The FIRM Guide

The File Storage Module

The master record of how your filing system is organized — the four SAFE areas, where each lives, naming, retention, and archive policy.

Download template Nothing is entered on this page — you fill the template in privately.

Text file — the flexible one. Use it as-is, open it in any editor, or paste it into an AI tool to reshape the blank form to fit your family: rename a field, add a row, drop one you don't need.

Print / PDF — the ready-to-use one. Print it and fill it in by hand, or choose Save as PDF and complete it in your own offline PDF app. Either way it stays with you — the finished Secure Guide template goes inside your Vault.

One rule: only ever give an AI tool the blank template. Never paste your real information — passwords, account numbers, anything you'd keep secret — into an AI tool, an online service, or anywhere outside your own Vault. Customizing an empty form is fine; filling it in happens privately, offline. That's the same rule this site follows: nothing sensitive ever leaves your hands.

Secure Guide Starter Template

Store this inside your Vault. Update whenever the structure changes; review annually.

The four SAFE areas and where each lives — digital path(s), physical binder/safe sections.
File Storage; family-guide; System
The pattern in force (e.g., Year_DocumentType_Name) and any exceptions.
Each container and what belongs in it. Container passwords/combinations are high-friction — store in the password manager or physical Vault, not here.
The tool protecting each digital container (see the Encryption Module).
Which irreplaceable papers exist and which container holds each.
How long each document type is kept before archiving.
Where outdated versions go and how they are named.
Date the structure was last reviewed and backups confirmed openable.

Family Guide Starter Template

This template contains no sensitive information. It can be stored with household documents.

The shape of the system, in one sentence (the four areas, kept as a digital filing system, a binder, and originals in the safe).
Pointer to each container without access details.
Steward and review cadence.
Where a trusted person starts — the one-page overview.

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