Home contents items that are out of sight, are out of mind, so make sure you seek out the things you’ve packed away in storage. Doing one small piece a day is much more achievable than going for it all in one go. Pick one spot to start such as a kitchen cupboard, and start to document the house cupboard by cupboard, room by room. If you aim to document the whole house, top to bottom, in one go, it’s highly likely you’ll get overwhelmed and never finish. It’s important that you know your insurance coverage. Keep any appraisal records somewhere safe and ideally store a digital copy as well. Some valuable items such as jewellery, memorabilia, antiques or other heirlooms may need to be appraised if you don’t have a record of their value. This will help you to capture many items at once, giving enough detail to be useful, but not getting bogged down in recording and estimating each piece. Unless you have a particularly expensive item, you can group clothing when you record it, for example listing 5 x wool jumpers or 3 x jeans. Simply saying ‘18 piece Maxwell and Williams dinner set’ will be useful enough without identifying each thing individually. You don’t need to give details for every item in your wardrobe or kitchen cupboard. Whichever method you use, make sure you know how to run an ‘export’ or how to login and access your information in case of emergency. Make sure you name files clearly so you can easily find photos or receipts when needed.Īs useful as technology is for keeping a live record of your home contents, equally important is the ability to find that information when you need it. You can also use an online file storage app such as Dropbox or Google Drive to make your own inventory. All of these have a free version, but to make sure you can add as much information as possible, it’s worth upgrading to a paid version. Some popular apps include HouseBook, Sortly, and MyStuff2. Luckily, there are a number or apps which make inventory recording easy. You’ll also need to regularly update it and replace your off-site copy as well. You’ll need to make sure a copy is stored away from your home. Technology helpsĪ traditional hardcopy of your inventory on paper is okay but it has limitations. Photographs of items are also useful, especially if you don’t know much about them. Recording things such as the brand, model, date purchased and cost, will help to value or replace items when lodging a claim. The next best thing is to include as much detail as possible in your inventory. But the chances are many of those receipts have long since faded or been thrown away and you may have even bought some items second hand without a receipt in the first place. In an ideal situation, you’ll have a copy of receipts for every item in your house. Make this an annual activity so that you are maintaining an accurate record of the large, expensive items. You can also do a video walk-through on your phone to make a record of the major items in your house. Make it a habit to add any new purchases to your inventory so that it remains accurate. Things like your fridge, television, couch and bed. If you only do a couple of items, make them your expensive big ticket items. We’ve put together a guide to help create and maintain a record of your entire home contents. Making a home inventory is vital, but we know it can be daunting. The main reason you should have an inventory is to make insurance claims more accurate and efficient. It is documented proof of the items you own. Whether you’re a home renter or a homeowner, you need a home contents inventory.Ī home inventory is a list of all of your possessions and furnishings. Most people grossly underestimate how much stuff they have, and the value of their possessions.
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