So I decided to look into this whole inventory process and thought maybe I would find something online such as an Excel template. What I found I would have to say is quite a bit cooler, though, and quite useful. It would almost make the inventory process fun….
KnowYourStuff.org is provided by the Insurance Information Institute (III) which serves the purpose of informing the public about insurance and helping them to understand everything. The website focuses on the home inventory software and gives a little background information about the organization.
I tried out the download a bit already and I do think it’s very useful. You can upload photos from each room of your house and also add photos for each item you inventory along with a copy of the receipt or appraisal slip. The inventory of each item asks for the quantity, price, date purchased, place purchased, make, model, serial number and description so there isn’t much chance of forgetting any little details. Of course scanning all your receipts doesn’t sound like loads of fun but unless you’re buying everything new every few years, the list should last you a while and you’ll only have to update it from time to time when you buy something new.
There is a place online at KnowYourStuff.org that you can store your files but it doesn’t look like you can export the information to other formats. But you can print several different reports of information at a time, such as a household summary, a detailed inventory by room or category, all pictures saved, or all receipts included. I guess if you have a PDF writer program, you could just “print” it with that and send the file to yourself anywhere.
It might have been nice to find this software when the weather was still crummy…but I’m sure we still have some rainy weekends ahead of us which will be perfect for taking on this project.
