I've been planning to do my home inventory for awhile... looked at some free home inventory worksheets, but I think I'd rather use some home inventory software. Any recommendations?

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Originally Posted by linda1971

I've been planning to do my home inventory for awhile...looked at some free home inventory worksheets, but I think I'd rather use some home inventory software. Any reccommendations?

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... trial version so there's no harm in trying it. Also has a good price and seems to be capable of storing extensive hard info such as photos that will help limit the number of filing cabinets one needs for records. Recommend you do a few Internet searches for like products and see if you can't find some shareware or even freeware. Might be worth the asking sales price if you can find something for free. Have you considered something in Microsoft's Office Suite such as Excel?

There are quite a few inventory utilities at www.lightsparkle.com. Most of them are commercial, but there are many home solutions too. And the best thing is that if you register on the site you can buy them at 15% discount.

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Originally Posted by jelatin

There are quite a few inventory utilities at www.lightsparkle.com. Most of them are commercial, but there are many home solutions too. And the best thing is that if you register on the site you can buy them at 15% discount.

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Here's a small thing that bothers me about sites like that: there is absolutely no contact information about the company - no physical address, not even an email address to contact them. This always raises a red flag for me.

Well, I guess they don't give any e-mail on the site because they don't want to get spammed. The have a contact form though (link is near the logo at the top).
But they are only reseller anyway - all (3 :) ) purchases I've made from them were handled through RegNow.com, and in them I have no doubt :).

I have read how keeping an updated Home Inventory can not only help justify your claim in the face of a disaster, but it can greatly simplify and shorten the claims process.

There are many free software packages available, like the one from www.iii.org. But there are also FREE online Home Inventory services like www.createyourinventory.com. The advantage here is that your inventory is securely stored ONLINE, instead of on your PC, which will very likely be lost in a flood, fire or other catastrophe.

I am not sure why anyone would pay 30 bucks to make a list of what they own. Also often a video inventoy can work a lot better, since it also shows the condition and you can zome in to show marks or serial numbers also.

You will also need to keep your list, if manual or disk in a safety deposit box, on your computer will merely be gone in a fire or theft.

Personal opinon not worth the money for it.

Good points! Paying for a service isn't necessary - but like I pointed out - many are FREE.

Taking a video, unless stored in a safety deposit box, is just as vulnerable sitting in your file cabinet if there is a fire, etc. I don't own a safety deposit box, and I don't think many home owners do. A safety deposit box is NOT free. Online storage is still a good way to go. AND digital photos and receipts can be stored of those items online. Can't do too much better than that. My plan, take digital photos of items and receipts, store them online for free.

Also, every time you buy a new item - do you shoot a new video? You would then have to go to the safety deposit box to update/re-store your inventory. Most people aren't that painstakingly organized. Online inventories are much easier to maintain. And an up to date inventory is most useful.

Something I do once a year: put all our wallet plastic (SIN, Medicare, credit card, driver's license, etc.) on the scanner and scan them, both sides.

I put that image in My Documents and back it up to CDR along with digital photo folder every 3 months.

HI,
If you decide to use your computer, whether Microsoft Word, Excel, a free home organization program for everything in your home, with pictures, serial numbers, whatever, it is very, very important to keep this as a copy, burned to a CD-R or other media that is not a part of the computer's hard drive.
If your hard drive crashes, all is lost!

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Originally Posted by fredg

HI,
If you decide to use your computer, whether Microsoft Word, Excel, a free home organization program for everything in your home, with pictures, serial numbers, whatever, it is very, very important to keep this as a copy, burned to a CD-R or other media that is not a part of the computer's harddrive.
If your harddrive crashes, all is lost!

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Didn't I just say that in the post above yours?? :confused:

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Originally Posted by drew_agras

I have read how keeping an updated Home Inventory can not only help justify your claim in the face of a disaster, but it can greatly simplify and shorten the claims process.

There are many free software packages available, like the one from www.iii.org. But there are also FREE online Home Inventory services like www.createyourinventory.com. The advantage here is that your inventory is securely stored ONLINE, instead of on your PC, which will very likely be lost in a flood, fire or other catastrophe.

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The advantage of being online is that you can access it from anywhere, no need to be home. That's quite cool.
But "securely stored ONLINE", ha! There is no ONLINE store, you know. That site stores your inventory on some kind of storage exacly like you would, and as vulnerable to flood, fire or catastrophe as yours is. You can only hope that they do regular backups and keep tha backuped copies somewhere secure.
But in the ONLINE case that's outside of your control.

You might want to try Cover Your Assets Home Inventory Software and Service they are pretty good. I use them myself.