Lifestyle

Why It’s Vital to Know Your Stuff… Plus a Free Home Inventory Tool

August 10, 2016COMtnMom

Have you or a family friend ever experienced a home fire, or weather catastrophe that left extensive property damage? It’s an extremely stressful time, and not something I’d wish on anyone.

It’s not a topic you may think about often. But it could definitely pay off in the future, if you simply take some time today to think about gathering a home inventory. Better yet, read on to find out about a free tool you can use to easily do so.

Why It’s Vital to Know Your Stuff

Our good friends recently went through this with a house fire. Once the smoke damage was accounted for, their entire home and all its contents were considered a loss. Fortunately, they had insurance to help them with replacements.

Before watching them go through such a sad and stressful experience, I had never thought about it. Can you imagine attempting to remember each and every one of your belongings, in such a scenario? Where would you even begin?

Having a good home inventory can be a vital step, and will put you in a better position to maximize your insurance benefits if you ever need to make a claim.

Know Your Stuff home inventory with photos — Wouldn’t it be nice to have a home inventory, plus photos and details to make an insurance claim when needed?

So why not prepare ahead of time? Brought to you by the Insurance Information Institute, the fun and free Know Your Stuff app makes it very slick and easy. Just take photos of your things, add a note or two, and it keeps an organized record of all your belongings.

I tried it out, and found it to be extremely useful and worthwhile.

Using the “Know Your Stuff” Tool

If you’ve ever moved, you’re painfully aware of how much stuff you actually have! So it may seem a little daunting to start using the “Know Your Stuff” tool. Where do you even begin?

The Know Your Stuff app allows you to organize your things in a customized manner, grouping them by rooms that you create yourself. Taking an inventory of your entire home can seem daunting, but once I started to use the app it was less intimidating. And even a little bit fun!

Some of my best Know Your Stuff tips:

First define your rooms as a general framework for your home inventory.

Start by adding the big items first. Perhaps do an initial pass through, and just document things like furniture and expensive items along with a photo. You can then add other smaller items as time allows – your entire inventory doesn’t need to be completed in one setting.

Make a list of things to include such as “electronics”, “clothing”, “jewelry”, “linens”, “appliances”, etc. After your big items have been added, it may be easier to work on the remaining items by groups, or types of things, at one time.
Note that when you are in the “Add Item” section, taking multiple photos will just be adding multiple photos for that item. If you are taking a photo of a new item, go back to “Add Item” for a new entry. (I took a bunch of living room furniture photos on the same “item” page… thinking I was adding additional items. I was just adding additional photos to one item!)

This can be a work in progress. Checking your total can be encouraging, and a fun way to mark progress.

Know Your Stuff home inventory total — The Know Your Stuff app home screen displays your home inventory totals.

A bit of a spreadsheet geek, I was impressed to find you could export your inventory list. This could be both useful if you’d like an overall visual to keep, and crucial to use for turning in to your insurance company.

What I like best about the app:

Intuitive and user friendly
Can add inventory items with or without taking a photo.
You can log in to your account on multiple devices (phone, tablet, laptop) and see the exact same inventory information.
Ability to print out an inventory spreadsheet
Peace of mind from having a home inventory well documented.
It’s free!

Know Your Stuff home inventory stats and lists — View a list of your home inventory by price, or alphabetical. You can also view a graph by room or category.

Check out the Know Your Stuff website

Try it for yourself today. You can learn more about the free Know Your Stuff tool online, and then access the app for either your phone, tablet, or PC. You can even sync multiple devices under one account.

Save yourself time and money, and increase your peace of mind by keeping a home inventory.

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This post was sponsored by the Insurance Information Institute. All opinions are my own.