Disclosure: This is a sponsored article on behalf of Armed Forces Insurance (AFI). The opinions expressed in this text are the author’s personal view.
Moving is practically second nature to the military family. From packing to unpacking, we have a system that helps us get through a move as efficiently as possible. Making our next house a home is the goal every time; no matter where we live we want it to feel like it belongs to us. Part of that means taking steps to protect our goods – the things that make each place truly ours.
From House To Home
When you relocate often, making a house into a home isn’t always easy. For military families,what makes a house feel more like a home is not only the family that resides inside, but the special trinkets and design pieces that make it feel personalized–the dining room table you bought your first year of marriage, the painting you found at that little shop on your honeymoon, the dresser your grandmother gave you or even your child’s DVD collection. There are memories, feelings and emotions attached to each item. It’s your stuff and that alone makes it valuable.
Thankfully my family has never had to recover from a theft or damage, but that doesn’t mean I neglect the importance of being prepared. When it comes to being sure your stuff is protected, extra protection in the form of a Valuable Items Insurance policy can play a major role. In today’s world of digital technology and storage, protecting your home and the stuff you keep in it can be easier than you may think.
Sponsored: Click here to learn about AFI’s Valuable Items Insurance.
Now That It’s Home
Once you have made your house into a home, you want to be sure that the things within that home – as well as the people in it – are protected. That’s when the benefits of Homeowner and Renter Insurance kick in. These policies will protect your home, your personal property and even your own liability in the case of an unforeseen incident.
Sponsored: Learn more about AFI product offerings that will protect your home and family.
Technology Protection
Technology is great for a lot of things, such as ordering your favorite latte while you are grocery shopping or sending in that last-minute file to your boss. That said, I don’t think many of us realize how technology can help us protect the items we value the most in our homes and in our lives.
There are simple steps you can take that will make recovering from a theft or damage less stressful and easier on you and your family. Scan or upload important files, documents and legal papers to a digitally secure storage system. Take photos of high value items such a TV’s, electronics, appliances and computers. Keep warranty papers and serial/model numbers on external hard drives that are secured outside your home.
When my family and I were moving from Hawaii back to North Carolina, I had a big binder where I kept all of our documents, from birth certificates to those all-important military orders. At some point in our move that binder got soaking wet, and nearly everything had to be replaced. I felt like we would never recover, because replacing government and military documents is not an easy process. After that experience, I have learned to take advantage of the technology options available for keeping our information safe.
Now instead of that big binder, I have a terabyte hard drive that we use to upload our important information. Part of living is learning, and once you learn the lessons you don’t want to repeat them. It’s good to know that our stuff can be protected through technology, Homeowner, Renter and Valuable Items Insurance.
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20 thoughts on “Using Technology to Protect Your Belongings”
Piece of mind is essential, especially as a parent and homeowner. I’m grateful we have insurance but I definitely need to review our policy in the new year.
It truly is Brittany and keeping up to date with your policy is a great way to make sure you have it always.
It’s so important to try and protect your things as much as possible as you never know what might happen. It must be hard moving so much, I really struggle with moving house.
Yes, it really is Jean. It was hard but thankfully I think we’ve found our forever home this time. No more military moves for us.
This is such a great idea. I never think about taking pictures and saving everything in a secured file. I should do that from now on as we always lose warranty cards and important receipts.
Thanks Ruth! I tend to lose paperwork to so having that digital back up is such a reassurance.
Moving from one place to another wasn’t fun at all. Good thing now there is few option out there services like this who help people move and protect their belongings.
Yes Farrah. There are really great resources out there even one specifically for military families.
I imagine you have to be so organized when you have to move multiple times, especially with a family. I moved multiple times as a kid and we had boxes that went missing. Insurance can really provide peace of mind.
You know what Erica, I imagine you do – to bad I’m not… LOL 😉 I try though. It wasn’t always easy but lists helped me out a lot!
I can’t imagine what it was like trying to get all of those documents replaced. It’s a good reminder to keep all your data backed up – ALWAYS!
Definitely learned my lesson from that one Hannah!
These are great reminders. I’m not sure what it’s like to move a lot but I’m sure it’s even more important to keep some of those things safe, like photos.
Thanks Kim! It is really important even for just one move.
I keep all important documents scanned to a folder on google drive and I can access it anywhere on anything. It definitely saved my butt when it came to moving across the border from Canada to the States. Having all those documents makes life easier.
That’s such a great way to keep things backed up Angela. I’m glad I’ve learned how valuable it is too.
Technology has come a long way over the years and I can only imagine where it will go in the upcoming years too!!! I friggin’ love seeing how it evolves and I love that there are so many tech advances to help us feel as safe as possible!
Yes it has Gigi! I’m so thankful for the options tech has provided to help keep things safer…
We have some things on an external hard drive. I think it is a wonderful idea to store important stuff on hard drive also. That way if you have a fire you are still OK.
Exactly Jeanette! External drives and clouds make great options to make sure you always have access.