With extreme weather disasters in the U.S. increasing in recent years, making sure you have all your important documents in one place has become essential — especially when you might need to grab them and go at a moment’s notice.

Recently, professional organizer Jenny Albertini worked with her mother to gather and sort her most important documents into a single secure folder.

“She kept saying, ‘Oh, it’s all around here somewhere,'” Albertini said in a recent Instagram post. But “where is ‘around here somewhere’ — especially in an emergency situation? That’s not the time we want to spend looking for house deeds, medical records or sentimental letters.”

Since gathering all your critical documents can be time-consuming, Albertini suggests starting with the essentials and keeping them in a secure, accessible folder. “Once those are done, you can chip away at the rest,” she tells CNBC Make It.

And by taking the time to organize your most important items now, you’ll avoid “rifling through drawers” during a disaster and ensure you’re prepared to act quickly in an emergency, she says.

A good place to start is with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s document checklist for disaster preparedness, says Albertini. This includes:

• Identification: Birth and marriage certificates, passports, Social Security cards, green cards, military service documents, pet ownership papers and vaccination records
• Financial and legal records: Insurance policies, tax returns, deeds, leases, mortgage documents, titles and registrations, bank statements, investment records, credit card accounts and wills or trusts.
• Medical information: Health insurance cards, prescriptions with dosages, immunization records, medical records, living wills and contact information for health-care providers and pharmacies
• Emergency contacts: Important phone numbers for family, doctors, schools, employers, veterinarians, utility companies and local emergency services

FEMA’s checklist includes sentimental items like photos, letters and other keepsakes, but these are often too bulky for smaller document organizers. Albertini suggests storing them in separate, portable bins near your essential documents so they’re easy to grab in an emergency.

Secure storage is also key. FEMA suggests keeping essential items in a fireproof and waterproof box or safe. If there’s space, you can include sentimental items, but you should also consider digitizing your documents with password-protected cloud storage or encrypted flash drives. However, starting with a folder that’s easy to grab in an emergency is a good first step, says Albertini.

Natural disasters can destroy devices or written records where passwords are stored, making it hard to access critical accounts. The Federal Trade Commission recommends using a password manager to securely store and organize login information, which can help ensure access in emergencies.

Taking steps to organize important documents isn’t just about being ready for emergencies — it’s also about making life easier for you and your loved ones when it matters most.

After helping her mother organize her papers, “I feel relief knowing that if something happens to her, I’m going to know where the documents are, I’m gonna know what to do next,” Albertini says. “And that peace of mind is so invaluable.”

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