You Do Not Need To Estimate Values Of Each Item Unless You Want To Just remember in the future, as you purchase additional larger items for your home, to keep a copy of your receipt and place it with your home inventory. If you don't have the receipts anymore, don't worry about it. Gather Copies Of Receipts For Big Ticket Items If You Have ThemĪfter taking pictures and/or video for your household inventory, you should gather copies of any receipts for big ticket items you have, such as for the purchase of your washer and dryer.

Document All Specially Insured Items CarefullyĪny items that need to be specially insured should be documented carefully, after you make sure you have insurance coverage for them.ĭepending on their value or their uniqueness, you also may want to have the item(s) officially appraised. * Denotes those items which are more likely to need to be specially insured. Pots and pans and other kitchen equipment.Food in pantry, freezer and refrigerator.Pictures and video are excellent ways to create a quick and easy household inventory.Īn additional advantage of pictures and video over a written list is that it is much stronger evidence that you actually owned the item, and what condition it was in, then just writing it on a list.įor example, I could write on a list that I owned 15 designer dresses, but that doesn't make it true, and adjusters are trained to be skeptical.Ī picture is, as they say, worth a thousand words. That is one of the reasons that in the past creating a household inventory took so much time. In the past when you needed to create a household inventory, you got out sheets of paper and wrote stuff down until your hand cramped up. Take Photos And Videos Of All Your Stuff - It Is Much Faster Than Writing Everything Down On the other hand, they do need to know on your desk you had a computer, flat screen monitor, and printer. Therefore, the best place to focus your attention is on the biggest ticket items that will cost the most to replace, and not focus too much on the minutia.Īn insurance adjuster, for example, doesn't really need to know you had 16 pencils in your desk drawer. The purpose of a household inventory is to show an insurance adjuster, when you need to file an insurance claim, what you owned that has been destroyed or stolen so you can get money to replace it. The Purpose Of A Home Inventory Is To Prove What Stuff You Own - Especially The Expensive Stuff The secret is to use a digital camera and/or video camera to speed up the process.

Creating a home inventory can take lots and lots of time if you let it, but it doesn't have to.

My home inventory