After three or so weeks my roommate and I are finally done with cleaning up our ground-floor flat after the Typhoon Ketsana floods. While I did lose some things — video games, manga, and a shitload of shoes, it’s nothing compared to what other people have gone through.

I am very, very thankful that a majority of my things were safe despite being surrounded by knee-high flood waters. How I managed that is nothing short of a miracle, as I am the most disorganized person on the planet. It did help however that my flatmate and I had the foresight of properly storing our stuff to begin with, mitigating the ill effects of water damage.

So how do you go about flood-proofing your stuff? Here are five things to get you started:

Store items in airtight plastic bins.

Plastic storage bins are cheap and easily available from local hardware stores and home supplies stores. Pick one that is large enough to contain your things, and is airtight to keep out dust and bugs. If you can, spring for the more expensive double-locking bins that have a rubber seal and a plastic latch at the same time. The extra cost will be money well spent.

Place silica gel packs inside these containers.

Silica gel is a material that absorbs moisture from the airtight containers. You can purchase silica gel packets from hardware stores, home supplies stores, and photography supplies stores — as camera jockeys use them to keep their dryboxes uhm dry. Stick a pack or two inside your plastic bin (if you have a larger bin use more packets), to keep the interior dry and prevent mold and mildew from growing

Saran wrap and ziploc extra sensitive items.

Cling film (more commonly known as saran wrap) is used to prevent food from spoiling, and can also protect other items from water damage. You can buy rolls of this material at the food preservation aisle of your local supermarket next to the ziploc bags. The ziploc bags are, of course, very useful for storing loose items in small airtight packets; just remember to press out the air from the bags prior to sealing completely.

Keep stuff off the floor.

Most of the things we had to throw out were things left on the floor — whether deliberately or accidentally, that eventually got drenched. To prevent yourself from having to throw out perfectly good — if waterlogged comic books or video game boxes, learn to keep your stuff off the floor. Putting them in plastic hold-alls is a start, and remember to regularly weed out the items you want to keep from the junk you need to throw out.

Stay organized.

Messy as I am I try to keep my stuff in some semblance of order. If I find a stray item somewhere I try to put it back in storage at once, so that I don’t end up forgetting about it and it falls into the crack between the couch and the back wall, making it susceptible not just to water damage, but grime, bugs, and other nasty stuff as well.

Lastly, if you have to make a run for it, prioritize! Would you rather lose your PSP accessories or your sealed VF-25S model kit? You can only get away with what you can carry with two hands safely, so make your decision quickly and make a mad dash to safety. Remember: nothing you can buy from a store is worth risking your life for.

That’s it for me. I’d love to add more things like how to rescue waterlogged items from the garbage can, but my one attempt at blow-drying a book back to life (after it has been swimming in flood water for the better part of an hour) was a bust, so I’m not exactly the best person to ask about that. How about you guys — any tips?