As a recent college graduate and thus an official member of the “real world,” I’ve been learning about all kinds of exciting things like how to file my taxes, the joys of job-hunting and the need for renter’s insurance. I decided that if I was going to take the time and pay the money for renter’s insurance, I might as well actually get a handle on what I’m insuring. That led me to go and explore different apps for inventory.
I tried a couple of “general” inventory apps and a couple that have more specific purposes. Some I loved and of course others I hated. Read on below for five of my favorites!
Compartments
Compartments is a zippy and simple home inventory app. In terms of the category, it is in a pretty great spot. It offers just about any tool you could need, yet somehow is still quick and easy and doesn’t feel bloated. A lot of the home inventory apps that I tried couldn’t find this balance, but Compartments does a great job.
You first input items by category or room, and get all of the information set up. You can then generate insurance reports, view by worth or any number of types of information, and organize the items into a number of smart collections. Compartments is a well-priced app that does a great overall job.
Price: $9.99
Requires: Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later
Developer: LittleFin LLC
Compartments
Home Inventory
Home Inventory is an app that functions in just about the same way as Compartments. You are able to store items by room or category, generate reports and sort into smart groups. You can also store warranties or directions with the item in the inventory.
Something great that Home Inventory has a lot of focus on is the presence of mobile apps for assistance. Home Inventory has a free app that helps speed along the creation of the inventory by allowing for remote entry, photography and barcode scanning. This app makes creating the inventory a lot more fun and helps out a great deal.
Price: $14.99
Requires: Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later
Developer: Binary Formations
Home Inventory
Delicious Library 2
In my opinion, this is hands down the nicest looking of all the home inventory apps that I tried. This app does a fantastic job of tracking any item that you might be lending out. It is especially great with books, movies and other media.
You are able to use iSight to take a picture of the barcode at this time. Unfortunately, they do not yet have a mobile app. As long as the barcode is present and in their collection, the software does a fantastic job of pulling up all of the metadata you could ask for. If the barcode doesn’t work, it can be a bit of a lengthy process to input the information, but overall it’s a simple to use and very nice to look at piece of software.
Price: $34.99
Requires: Mac OS X 10.5.0 or later
Developer: Delicious Monster Software, LLC
Delicious Library 2
Librarian Pro
For those with an entire library of books, games, CDS and more, Librarian Pro is the app for you. Most inventory apps allow only a very limited amount of information about media and entertainment items. Librarian Pro includes the ability to add items with a huge amount of information, including details like whether the item is signed or not.
There is also a very well-done lending system in Librarian Pro, to keep track of any items you have lent out. You can enter the check-out date, the return date and even get reminders.
Price: $19.99
Requires: Mac OS X 10.5 or later
Developer: Koingo Software, Inc.
Librarian Pro
Warranty Hero 2
Warranty Hero is a great inventory program that works well for anyone with a lot of products with warranties and documents. While some of the other programs do offer ways to add documents such as warranties to the items, Warranty Hero works to really make that a simple part of the process. You are able to add existing scanned documents, scan new ones, utilize the iPhone app to take scans of documents and even create PDFs from within the software.
The application also tracks the expiration dates of all warranties. If the warranty will be expiring soon, you are able to set up alarms and appointments to remind yourself. This is a great feature, especially if you have a lot of different warranties to keep track of.
Price: $24.99
Requires: Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later
Developer: Nodhead Software
Warranty Hero 2
Which Is Your Favorite?
So, these are some of my favorite ways to keep track of my stuff. Compartments and Home Inventory are great for general use inventory apps. Delicious Library and Librarian Pro are great for book and media collections, so if that’s where a lot of your stuff is, you should check out one of those two. Warranty Hero is a fantastic tool for anyone with a lot of electronics and appliances. Not only do you have all of the information about the belonging, you also have a convenient way to keep track of all those warranties that tend to get lost so easily.
Those are a few of my favorites, but from all of you experienced members of the “real world” what do you find the most convenient to use? How do you keep track of all of your stuff?