Protect yourself. Always be careful when entering a damaged building. If there is serious structural damage, contact local officials before entering. Report downed power lines or gas leaks. Keep electricity turned off if the building has been flooded.

Protect your property. Take reasonable steps to protect your property from further damage. This could mean boarding up windows and salvaging undamaged items. Your insurance company can tell you what they will pay for regarding protection.

Report the loss as soon as possible. Contact your insurance agent or an insurance public adjuster near me as soon as you can. Provide a general description of the damage and have your policy number handy if possible. Write down the adjuster’s name, phone number and work schedule as soon as you have them.

Prepare a list. Keep damaged items or portions of them until the claim adjuster has visited, and consider photographing or videotaping the damage to document your claim. Prepare a list of damaged or lost items for your adjuster.

Keep receipts. If you need to relocate, keep records and receipts for all additional expenses. Most insurance policies cover emergency living arrangements.

Return claim forms. After your insurance company has been notified of your claim, it must send you the necessary claim forms within a certain number of days (time period varies by state). Fill out and return the forms as soon as possible. If you do not understand the process, be sure to ask questions and write down the explanation.

Cleanup. When starting the cleanup process, be careful, and use protective eyewear and gloves if available. Adjusters may tell business owners to hire a professional cleaning service.

Build stronger next time. When you’re ready to start repairs or rebuild, work with your contractor to make the new structure disaster-resistant.

This information was taken from the IBHS publications “You Can Go Home Again” and “Getting Back to Business.” For more recovery and rebuilding information, visit the IBHS website www.disastersafety.org.

The post Tuesday Tips-What to do After the Storm appeared first on The Mom Maven.

As parents we can have many setbacks. Our setbacks come in various forms. Sometimes our setbacks are due to our own choices and failures. Other times it is a health issue, or a job or financial problem that causes the setback. Our children can also be the source of those setbacks with behavioral issues, educational problems or illness being the cause. Whatever the cause of our setback, we need to persevere, move forward and past the problem and push into our new reality.

In the article by Mr. Gonzalez he listed 5 principles to follow to break through the set back and find success.

1. Go all the way-don’t quit
2. Create a “Dream Team”- surround yourself with encouraging people
3. Give yourself a Pep Talk-“I CAN do this”
4. Learn from Your Mistakes-learning is growing
5. Recover Quickly-When life knocks you down, get up and take immediate action

We need to apply these principles to all areas of our lives, and teach them to our children so that they too can quickly rebound from the inevitable setbacks that they will face in their lives.

The post Rebounding from Setbacks appeared first on The Mom Maven.