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When I called my insurance carrier (USAA), I was told to just take pictures and put them in a safe place not in the house.
I called because I wanted to get a rider for my stash. I mentioned (sheepishly!) that I had tens of thousands of dollars worth of tools and supplies, and she said no rider was necessary. They counted like a garage full of woodworking & yard tools and that sort of thing. I was really surprised!
FYI, it's another thing entirely if you're running a business.
I was told "open drawer" pictures were good enough for the small/medium stuff. I took individual pics of all the machines and larger tools, pics of shelves full of stuff, paper racks, ink & Copic racks, Cricut cartridge stash, shelves full of Sizzix and Accucut dies, shelves of magnetic binders full of QK and other waferthin dies, two Alex carts full of punches, etc.
I then did a narrated, walk-through video and burned the pics and video to both a disc a thumbdrive and put them in a safe deposit box with our other important records.
Most of my purchases the last few years have been online, so my accounts have my purchase records. For older things I still have, mostly dies and punches, I'll have to estimate a replacement cost, as they're likely retired.
It sounds like a lot of work but it only took a day or so. For the pics & filming, that is. It took a week to get my craftroom ready to show her nooks and crannies to the camera!
__________________ Hi! I'm ISO the Fun Stampers Journey stamp "Say Cheese" AT-0167. Thank you!
I have video of all my goodies and insure my stash or more tan enough o replace wgat I would wsnt to rrplace. Plus I keep all receipts. I update it every couplr years.
This is a very good question. I work in insurance and tend to "overinsure" because I am afraid of being underinsured. I do have a rider on my policy for my engagement/wedding ring because it is always on and with me wherever I go, but my stamping stuff stays at home. With that said, I don't have a separate insurance rider for my stamp/craft supplies. Taking pictures for documentation (and keeping them separately or on a "cloud" backup) that you can access should your home catch fire/theft/etc is the best route to go. You need to just make sure you have adequate homeowners/renters insurance to cover the contents in your house. Your stamp/craft supplies would be covered, just make sure you have enough coverage to replace ALL your contents (i.e. clothes, furniture, beds, rugs, computers, stamping supplies, et al) in case of a fire. It doesn't cost a lot to up the coverage if you think it is low, but you want to make sure you do have enough.
It is true that this is an example of how we accumulate more stuff after an initial decision when you move to a place.
I dont think I will do the transitory stuff like glitter, ribbon, paper, etc...but the stamps, the EFs, the punches, the dies, the machines...that is plenty in itself! And will definitely take me more than a week. I dont keep records of that stuff other than DP in the sense of did I like it so I know if I can reorder it online-I dont keep qty records.
So when you take pics...say of a binder of cling stamps-are you shooting every page or just the book showing a lot of stamps in it? Just pics of boxes with stamps? How detailed should I be about this? I may want to do a business down the line if I can ever get good enough..and I am thinking better to start now before there is even more stuff?
I added to the previous thread,wavejumper, where you mentioned this. I did what The Other Meg did, and did a video walk through as well as taking pictures. I have loads of drawers full of stuff, and 20 odd ring binders of u/m stamps, I'd never prove what was in them just with photos, so I videoed flicking through the pages of each one, as well as opening drawers to show the contents. We have a fireproof box for storing all important documents, etc, and the video is on a thumb drive in there. There is also video of Hubbys power tools- no-one reading the list would believe anyone actually has that many,lol.
So when you take pics...say of a binder of cling stamps-are you shooting every page or just the book showing a lot of stamps in it? Just pics of boxes with stamps? How detailed should I be about this? I may want to do a business down the line if I can ever get good enough..and I am thinking better to start now before there is even more stuff?
I did what silverwolf described for my binders of UM stamps -- I videoed flipping through the pages (and pages) of stamps. All my stamps are UN, even the (former) wheels. All are on panels in binders except for the SU I've bought since they started offering clingmount. Those are in the SU CD cases.
Same with the magnetic folios of waferthin dies. I opened a handful of them to show what a filled folio looks like, and then showed the shelf with 50 folios. If I ever have to prove what was in each one, I can find receipts/purchase info in my accounts for the online stores I frequent.
For my Sizzix & Accucut dies, I slowly videoed the shelves full of dies, with the dies with the labels showing/readable.
EFs are in a large container with dividers for theme. I didn't pull out each EF, but it'd be pretty easy to estimate how many are in there for a total cost.
I didn't bother going into detail about paper. I've got a ton of it and there are just too many types/styles/brands to break down at this point. I have it sorted by theme and that's as far as it's going to get!
No particular details regarding inks & other coloring mediums (chalks, pencils, etc.), though I lingered a bit at the Copic holder and mentioned how many there were.
Ribbons, buttons, charms, and other embellishments were not given much attention. I don't have the ribbon stash that some ladies do!
My biggest investment is in dies, so I spent time with those . I also have a number of manual and electronic cutters and have pics and model names/numbers (and serial numbers, if available) on record. These are the two areas where I'd definitely want to replace everything as much as possible if there was a loss. I love each and every die and machine.
Some day (week!) I'll sit down and make a tidy excel file like muskrat. All this talk of organizing gets me giddy. hahaha!
ETA My punches are in two IKEA Alex carts. I pulled the drawers open one at a time and took pics. During the video, I pulled out each drawer and just said, "These are edge punches. These are basic shapes. blahblahblah" I'd definitely want to replace most of my punches, though I know some are no longer available.
ETA2 I can't say enough about the Alex cart for punches. The bottom drawers are deep enough for the huge Marvy Extra Giga and old style extra large EK punches. The cart still rolls even when it's full of punches. I store the carts under a desk. I put pull handles of the end of each one so I could pull them out easily, and rubber bumpers on the corners so they won't gouge anything when I push/pull the into place. The corners are very sharp!
__________________ Hi! I'm ISO the Fun Stampers Journey stamp "Say Cheese" AT-0167. Thank you!
Last edited by TheOtherMeg; 07-30-2015 at 11:32 AM..
I guess it might depend on the kind of insurance you have? Our insurance is for loss (like a fire) I think because we put in a dollar amount to cover the contents. No need to take pictures. As for theft - well, I can't really imagine a mass theft of my craft/scrap crap. rofl Well, I don't have a room full either. (I don't have a room!) But home theft would typically be electronics, jewelry, and cash I think. If someone is breaking in to steal craft supplies they must be some kind of desperate.
I think that is the point though Frugal....people dont realize how much they have invested in the stuff**...so the dollar amount wont cover it. I know when we did ours years ago-that was before I started doing this.
**Maybe on purpose b/c we dont want to know we have spent thousands on stuff...we think if we have not done a "room" it cant be "that much". But it can!
I need more than just a dollar amount from what people tell me. Say you insure for fire on $10,000. A person I know had to go back to her house and inventory her things. Apparently, they won't just hand over the insurance amount. She needed to prove she had that much in losses. That's why I created the spreadsheets and took pictures. My value on craft stuff alone was over $8,000 so I know I need to up my insurance.
I need more than just a dollar amount from what people tell me. Say you insure for fire on $10,000. A person I know had to go back to her house and inventory her things. Apparently, they won't just hand over the insurance amount. She needed to prove she had that much in losses. That's why I created the spreadsheets and took pictures. My value on craft stuff alone was over $8,000 so I know I need to up my insurance.
Ok, my husband is not an insurance man but he's a smart cookie. ;) He said content insurance is not meant to cover everything for value, it's more of a get you on your feet thing. Replace household items and other stuff. Otherwise you get a separate insurance for items (with the proof or whatever) for specific items (specific jewerly, antiques). You won't get a replacement value for each item, you're going to get it based on a room full of stuff. So if you have the elusive Martha Stewart doily punch that was sold at Christmas for $15 but is not longer sold and can only be found on ebay for like $50 or more, they aren't giving you $50 to replace the punch even though that is what it would cost you now.
There you go. 8K isnt chicken feed. People have been collecting for many years. It adds up!
I think what he is talking about Frugal is called a rider. Yes, jewelry, fur coat, etc. above the couch and the bed kind of thing. The only fur coat I have is on a stamp LOL
Of course none of this covers accidents in the home...your friend trips over the punches box, whacks her head on the big shot and gets stickles in her eye on the way down when her hand grabs for the table and it squirts...you may have a problem.
Hey, in my tight space...that could happen. It's enter at your own risk territory if I let people in at all...we usually work out on the dining table.
There you go. 8K isnt chicken feed. People have been collecting for many years. It adds up!
Yep... but you might not get 8K back even if you insure 8K worth of stuff.
This post is part of what I was addressing in my last reply:
Quote:
I called because I wanted to get a rider for my stash. I mentioned (sheepishly!) that I had tens of thousands of dollars worth of tools and supplies, and she said no rider was necessary. They counted like a garage full of woodworking & yard tools and that sort of thing. I was really surprised!
Of course, there's a good chance I have no clue whatsoever. Well, I pretty much don't. ROFL But we know insurance companies don't like to hand over money either. I just don't think what they count and what the crafter thinks they'd be covered for will be around the same.
I think people have to check with their insurance company b/c they can have different rules about that. Only way to be really sure. Definitely dont want to get caught in some loop hole so they dont pay out.
I think people have to check with their insurance company b/c they can have different rules about that. Only way to be really sure. Definitely dont want to get caught in some loop hole so they dont pay out.
I would hate for something to happen like the poster above who was told she didn't need a rider by the insurance company but get screwed over if something bad happened!
Yes, definitely check with your own insurance company. No one is saying there's one perfect way that holds true for everyone/their insurance company!
Threads like these help people come up with the right/logical questions to ask, though. Also, the different experiences show that different insurance companies and/or states have different rules. Knowing a couple different ways insurance is handled is a good position to be in when asking follow-up or "what if..." questions. If you have some anecdotal info and can say, "I read on a crafting board that one poster's insurance company told her suchandsuch. How do you guys handle the same situation?" you'll (one hopes!) get the answers you need to make the right decision for you.
__________________ Hi! I'm ISO the Fun Stampers Journey stamp "Say Cheese" AT-0167. Thank you!
I think your post is excellently stated Othermeg...but I have to admit I would not admit the Qs came from here...probably would say a friend had a situation that I want to avoid kinda thing. The minute you say you saw something on the net, people can start rolling the eyes and zone out on you.
Hahaha, yeah. I think if someone was insisting their info was legit because they read it on the internet, that would cause eyes to roll, but if it was just something like, "I read this and wanted to know how/if it applies to my policy or what differences my policy has," it would be received okay. Like so many things, it's all in the delivery!
__________________ Hi! I'm ISO the Fun Stampers Journey stamp "Say Cheese" AT-0167. Thank you!
Can I add in a suggestion here that whatever your insurer tells you on the phone, you get them to put it in writing?
We all know the situation, you call about something and either 'that person no longer works here' or' no-one should have told you that'.
If you've got it in black and white, you know it's true.
When I sold Tupperware, I went to a lady's house that had fire damage and had to go through A LOT of melted and fire/smoke damaged Tupperware for her insurance company to pay out to get her Tupperware replaced. She had to do that with many items in her home. She had about $1000 of comparable Tupperware replacement cost. Many of her stuff was way old and I had to do some work to find comparable items. She paid for it herself and I hope she got it all reimbursed back to her from her insurance company.
This issue has been on my mind lately too. I know I have thousands of $ in my craft room. I need to check into this. Thanks for bringing this subject back to mind for me!
Had my insurance agent come out to do a home review. When he got to my studio, he was dumbfounded. I asked him if everything in there was covered because I'm guessing value somewhere $15,000-$20,000 (Yes I've been collecting for close to 20 years). He couldn't honestly tell me if I was covered or not since he's never encounter something like this. He went back to his office and did some research. We ended up insuring my studio as a home business and all the contents as inventory. He took a lot of pictures and now wants me to do a more intense job. The big question - will it really make a difference if something happens??? Just pray I never need to find out!!
Will the fact that it's actually not a home business come back to bite you at some point? I absolutely do not want the IRS knocking on my door because the insurance company says I'm running a home business with an expensive studio. Alternatively, if you're insured as a home business, but you're not a home business, will the insurance company refuse to pay out if you file a loss claim?
__________________ Hi! I'm ISO the Fun Stampers Journey stamp "Say Cheese" AT-0167. Thank you!
Insuring the stash
