Severaid recommends updating your inventory every year or two, or sooner if you’ve made major purchases or redecorated your home. Your insurance agent may even be willing to keep a copy of your inventory, Wong says. Having an inventory won’t do you any good if the computer it’s on burns up in a fire. Whatever method you choose, make sure your home inventory is stored somewhere outside of your house, such as in the cloud or a safe deposit box at the bank. The items in a toolshed can also add up fast, she notes. This might include jewelry, artwork, musical instruments and collections, plus furniture and electronics. If trying to count every kitchen towel makes you want to give up altogether, “focus on the more valuable items,” Wong says. For example, United Policyholders, a consumer advocacy group, offers a comprehensive inventory spreadsheet with hundreds of suggested items divided by room. You can also create a spreadsheet, either from scratch or by downloading a template off the web. My own favorite is the Encircle app, which lets you quickly canvass each room with a series of photos and then add details about specific items. For example, many home inventory apps allow you to upload images and information about each item, such as the serial number or date of purchase. Taking photos instead of video is another option. Don’t forget to pull out dresser drawers and open cabinet doors to show what’s inside.Īside from being quicker to produce than a written record, a video also offers a way for your insurance company to see the quality of your items, Severaid says. He recommends walking through each room and narrating as you go, zooming in on the labels of high-value items. “One of the … fastest, simplest ways to do this is to take 15 or 20 minutes with a video camera or your iPhone,” Severaid says. Listing every one of your possessions may seem like a daunting task, but there are ways to make it more manageable. Story continues How to create a home inventory Then, if you discover that your personal property coverage isn’t enough, you’ll have time to increase your limit before disaster strikes. You might not realize just how much your stuff is worth until you start documenting it all, Wong says. Putting together your inventory can also help you make sure you have enough insurance coverage. “But after you’ve lost everything, it’s really hard.”īecause you’ve already done most of the work, having a home inventory in place makes it easier and quicker to file your claim, Wong says. “Is it hard to now? Yeah,” says Katherine Navarro Wong, a State Farm agency owner in Santa Rosa, California. Aside from helping you get full reimbursement for your possessions, having a home inventory can lighten your burden during a stressful time. In the aftermath of a disaster, you’ll likely be grieving the loss of your home, looking for a temporary place to live and struggling to figure out what’s next.
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