Even though it only takes a few hours, creating a home inventory has long-lasting advantages that could help you avoid financial and emotional hardship.

It can significantly affect how much your homeowner’s insurance will pay out in the event of a fire, windstorm, burglary, or other unforeseen calamities, and, consequently how well you’ll be able to recover financially. Without a list of your possessions, it can be difficult to remember what you’ve lost at any time, much less in the midst of distress. 

On the other hand, home inventories can make all the difference when it comes to your home’s insurance reimbursement claims following a disaster or theft by providing your provider with a complete breakdown of what was damaged or stolen and the worth of those items. Your claims will be simpler to record, and you’ll probably have a lot higher chance of receiving fair compensation. 

The additional advantages of creating a house inventory? One is that you can come across items you didn’t expect to see. Additionally, you might spot things you can discard. You might be able to organize what’s left more effectively with the room those discards free up. 

Getting Started With Home Inventory

Making a list is one of the simplest and most efficient ways to create a home inventory. Make sure the list is comprehensive, well-organized, and detailed. Don’t forget the little things, like holiday decorations and towels. Replacing those kinds of goods can get expensive.

Here are a few methods for getting your home inventory list started:

Room

In this manner, if a specific area is destroyed, you will be aware of precisely which items are missing.

Items

Maintain thorough records on many types of things, including furniture, antiques, artwork, and jewels.

The more information you can offer when filing a homeowners insurance claim, the better. For instance, if you have a priceless coin collection, you should include information about each coin, such as its condition and the year it was produced.

The top house inventory listings are revised annually. This will make it easier to keep track of the things you’ve bought or sold throughout the previous year. 

Monetary Value 

It’s crucial to confirm that your expensive products have the level of insurance coverage you are comfortable with, whether you are purchasing insurance for the first time or simply upgrading your current policy.

You should also note the item’s estimated value. Ideally, as you buy expensive products, you might also wish to save the receipt as evidence of the item’s value. Remember that, depending on your insurance coverage, you could only be entitled to reimbursement for the item’s real monetary worth, which accounts for wear and age. 

Take Photos

Take images of each item using your phone or digital camera for quick access when you can. Taking pictures is an excellent method for documenting specifics. Take close-up images of the serial numbers, warranties, brand names, manufacturer’s tags, and receipts. Utilize a program for secure and convenient cloud storage to catalog and keep each picture. 

Create Videos 

A home inventory doesn’t have to be challenging to make. Even just taking a 360-degree video with your smartphone while standing in the middle of each room, sending it to yourself, or uploading it to the cloud, can be enough.

Start by concentrating on the large and expensive items first: large appliances, jewelry, clothing, rugs, electronics, and works of art or collectibles. Sweep the camera around a room while providing a description of the objects you’re filming and—if you remember—what you paid using the video feature on your smartphone. 

Use a Home Inventory App 

Another option is to use a smartphone-based home inventory app, which can be purchased or downloaded for free. For instance, the user-friendly and free Nationwide Insurance app for iOS and Android allows you to categorize images and videos of your possessions and has a barcode scanner to submit product information from purchases of electronics, appliances, and other items. Your lists can then be exported to a CSV or PDF file. Additionally, the software never stores any of your personal data. Among home inventory apps, that is a crucial distinction to note. 

Consider carefully how much of the information you want shared electronically as you are leveraging them to classify your material assets. Check an app’s privacy policy in its description on Google Play or the Apple App Store before using it.

Make Your Home Inventory Easier

You can utilize a variety of tools to simplify the home inventory procedure. Of course, you can write everything down on paper, but if there is a fire or flood, you run the danger of losing both your inventory and your possessions. A better, faster, and more secure solution could be to create a digital house inventory.