What would you grab if you had only 5 minutes to leave?

[Anonymous]

The reality is passports, birth certificates, those are all replaceable. Most of my photos are backed up on the cloud.

Five minutes honestly probably wouldn't be enough time to grab my cat, unless she was being very cooperative.

Five minutes? Get the stuff you need to physically survive what's next. Shoes, coats, blankets water, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand that this is a thought exercise but - nothing! I get my kids, and if there's time, my cats out and I get out. I'm not staying in a burning building even if I "know" I have five minutes to grab a laptop or pictures.

Keep people (and if possible) animals, alive. End of priority list in a fire.

+1 My kids are my only priority.

On the way out, I might grab my keys (so we could escape in the car) and purse (so we would have a way to pay for food, shelter, and all new stuff plus at least my license for ID). But I would literally pass my purse and keys so this would be an extra second or two.

[Anonymous]

A friend lost their home in Palisades. Their workplace (law firm) is helping out a lot with long term housing, paperwork, and especially in expediting lost passports. They said they will have the new passport on Monday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Palisades fires, like every fire, have me thinking—

When I was a very young child, my elementary school caught on fire. The K-2 building was annexed, and as the fire ravaged the main building, the 4-8 students piled into the our building while we waited for our parents to pick us up. It was chaos and it really traumatized me. I went home that night and strangely packed a bag full of my most important things, just in case my house ever caught fire. As an adult, I still keep things well organized, just in case.

I know everyone says they’d grab pictures. I’d grab pictures, memory cards, important documents, bins with keepsakes, important meds, as many clothes as I could, and honestly, that’s probably it.

I’m curious if you have a plan. It doesn’t even have to be for a fire. What would you grab in an emergency if you had to flee in five minutes?

Humans, my Guinea pig, our passports and laptops- but that order.

[Anonymous]

* in that order

[Anonymous]

Just kids and pets. Dont delay leaving a burning home for stuff.

[Anonymous]

We have a fireproof safe with jewelry, passports, documents and some sentimental items. So would probably grab that but my hope is that even if we couldn't it would survive.

[Anonymous]

If you have garage leave your keys and wallets in the car.

[Anonymous]

I’d flail. Pics are all over house. Prob spend most of it trying to get cat. Purse, passport, meds (maybe), underwear (maybe). Fight child to stop packing her entire room but would grab her oldest stuffy. Water bottle.


Ideally clothes and a few pics/keepsakes but we’d prob only grab what was easy to see and regret it was the wrong things. iPad. My kids switch. Chargers.

[Anonymous]

We usually have a laundry bag or two waiting to be folded that is in the laundry room by the garage. I’d grab those so we had some clothes. My dog, my laptop and my purse. I’d make sure the 10 year old grabbed her lovie and if nearby her tablet.

If there were more than a few minutes heads up I’d grab my jewelry and my musical instruments that are worth a lot and not replaceable

[Anonymous]

What is the best way to scan old pictures to put them in the cloud? My parents have shelves of old photo albums and it would be great to scan these to have digital copies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the best way to scan old pictures to put them in the cloud? My parents have shelves of old photo albums and it would be great to scan these to have digital copies.

You can buy a designated photo scanner. My mom's did that and also digitally restored the photos (they degrade or yellow).

[Anonymous]

Work laptop, guitar, and 3 beers

[Anonymous]

Aside from kids, just devices (phones, laptops) and our fireproof safe.

If time allowed, memory boxes we have kept/filled for our kids and as many of our sentimental stuffed animals as we could transport with us!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Work laptop, guitar, and 3 beers

This might be my favorite answer. No dog?