Grab & Go Valuables Priority List: What We’d Take if We Had to Evacuate

While I was preparing our Father’s Day meal I got an emergency text saying that there was a fire on South Mountain in our city. I didn’t love that since I *live* on that South Mountain. However, the fire was well contained on the opposite side of the mountain so I didn’t let it stop me from continuing with our festivities. Still, it was the kick in the pants I needed to finish getting together some evacuation resources that I’d been working on over the last couple of weeks. I have a few more that hopefully I will get posted soon, but I figured I would start with this – my Grab & Go Valuables Priority List.

About 6 years ago, after watching some major fires near my family’s homes in California, I saw people I knew preparing to evacuate—but they were completely paralyzed by the thought of going through their entire house to decide what to take. I decided that I never wanted to be in that situation. I went around my own house on a normal day and figured out what things in our house I absolutely could not replace if our house were to burn down. It was eye opening to see how little was in our house that was actually irreplaceable to us. I identified just 26 items that made that list.

Then, just 10 months later, our own neighborhood was threatened by wildfires., and we actually had to put the list to the test. I cannot overstate how grateful I was that I already knew what things were important and exactly where to find them! While our kids slept, Eric and I moved calmly through the house, gathering the items in less than 30 minutes and loading them into the car—before the official evacuation call even came. Because we were prepared, we were able to use that extra time to wake up neighbors and help others. Plus, the peace of mind that I knew we had the things that mattered most to us was HUGE. I didn’t feel panicked that we’d probably left behind some precious heirloom that we could never replace.

I wanted to put this together as a resource to help others prepare too. I cannot overemphasize how little time this takes! All I did was go into each room in my house and looked around, opened every cabinet and drawer and considered everything in it. Then I asked myself, “If we were evacuated, what things could I absolutely not replace, or what has a high value-to-size ratio that would be better to bring along?”

It sounds daunting, but really you’ll know at a glance what the things are that are important to you. As I found those items I just made a note of them on my spreadsheet and filled in where to find it in the house. It honestly took less than an hour.

After that, I:

• Gave each item a priority number
• Sorted the sheet by priority
• Grouped items by location (upstairs/downstairs)
• Assigned each item to a family member
• Re-sorted the list to have each person’s items grouped together

In our evacuation plan, I’m in charge of the upstairs items and Eric is in charge of downstairs. I’ve assigned the kids to help either me or Eric depending on the items and who can manage what best. For example, I have the some heavier upstairs items, and everything has further to travel – so I have more of the kids helping me.  While Eric has trickier-to-reach items like things on garage racks or high wall hangings, so he gets our most capable under-pressure kid 😉I keep printed copies of the list taped in a couple places in our home so it’s easy to find if we ever need it.

I’m sharing a free template so that you can make one for yourself! Simply copy this spreadsheet and then fill in the items as you walk around your house. If you want to print it out set the scale to 100% and turn off the headers to make it look the best. You can fit it on one page if you have 33 items or less – just make sure to only print page 1 because page 2 will just have the priority numbers.

I hope you will never have to use a list like this. But the peace of mind from having it already on hand is immeasurable. Plus, it really is a fascinating exercise to go through. It’s interesting to go through your home and see what items you actually value the most. I found for me that most of the items were handmade gifts that we had received throughout the years. I’m not crafty myself, but seeing how much I treasured those gifts almost made me want to find a way to learn a craft! It can also be a good way to re-evaluate some of the things that are cluttering up your home. If they don’t make the list it might be a little easier to let it go to the thrift store. Preparedness doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes it just starts with a notebook, an hour, and the simple question: “What really matters most to me?”

Make a copy of my spreadsheet here – Grab & Go Valuables Evacuation List Template