What I learned from getting robbed...

September 17, while I was at work and my husband was out, thieves broke into my house and cleaned us out. What a terrible experience. Here are some things I learned...

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE UNTIL IT'S GONE... And maybe even not then.

Imagine if you came home today and it was all gone. Would you know what you had? They stole every single portable electronic device we had, along with chargers and batteries. 2 laptops, digital cameras, cell phones, dvd players. All gone.

They stole every piece of jewelry I owned, valuable or not. Every ring, every watch, every necklace, every earring. Could you count yours if they were gone? What did you have? Could you remember every piece?

They broke open my daughter's piggy bank on my bedroom floor and stole all her money, leaving all the glass and a few pennies behind.

It's painstaking to try to process in your mind the intrusion into your home, your personal life, and your things, while also trying to take an inventory while the police are taking fingerprints and your home is a crime scene.

Some things I didn't notice until much later. Like when I went to put on some perfume to go to a party, and noticed it was all gone. They stole my perfume too? Oh yes, and my nail polish too. I guess that's proof that some people will just steal anything.

So my tips:

1.) Make a household inventory, and take pictures. When you need to file a claim with the insurance company, you have to prove you owned all the things you claim are missing.

2.) Don't keep all those pictures on your laptop- what if they steal that too?

3.) Back up those photos and documents on a regular basis. For the same reason as above- when they take your computer, they take all the stuff inside. You won't get it back.

We had all the serial numbers for most if not all of our electronics, but that didn't change anything. They didn't find any of them.

4.) Don't assume it's all covered. There are limits on your insurance policy for jewelry and high value items. My jewelry limit was $1000, but I had well over $3000 worth of jewelry stolen. Check your policy, and see if you can increase your limit or schedule those items so they are fully covered. I take part of the blame for not having those things fully insured: I wrote my own policy. But I also felt the same way many people do, "It won't happen to me." Well It did. And that diamond ring my mom gave me in high school? GONE. The diamond earrings I had made for my wedding, using stones from my mother-in-law's original engagement ring? Yep, those are gone too. All I have left are the pictures.

5.) Get an alarm, and have it monitored. We finally did. It may not stop the crooks, but hopefully it will deter them a bit, slow them down, and maybe, just maybe, if they decide to break in anyway, the cops will get here fast enough to catch the crooks.