strong passwords on all your accounts, especially your cloud storage accounts. Enable two-factor authentication to add an extra layer of protection to your digital archives. 
  • Poor communication: One of the main purposes of storing your physical and digital documents is to pass them on to the next generations. To do that, let your trusted family members know where your most important documents are stored and how to access them in an emergency.

Document Storage for All of Today’s Risks

Taking the time to educate yourself on storage for documents, physical and digital, will help you protect your personal and financial well-being. It will also ensure that your most important records can be passed on to the next generation. Learning how to store important documents includes considering your physical documents as well as your digital documents.

Use our two-pronged approach of an external hard drive combined with synced cloud storage for your digital documents. When it comes to how to store old documents or any paper documents, use a fireproof lockbox for the documents you use often. For everything else, a storage unit might be the right call. At Price Self Storage®, we offer a range of storage units, from small lockers up to large units that allow you to store documents as well as many office and household items. At select locations, we also offer climate-controlled storage, which is perfect for storing older, more delicate documents.

Find your nearest Price Self Storage today.