How would you get your life together in this situation?

I guess fingerprints?

yes I put everything in storage and didn’t pay it so it was auctioned off. It’s easy: you write to births, deaths, and marriages for your birth certificate. You take that to ss and get a new ss card. You contact your bank. You get your medical records from wherever you go for medical. ez and also you get your once yearly free credit report—please don’t tell me you don’t have your ss number memorised

I think the first thing I would do is break down and cry. I’m not sure how I would even deal with that stress. That sounds horrific. Also, I don’t know too much about that kind of stuff.. sorry, never experienced it either. =\

go buy a new identity on the black market

crying seems popular…
Your fingerprints can be helpful but you can see it from the brighter side, maybe is your one and only chance to a fresh start :) like when Homer Simpson changes his name to Max Power… :D

First of all, it cannot happen to me because I have all my important papers in a safety deposit box at the bank.

However, most important records have an original copy recorded with a public agency. Driver’s License, birth certificate, social security card, and most financial records are kept by the issuing agency or bank. Getting the new Driver’s License would probably be easiest, since all you have to know is your name. Getting a new birth certificate is very easy, I have gotten for all my family simply by calling the county recorder where the birth took place. (You have to send money). If you don’t remember your social security number, it might be a little harder, but your employer has to have it on file.
You surely know the name of your bank, so I can’t see where that would be a problem.They have a signature card on file, and can use that to verify your identity.

You might consider taking your most important documents down to your county courthouse and having them recorded there. A copy thus goes into the county files so you can recall it as needed. We did that with my husband’s DD-214, an important document for anyone who used to be in the military, as well as our our wills and the kids’ adoption papers. We also have a safety deposit box where we keep copies of all of that sort of stuff, including car titles, birth certificates, and so on.

@Darwin Getting copies of important documents is, indeed, useful, but for the examples you used, they are already recorded; the military keeps the original of the DD-214, the wills are kept in the office of the lawyer who drew them up, and such. Yes, copies will help, but if it’s already after the fact and they are all burned up, go to the original source.

Yes, but having them all in one place…Priceless!