How prepared would you be if everything you owned went up in smoke? How about storm damage or theft? Could you lay your hands on a complete inventory of your home's contents, including value, photos and other essential information?

I've been playing with two programs that help you do that and a lot more.

My Home Inventory ($24.95) from Elms Publishing Inc. and Quicken Home Inventory Manager 2007 ($29.95) do the job quickly and efficiently with only a few basic differences.

Both allow you to log detailed descriptions of every item, attach photos and other documentation (such as receipts), and print detailed reports for your insurance company. But Quicken lets you drag and drop images into your inventory list, eliminating the several steps it takes to attach them using My Home Inventory. Also you can store your inventory report off site using Quicken Online Backup for an additional fee.

Key features include:

My Home Inventory

• You can calculate exactly how much insurance you need or don't need.
• You can track exactly where each item is.
• You can find, sort and view your belongings in multiple ways.
• You can track items loaned to others, logging them back into your inventory when they're returned.
• You can recall items donated to charities for tax purposes.
• You can back up your report to a CD or print it out for your records.
• Total value of your inventory will automatically be calculated.
• You can batch load photos into your report, eliminating the need to browse your hard drive for them one at a time.

Quicken Home Inventory Manager 2007

• You can monitor your insurance coverage by comparing your policy limits against your inventory report.
• You can include a photograph of a whole room and inventory everything in that room, or include individual items.
• Access different reports with a simple mouse click, including an inventory value summary and a detailed inventory report.
• You can add the value of your inventory to your net worth in Quicken Deluxe, Premier or Home & Business.
• Back up your report to a flash drive, CD or other storage device or back it up online.
• It integrates with your scanner allowing you to store and organize documents.
• You can create new inventory lists by simply dragging and dropping images into a new list.

For more information on these items, visit www.my-homeinventory.com or www.quicken.com.

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