Important contacts
Names, roles, contact details, and a short explanation of when or why each person should be contacted.
Practical guide
How to Organize Important Information
Bring the practical details, personal instructions, contacts, and document locations only you may know into a clear system the people around you can use when needed.
What information should you organize?
Start with information another person might need to help you, handle a responsibility, find something important, or understand what you want.
Ready to get this out of your head?
Start with one useful detail and build from there.
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Household information
Utilities, recurring services, maintenance details, access information, and the routines that keep everyday life running.
Healthcare information
Providers, medications, allergies, insurance details, practical care preferences, and where formal healthcare documents are kept.
Financial overview
A high-level record of accounts, bills, insurance policies, pensions, and professional contacts without placing passwords in an unsafe list.
Document locations
Where to find identification, insurance policies, property records, wills, powers of attorney, directives, and other important papers.
Digital information
Important online services, device context, digital assets, and instructions for locating or managing information appropriately.
Care responsibilities
Pet care instructions, caregiving responsibilities, appointments, schedules, and who can step in if you are unavailable. For pets, note the routine, food, medications, veterinarian and care preferences.
Personal instructions
The explanations, preferences, messages, and meaningful details that help the people you choose understand what matters to you.
What does my family need to know?
Think about the information someone may need if they ever have to step in: important contacts, household information, account and insurance information, healthcare contacts, document locations, pet care instructions and your personal instructions. Record where sensitive records are kept rather than listing passwords or exposing secrets.
A simple four-part framework
You do not need to organize everything at once. Build a system you can understand, update, and share deliberately.
Gather the details currently spread across your memory, papers, devices, notes, and conversations.
Group related information so someone can find the right detail without searching through everything.
Identify who may need each category and what responsibility or context they should have.
Review information when accounts, contacts, responsibilities, preferences, or circumstances change.
You do not have to organize everything today.
Start with what someone else would need to know first, then build your record over time.
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Make the information useful, not just complete
A long collection is not helpful if no one knows what applies to them, where to find it, or whether it is current. Give each item a clear label, enough context to understand it, and an appropriate person or role.
Record locations instead of unsafe secrets
You often need to record where a document, password manager, key, or account record can be found—not expose the sensitive information itself.
Explain why a detail matters
A short explanation can be more useful than a label alone, especially for household routines, professional contacts, or personal preferences.
Share by responsibility
Not everyone needs access to everything. Match information to the person’s role and the situation in which they may need it.
Review after meaningful changes
Update records when you move, change providers, open or close accounts, welcome a pet, or change who you trust with a responsibility.
Keep the details together in one private place
Be Sure They Know is a private place for the information, instructions, messages, memories and meaningful details you want the people around you to know.
- ✓Organize important contacts and define their roles in My Contacts
- ✓Keep household, account, insurance, healthcare, and recurring-bill information in My Life Logistics
- ✓Record document locations and personal instructions without relying on memory
- ✓Control what each person can see and when they can see it
Give the right people clarity instead of leaving them to search, guess or piece things together.
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Questions about organizing important information
What information should I organize first?
Start with the details another person would need to help with an immediate responsibility: important contacts, healthcare context, household information, care responsibilities, and the locations of essential documents. Add other records, messages, and meaningful details over time.
Should I put passwords in my information list?
Avoid placing passwords in an ordinary document or unprotected list. Record where an approved password manager, recovery method, or other secure access information can be found, and make sure the appropriate person understands the process.
Who should have access to my information?
Choose people according to their responsibilities. A household helper, emergency contact, legal professional, pet caregiver, or trusted friend may each need different information. Sharing should be deliberate rather than all-or-nothing.
How often should I update important information?
Review it after meaningful changes and at regular intervals. Contact details, providers, accounts, policies, pets, household routines, responsibilities, and personal instructions can all change over time.
Related Resources
Preserve what is important now.
Start with one useful detail, then build a private, organized record at your own pace.
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