Gail VanPatten, a Hospicare volunteer, doesn't plan on dying anytime soon, but she's making some preparations for when she won't be around any longer, and stores memories and more in a binder.

“I wanted my family to know everything about me in one book,” VanPatten said. “You name it, I have it.”

It's called a "death binder," and it's a place where people place important documents they use often, so that after they pass, family members know where everything is.

“It's all kinds of things," VanPatten said.

VanPatten went the extra mile, adding in photos and descriptions of family history and heirlooms she keeps in her home.

“I have tried to talk to people about doing it, and you either get a firm, ‘No way, I'm not doing anything like that,’ but many are really interested in doing it,” she said. 

VanPatten says she adds items to her binder every year, like insurance and taxes, making sure it's always up to date.

“I really cherish that picture. This is my great-great-grandfather,” VanPatten said.

She thinks having a death binder is really important, but admits it was uncomfortable to put together.

“Here, you are planning your death. And that's something that you really don't look forward to. But you know it's going to happen at one time, and you just want to make your children happier,” VanPatten said.

So what do you put into a death binder?

Hospicare recommends three things: medical documents, financial documents and digital information, like passwords.

Barb Closson also volunteers with Hospicare. She put together her own binder.

“Basically, there's only two guarantees in life, they say, taxes and death,” Closson noted. “You know, it's something you start thinking about.”

She added, “I have tried to have the hard conversation with my daughter, and her reaction usually is, ‘Can we just not talking about that right now.’ So, if I put it all in a notebook, such as this, we won't need to sit down and talk about it, but she'll have the information that she needs.”

Closson said the binder isn't necessarily for her.

"It's more for the people I leave behind,” she said.