Taking photos of everything one owns.

[Lizzie]

Considering that so many each year, lose their homes and all belongings to flood, earthquakes, tornados etc., I know most did not have a list of items (with pics) within the home. This obviously for insurance purposes.

Last week, I went through my home, room by room and took photos of everything of worth, in them. All photos were then sent out on the cloud, to Dropbox. I hope you all know to use that for photos you never wish to lose.

Now I am at the stage of making a separate written list for each photo taken and to put a $ amount. So I am wondering, if the $ amount should be what it would cost to replace the item, or if it should be what I actually paid for the item. Anyone know this please?

Lizzie

 

[Jill]

Pretty sure it's replacement value, if covered by insurance... Could be different there, though.

 

[Sonya]

I took pics and a video of the house/garage/etc.... I keep it at work in my locker. Last year we had a fire at work, my stuff was all fine but I should upload them to a site too.

 

[Flying minis]

When my house burned to the ground (1997) I was insured for replacement value. I went through and valued all the items at the time the house went down, then subitted that. They gave me a check - even full replacement value by the way they gave me like 80%, not full 100% (check the fine print in your policy) - AND it is only up to the limit of your policy (the amount of content insurance you have). However, I declared EVERYTHING, even things with little value or that I knew I was not going to replace, so I did end up with essentially full payout. Which is also a good reminder to ocassionally re-evaluate the amount of insurance you have on contents - you don't realize how much "stuff" you're gathering until you lose it. Learned a lot through that experience - but was a tough way to learn it.

 

[Lizzie]

Thanks everyone.

Sorry to hear of your loss Flying Minis. It is amazing, once one starts taking pictures, of just how many things we have. I have 131 pics at the moment, with more to come.

Lizzie

 

[Genie]

I had taken pictures at one time, but need to update.

I don't know what you mean about "the cloud" or "drop box"

I have taken all my pictures off the computer and placed on a CD. January of every year the pictures and documents for the past year are taken off the computer and put on a cd.

 

[Lizzie]

Putting something on the 'cloud', is another way of saying that you are keeping something out in cyberspace or on something like Dropbox, rather than in your computer at home. Dropbox is a nice little freebee to keep precious photos or other things, in a safe place, but away from your own computer and home. I learned about it from writers on my writer's forum. We keep our finished works there. God forbid you write and finish a book, only to accidentally lose an entire year or more, of work. If you have a whole lot of stuff to keep, then you can purchase more space. Nice thing is, that if you ever lose your home and/or computers, you can always get everything back from Dropbox, via another computer. One thing I do suggest, is that you don't 'share' your Dropbox with anyone. This because if they then share their pics or whatever with someone else, that someone else can also see your pics and documents.

I keep everything on my home computer, have a copy of everything on Dropbox and also another copy on 'My Book', which is basically an external drive. If I leave home for any length of time, I take the Book with me. It is made by Western Digital.

Every time I update something important or add to one of my picture files or writings, I dump a copy into My Book and out into Dropbox. Only takes a minute.

Lizzie

 

[targetsmom]

I have some photos in my safe deposit box - things I owned before the internet was invented! For now, all my photos, tax information and all scanned documents, including all registration papers, etc, are automatically saved on Carbonite. It isn't free, but I run a business where it is pretty critical that I not lose files saved on my computer so this is pretty easy to do. And tax deductible. It costs about $60 a year.

 

[Bess Kelly]

Values.......review what you own as to the cost paid, replacement cost as well as any increased value that may be earned on collectables, artwork, etc. Video is great because you can scan a room, zoom in and around, add voice, etc. Sure helps when you try to remember and can't. Also, consider that ownership is major when making a claim.

If you own the property, the policy and most of the contents, then those which are NOT yours are not covered.

A fine example is that of a co-habitating couple. Whomever owns the home is the one insured, the "tenants" possessions are not -- whether they are truly just "friends/renters" or even if you "partner" -- this does not matter if it is M/F, M/M, F/F couple. So anyone in these situations (bben there, done that!) be advised, from one who go the check........not including partners clothing!

There is such a thing as renters insurance......and I agree, with all the unbelievable situations happening, these are things we really, really need to consider!!!

When your policy renews -- check the deductibles. Many companies are not covering certain disasters, and/or have a very different and very large deductible for certain types of disasters. For instance if it is 500 of "normal" issues like fire, etc., the deductible for a hurricane prone area may be 5000-10000. in the case of a hurricane loss claim. Just a little jolt for you to check before you pay. Often these things are not brought to your attention, especially if you have a mortgage and the policy is paid by them, even tho you get a copy of the policy and billing. READ the policy declarations page which summarizes the coverages, amounts of same, deductibles, etc.

 

[sfmini]

One warning about Carbonite from one who learned this the hard way, I had a crash and lost all my pictures, but the file names were still there, so the corrupted files were backed up and corrupted every backup file. So, when I went to recover, all I got was corrupt garbage. My account is up for renewal and I am not going to bother any more.