AnywhereVault Review & Last Chance to Enter Giveaway
Our Anywhere Vault Giveaway ends tonight at midnight so as a reminder here’s what I think of the service. I’ll walk you through the basics…
Set up is easy on AnywhereVault - of course the first thing you need to do is head over to the website. They recently had a site redesign. I like the new site a lot; it’s a much cleaner, more modern look. I like good aesthetics.
If you want to try the AnywhereVault service out, you need to go to their trial set-up page. You can try the service for 30 days for free. You’ll be asked for your name and email, and you’ll need to create a user name and password. On the next screen it’ll ask you to choose a plan. For the purpose of trying the service out, I went with the Bronze plan, which allows, “You to store up to 50MB of total information, including up to 25 items with images and up to 10 documents.”
Now I’ll walk you through the vault set-up. I thought it was pretty simple.
- Insurance information - you don’t have to give this, but it’s recommended, because it keeps track of your policy limits and limitations for you.
- Along the top of the screen you’ll see tabs that allow you to move about the service. The tabs include: My Vault, Locations, Categories, Items, Documents, Notes, and Help.
- Locations: Lists all typical possible rooms in your house. You can also add your own rooms.
- Categories: Lists all sorts of item; electronics, toys, furniture, etc. You can add on your categories.
- Items: Lists your items of course. This is actually where you fill in any item. For example, you simply click on “add item” and choose both the location and category the item belongs in. For example, you’d choose electronics and den for your television. After that you can fill in everything known to man about this item. It offers spaces for things like purchase date, model number, city purchased in, and much more.
- Another feature of the “Items” page is you can upload a picture or the item. Uploading a picture is super easy. You just click on upload, and it allows you to search your computer for your picture. If you blog and use images, picture uploading will be a snap, and even if you don’t it’s very easy.
- Lastly about the items page; you don’t have to fill everything in at once. If you don’t have all your info together, you can simply jot down television, and come back later to fill in or change info or upload your photo. That’s very handy. As you fill in items, the total cost of all items is figured and posted on your main item page.
- Documents: This tab is straight forward. One quick upload and your document (say a scanned warranty) is uploaded your your account.
Overall:
Technical aspects: I thought the service was extremely straight forward and easy to use. That said, I’ve been blogging and writing web copy for years, so I’m pretty computer savvy. I asked my friend (who is much less computer inclined) to look at the service. She knows how to send emails and sort of turn on a word document and that’s about it. She thought the tabs looked a little confusing, but after walking through each tab in order she picked up on it pretty quickly. She also doesn’t know how to upload documents, but after reading the help section figured it out.
Help section: The help section is very well done, with nice bulleted lists and indented headers. It’s easy to find the tip you need to help you out. There are helpful screen shots on the site as well. For example this shot below is from the help section, and shows your typical inventory item page set-up:
Cost: Cost varies depending on the plan you choose, but honestly I think the prices are reasonable, and I’m pretty thrifty.
Could you make your own inventory system?: You could create your own inventory on your computer, one that closely resembles this service, but it would take quite a lot of time, and you’d have to create forms, instead of simply fill in pre-made forms. Unless you’re pretty good with form creation, it’s going to be tough to create a nicely organized page like that screen shot above. You also won’t have the luxury of having your info saved online, securely. If you’re computer dies, your inventory will still be saved in AnywhereVault. Lastly, you’d have to add up all inventory worth totals yourself. Sure you could make your own inventory, but this is a heck of a lot faster and simpler.
Score: I’d say five points out of five for ease of use. I’m a list girl. I like things all tidy and in one place; especially when there’s a way to attach a picture. I think this is a great way for anyone to create a home inventory. It’s inexpensive, really fast once you get going, and you get the free trial. You can’t really lose by giving it a shot.
To learn more read my previous posts:
Enter to win your very own subscription to this great service.
[image via AnywhereVault]
Tags: anywhere vault, home insurance, Home Inventory, how to create a home inventory, inventory solutions, keep personal info safe, online inventory solutionRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Contests
0 opinions for AnywhereVault Review & Last Chance to Enter Giveaway
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: