BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – It’s that time of year again when preparing can save your life. Better Business Bureau shares tips on the importance of saving your original documents.

We are just days into hurricane season and Carmen Million, president of Better Business Bureau, said the time is now to get prepared. “It’s Hurricane Season, everybody knows what can happen. The last couple of years have not been very friendly to us.”

Million said her best tip for you is to secure your original documents in case you have to file a claim. “Anything that you think that you can’t live without as far as paperwork, documents, financial information. Make sure you have it in a safe place. So, that if you have to leave, especially if you have to leave in a hurry that you can grab and take with you.”

Documents like birth certificates, insurance policies, and titles are important to store in a safe place just in case something happens. 

Carmen Million also stated, “Make sure that you take pictures, videos of not only of your personal belongings but your office, your equipment, your home, your furniture, your landscape to see before and after incase you do have to file a claim with the insurance company.”

Million said there are risks when you fail to secure important documents, “It may take them a good while to get those copies,” which will in turn delay you getting the help you need.

“Not only do you want to have water and batteries and all the other things that they are telling you to do but you need to have a plan and your paperwork handy,” explained Cameron Million.