My Choice for Home Inventory Software

31 Responses (Add) | Thursday, October 11th, 2007 at 11:00pm

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Ponzi learned a valuable lesson this week. Never buy software before you try it. If there’s no free trial available, stay away from it! Always check to see if you can find a comparable open-source or free software. You might actually find one that’s better than its paid counterpart.

Ponzi stopped by the Apple store last week, and came home with a $50.00 Screenwriting software title. Fifty dollars?! Ouch! I set out to find a free or open-source alternative, and found one quickly. The ratings for the open-source program are better than the one she bought, so I took hers back to the Apple store. I refuse to pay for software that I can get an open-source or free version of that’s just as good… or better!

Ponzi has also been wanting to start doing an inventory of our home and possessions for insurance purposes. She mentioned to me that all the software she was finding was expensive, and “ugly”. Well crud. I do NOT like ugly software. So I set out once again on my software quest.

Luckily, I came upon StuffSafe.com. This site and its services are completely free. There are two big pluses in my mind:

Being online, it’s available no matter what Operating System you use. As long as you can get online, you can access your inventory
Again… being online: say my house were to burn down, and my only inventory was residing on my computer. If I don’t have time to get the computer… the inventory is lost. Being online like this allows me to access the information anyway, and still keep a copy on my computer. .

With StuffSafe, there are no restrictions. You can add as many “things” as you own, as many rooms, and as many homes. You can also download and save or print customizable reports. There are options for reports by room, by house, by item type, and more!

What home inventory software do you use? Is it any good? I’m happy to look at it, but I’m warning you… if it’s ugly, I won’t use it.

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31 Comments

theycallmeguy

October 11th, 2007
at 4:39pm

buggy site…. I get site errors when adding somthign to my inventory.

nunikili

October 11th, 2007
at 5:11pm

wow, did you remove my comment chris ?

Super240987

October 11th, 2007
at 9:01pm

this guy is a huge nerd

badboy2009

October 11th, 2007
at 10:33pm

Another excellent video chris !

theycallmeguy

October 11th, 2007
at 11:39pm

buggy site…. I get site errors when adding somthign to my inventory.

peter vatistas

October 11th, 2007
at 11:56pm

Good idea, looks great actually but who is stuffsafe.com? What I mean by that is you register with all your information, home address, insurance info, everything right? Then you tell them everything you own and how much everything is worth? Is this like cyber robbery in the making? Looks good but also looks like a death trap, lol.

nunikili

October 12th, 2007
at 12:11am

wow, did you remove my comment chris ?

StuffSafe.com - Online Home Inventory Software | Hey Peter Man

October 12th, 2007
at 12:34am

[...] Pirillo just wrote about his choice on home inventory software solutions and as much as I agree that StuffSafe is a good alternative to installed software on your [...]

mysoftwareonline.com

October 12th, 2007
at 2:00am

before you try it. If there’s no free trial available, stay away from it! Always check to see if you can find a comparable open-source or free software. You might actually find one that’s better than its paid … Original post byChris

Super240987

October 12th, 2007
at 4:01am

this guy is a huge nerd

badboy2009

October 12th, 2007
at 5:33am

Another excellent video chris !

acer85

October 12th, 2007
at 8:15am

NS, but thas why everyone likes him.

Left Of Center

October 12th, 2007
at 8:24am

Chris Pirillo »My Choice for Home Inventory SoftwarePosted 2 hours ago

Windows Vista Torrent

October 12th, 2007
at 2:44pm

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acer85

October 12th, 2007
at 3:15pm

NS, but thas why everyone likes him.

Jon’s Geek Stuff … & Stuff

October 12th, 2007
at 5:23pm

part of your theft or disaster recovery plan. Having an up-to-date home inventory will help you get your home owner insurance claim settled faster, verify losses for your income tax return and help you purchase the correct amount of insurance. Via:The Chris Pirillo Show

Bob Wastle

October 15th, 2007
at 4:19am

Chris, wow, what a great site for would-be theives. Send them a list of everything in your home with values added.

You admit you don’t know anything about this company. Until you do, don’t use it. Check it out with your insurance co. first.

Stephen

October 15th, 2007
at 5:10am

Let’s hope the online site never gets hacked otherwise thieves have a ready made shopping list…

Nell Lennard

October 15th, 2007
at 8:01am

Home Inventory software…

http://www.knowyourstuff.org/download.html

This is not ugly software. I have been using it about 3 years, and it’s great. The only thing I would wish for is the ability to attach a photo to an item. If you know of one that does this, please let me know.

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October 15th, 2007
at 1:33pm

week. Never buy software before you try it. If there’s no free trial available, stay away from it! Always check to see if you can find a comparable open-source or free software. You might actually find one that’s better than its paid counterpart.”Full Show Notes HereSubscribe Website RSS | iTunes http://live.pirillo.com [IMG]

Kevin

October 15th, 2007
at 4:23pm

I completely agree with “Hey Peter Man”. Who are these people you are giving this information to? What keeps them from using the info against you? What happens to your information if it goes belly up? I would think you are better off keeping your record under your own control off site (bank safe deposit box ideally).

Grasshopper

October 15th, 2007
at 5:06pm

I think StuffSafe.com should be called ComeAndGetIt.com instead, with free signups for all cat burglars :) (10% commission for all stolen goods!).

I would need rocks in my head to use this!

Scanjo

October 15th, 2007
at 9:02pm

Just tried the software and looks good except I can’t edit an item… Hmmm. Need to delete and completely enter from scratch if you want to edit something? Wow… Tried using Opera and IE both. Same results.

Anyone else try editing an item yet?

Thor0128

October 17th, 2007
at 10:24am

Okay I use a product call Sole Possession, it works on windows and OS X it costs like 15.00 bucks, have been using it for about 4 years take a look, it works for me:
http://www.epigroove.com/solepossession/

just my 2 cents worth!

Nick

October 29th, 2007
at 7:41am

I signed up, received & responded to the confirm email but the site doesn’t recognise my info. I’ve written to them five times and have had no replies. This is a bad way to start out.

Seanuk

December 13th, 2007
at 3:15am

GOOGLE DOCS!

BigDawg

May 19th, 2008
at 8:51am

STUFFSAFE.COM is not a secure site, not even a secure site when logging onto it, Who puts their “personal” data on a NON-Secure site anyway? Why not save the software you do decide to use onto a CD or USB Drive, backup your files every time there is a change, take them to a “trusted” friend or a Bank Drop box for off site (away from the home) backups?

Marty Dungca

August 7th, 2008
at 6:15pm

I have Parsons Technology’s original inventory software. I am still using it under WIN/XP home edition. It is not fancy and does accept pictures and maybe a little awkward in some respects. So far only a minor problem; occasionally the backup fails.
There has been no updates since I purchased it and cannot find the developer on the internet. I am looking for something similar to it.
I have recorded everything of value. After recording new purchases, it is recorded, backup of the inventory file is done, export a full report of all items (printable Excel report(C:\Home Inventory Backups\Export 2008-08-01.xlr), both of which are stashed on my hard drive. I use Nero to burn a copy to DVD for stashing at my daughter’s house. So far it has been working well though aging.