CARe News

Personal Property Inventory now paired with a Price Filler-Inner utility

UPDATED LINKS: Our popular Personal Property Inventory Spreadsheet now has a companion utility that helps fill in the prices using Google Shopping! Although you can still download the stand alone spreadsheet, this little tool can save a lot of time when filling in prices and INCLUDES the spreadsheet as a base to start with.

We think the best way to start this process is to open up the spreadsheet (PPInventory.xls as a stand alone or PersonalPropertyInventory.csv with the utility) and scroll through and REMOVE any items you know for a fact you didn't have. You now have a list of things you might have lost. Continue to add items to this list as you remember them and remove things you realize you forgot to remove over the first pass. Download more tips HERE.

Next is pricing. Although there are some things that can help find pricing (such as using store registries either online or using a pricing scanner at the store) you still have to enter it all manually into the spreadsheet which can be a real drag. A survivor who lost their home in the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire was going through this process and as a software developer wrote a COMPLETELY FREE little utility that helps find pricing automatically using Google Shopping.

Since the recovery portion of his journey is still ongoing, he would prefer to remain anonymous so he doesn't get swamped with questions, but you can download the file HERE:

http://www.communityassistingrecovery.com/downloads/category/18-personal-property.html?download=51%3Apersonal-property-filler-inner

Once you download the ZIP file you will need to unzip it so hopefully you can figure that much out (read about ZIP files HERE). Inside of the ZIP file are four files including the base spreadsheet/database, the actual FillerInner program, the software license and a ReadMe file that includes directions and credits.

***You should be aware that just a couple weeks ago Google announced that they're going to stop providing the shopping information in such a way that the program will stop working in it's current format on September 16th. Feel free to use it until then. We hope that this survivor will be able to update it after that time, but for now if you need to price your inventory, USE THIS UTILITY!!!***

Our Personal Property Inventory Spreadsheet was originally compiled by Community Assisting Recovery, Inc. in conjunction with disaster survivors from multiple disasters who donated their inventory lists. We would like to thank everyone involved in helping make this tedious process a little easier to manage.

End of the year Donations

The end of the year is traditionally when people start looking to where they can donate in the spirit of the holidays or to find a tax deduction. Don't forget that CARe, Inc. is a registered 501(c)3 organization and donations are tax deductible up to the extent of the law.

Not only can we take donations via our website or via a check in the mail, but you can now donate your cars, trucks, boats, RVs, motorcycles, running or non-running to benefit CARe. Just contact Cars for Causes on their website or call 800-766-CARE and specify Community Assisting Recovery as the cause of your choice.

You can find more information via our WEBSITE. We thank you in advance for your donation!

A Survivor's Guide to Insurance now available in multiple formats

Disaster Recovery: A Survivor's Guide to Insurance is now available in multiple formats. In addition to the free PDF workbook downloadable HERE on our website, it is also available HERE at the lowest possible price on Amazon's Kindle store and on Amazon HERE at the lowest available print price.

Having the book available in the popular Kindle format allows readers to adjust the font size to make it much more readable on a Kindle device as opposed to the PDF format. The print version allows homeowners a tangible version without the high price of ink or toner when printing from home.

We hope having these multiple versions available will give more survivors access to the good information CARe has to offer.

Survivors Helping Survivors – Colorado Springs Waldo Canyon Fire

Our heartfelt appreciation to the 2007 San Diego fire survivor who recommended CARe services to the Colorado Springs fire survivors who lost their homes June 26, 2012. Due to his recommendation the Colorado Springs community invited CARe to present two fire recovery seminars attended by over 200 homeowners. We also met with over two dozen fire survivors one-on-one to begin their instruction regarding their insurance claims process. We are also scheduling future events to help more of the disaster survivors in the area.

CARe gives instruction to Waldo Canyon Fire survivors

We offer our gratitude to Colorado Springs HBA-Cares and the two local HOA’s affected by the fire as well as the Garden of the Gods Club and Lodge who are making our instructional program available to the Colorado Springs community.

CARe’s instruction was received with enthusiasm as homeowners remained well beyond the meeting’s time to ask additional questions and to begin the process of developing policy groups. CARe, as usual, began its instruction with it basic insurance policy, personal property inventory and scope of loss information. CARe heard from fire survivors some good news: Homeowners reported substantial payments approaching policy limits and many reported that their insurer had paid 60 and 75% of personal property coverage. Also, no homeowner reported having hired a Public Adjuster.

However, within hours, insurance problems, identical to the issues experienced in San Diego, Poway, Lake Arrowhead and all the other areas where we have delivered our services, unfortunately emerged. Californians are not alone: unreasonably high depreciation, no ALE funds available, no insurance and underinsurance are issues that will need to be addressed and resolved by and for the Waldo Canyon fire survivors.

If you ‘d like to help with our Colorado Springs program, please consider sending your donation to CARe.

CARe participating in the San Diego Foundations "Give Big" event

From 7 AM, December 14th to 7 PM, December 15th, the San Diego Foundation is running their Give BIG event where donations to participating charities (like CARe) will recieve matching dollars for all donations going through the San Diego Foundation's website.

On that day we will publish a special link so that your donation will go towards CARe. Make your end of the year tax-deductible donation count for more by planning on donating on that day. Mark your calendars for December 14th!