card in bank safe deposit box

[Jobu]

As a tropical biologist who lives in New Orleans I have two contributions to this thread.

1) If you keep your cards in a safety deposit box (I keep mine at home) you should consider how prone the bank is to flooding. In the case of a storm like Katrina or Sandy you might not have time to get to the bank to pick up your valuables before you evacuate as you wiill be busy with a lot of preparations, traffic is bad, and the bank might be closed during normal busniess hours so that their employees can evacuate. You also might prefer to leave your valuables at the bank rather than carrying all of them with you in your car! In choosing your bank you should look at a floodplain/elevation map and pick a bank that is in a high zone. This could also be a consideration for non-coastal cities as areas flood due to heavy rain or flooding rivers. I asked the local insurance agent that sold me my renter's insurance to show me one of these maps and they were happy to do so (and I am glad I did because we didn't flood during Katrina).

2) Anyone looking to buy silica gel should skip the prepackaged stuff that comes in little tins and which is sold in places like camera stores. If you look closely at it, you see lots of grains that look like kitty litter and a few scattered in there that will be either pink or blue depending on their level of water absorption. Those colored crystals are what is doing the work, I believe the rest is more or less filler. For my work in the rain forest I buy pure silica gel and put my electronics with it in a sealed bag each night. It is more expensive, for obvious reasons, but does a much much better job. One note - when the crystals (referred to as gel) aren't in a package you need to exercise a little caution when baking them. I have been told that they are somewhat toxic so it would be wise to use a dedicated pan for baking the water out rather than a dish used for cooking.

Sorry for the long post!