If youre like me, you might have some idea about what you have in your home, but you probably dont know how much all of it would cost to replace. If so, you might want to check out some great free software from the Insurance Information Institute. While I was reading through a couple of blogs this weekend, I discovered the link and tried the software out – I must say, its quite nice for free software. You setup your basic information (name, address, insurance company, etc.) then define the rooms in your home. After that, you can add items to each room and put fairly detailed information (type of item, serial #, where it was purchased, value, etc.). It also allows for a couple of pictures of the items, the rooms, and the house itself. The only downside to the software is that everything is stored on your personal computers hard drive instead of online or somewhere more safe (Im assuming most people out there still arent taking care of backing things up like they should be doing). It looked like III may offer online storage of the information in the future though from some comments on the download page – but for now, just remember that you need to back up this type of information. Once you have the inventory entered, youre not going to want to re-type it.
Heres the link to the download page:
http://www.knowyourstuff.org/download.htm
(The do want to know your current state of residence, operating system, and e-mail address before you download.)