An emergency binder before you travel
A one-page ICE sheet and full binder for whoever is watching your house, pets, or kids while you're away, generated in minutes before you leave.
Most people's pre-trip prep is a sticky note on the counter with a phone number on it. It rarely covers what actually comes up. A pet's medication schedule. Which circuit breaker trips. How to reach your insurance agent if a pipe bursts while you're gone.
It's also common to feel a flicker of "what if something happens to the plane" right before a big trip. That's normal, and worth acting on instead of pushing away. Fifteen minutes with a guided questionnaire covers more ground than that instinct usually gets to.
Building the binder takes about as long as writing that sticky note would. But it leaves whoever's covering for you, a house sitter, a neighbor, your own parents, with something they can actually work from.
- A standalone ICE sheet you can leave with a house sitter or neighbor
- Pet care instructions, conditional on whether you have pets
- Property and insurance info in case something happens while you're away
Just need something for a sitter? Free instructions template (PDF)
House & property
A house sitter or neighbor needs more than the wifi password. Where the water shutoff is, which breaker controls what, who to call if the alarm goes off, none of it matters until it does, and then it matters immediately.
Pets
Feeding instructions are the easy part. The emergency vet's number, medical history, and who's authorized to approve a vet bill if you're unreachable are the parts that actually get missed.
Kids & guardianship
If someone other than a parent is watching your kids, even briefly, they may need explicit authorization: medical consent, school pickup, who to call. That's a different document than a babysitter's phone number list.
The emergency you're not thinking about
A flicker of "what if something happens to the plane" is normal before a big trip. The useful response isn't dismissing it. It's making sure whoever's at home has what they'd need if it turned out to matter.