You should always make a list of all the assets you have within your home to be able to present to your insurance company just in case the need was to arise. You might be wondering why a inventory list of is important, especially because it seems like a lot of extra work that you may not think is necessary.

It is true that creating one of these lists is a lot of effort, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t essential. We may not like to think about the bad things that could happen to the items we hold dear to us within out home, but they are possible. Our homes and possessions could easily be destroyed by a fire, natural disaster, or stolen.

This is why insurance is so important to have. Insurance is in place to help rebuild our homes and restore our possessions when things outside of our control happen. However, when you do need to file an insurance claim you have to be able to prove that you owned the possession to be able to get compensated for it. That is where an inventory list comes in handy.

Now you could create a large, exhaustive inventory of every single item you possess within your home, but that’s a lot of trouble to go through. It’s suggested that you focus on the big stuff that would be very expensive to pay for out of pocket. There are some easy steps you can use to create a useful inventory with the least amount of effort.

You should begin your home inventory by using a camera to document the stuff that you own in thorough detail. Make sure that you open drawers, closet doors, storage containers, and so on to make sure that you aren’t missing any items that you may have forgotten about.

You may also use a video camera to do this process. If this is the case, you should narrate as much as you can as you go along. This tells exactly what the various items in each room are, and any other important facts about them. This might include where you purchased the item, how much it costs, and its condition. If you decided to go the route of the camera, you will have to do a similar thing by taking extensive notes about each item since you can’t narrate your thoughts with photos. Remember to focus just on the big ticket items and large group items.

The next step you should take is gathering any receipts or documents that you might have about your big ticket items. This isn’t necessary to have, so it isn’t a problem if you don’t have any, but it works as additional proof the you owned that item.

Once you have documented your items with photos or video, filled out your notes, and gathered additional receipts or documents, the next step is to make multiple copies. The easiest way to go about doing this is to scan any paper, digitize all the information, and burn it onto a disc. If you can’t scan the items, you can just resort to photo copies for safekeeping.

The final step that you should take to ensure that you don’t lose this list is to store a copy outside of your home. This guarantees that if something does happen to your home, you won’t lose your list along with it. You can place it in a safe deposit box or leave it to someone that you trust. Whatever you do, get it outside of your house.

You should periodically update your inventory as you pick up new possessions and get rid of old ones throughout your life. You should do this at least once a year to stay up to date. An inventory list of the large items within your home is essential to keep your protected in case the unexpected occurs. 

Resources:

http://www.home-storage-solutions-101.com/personal-home-inventory.html