You’ve decided to take the secured path of insuring your belongings, either through renters insurance or home insurance, depending on your housing status. There are different ways you can go about it: use the plain spreadsheet with as many columns and rows as you find necessary, or you can take advantage of the fact that we live in an era where everything is backed up by consumer technology.
Any way you choose to go about it, it’s really important that you take the time and create a thorough inventory. It is too easy to overlook things and in case of a disaster you might end up getting less of a settlement than you would otherwise, because you didn’t report everything.
Developers have worked on making our lives easier and launched a few apps specially designed to meet this purpose. No more stress over that laborious task of compiling inventory with these apps!
Liberty Mutual Home Gallery App: the app is available for iPhone, iPad, and Android users. Its key features include:
- it enables you to take photos or your items and receipts of each of them;
- it catalogues each item by room or category;
- it allows you to add details for each item or scan the barcode for photos and descriptions;
- it allows you to add the purchase price and date;
- has the export function as PDF or Excel file.
Visual Inventory: is the app for you if you’re the visual thinker. All you need to do is take a photo of a room and tag your items. It’s available for iOS and Android.
MyHome Scr.App.book: is the app the National Association of Insurance Commissioners recommends. It organizes your belongings by room, it allows you to take photos and scan barcodes for serial numbers. You can back-up your inventory and email the exported files.
Inventory Buddy: this is especially suitable for those who own multiple homes or work as property managers as the app supports an unlimited number of locations for tracking things. Available for iOS only.
Know Your Stuff: is a free web-based service provided by the Insurance Information Institute. The website will guide you through configuring the rooms in your home and listing the items, each complete with photos and receipts. The information is stored online so that you have access to it from anywhere you have an Internet connection.
