How to Create a Household Inventory for Insurance

Once the decision is made to buy homeowner's or renter's insurance, one of the first things you should do is create a home inventory list. Some insurance agents even offer a checklist to help people with this project, but few people ever do it, and even fewer do it well. The problem is that the process can be long and tiresome, and no one wants to think about ever needing it. But could you, from memory, make a list of everything in your home after a fire or tornado? Do you know makes, model and serial numbers for the electronic you own, if you were robbed? Here's a helpful guide on creating a household inventory list for insurance purposes.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Camera
• Fireproof box or safety deposit box
• Warranties and other forms

1. Begin with a camera walk-through of your entire house. Open closets and drawers, and pay close attention to book shelves with movie collections or books. Take good picture of furniture and appliances as well. Burn the digital photos to DVD or place the videotape in a fireproof box. Better yet, keep the record off the premises in a safety deposit box or at someone else's home.

2. Gather all your warranties, receipts and insurance policies. Make a list of your home electronics with make, model and serial numbers and add these to the box..

3. Pick a room to start with and get a notebook or word processor. Start by simply listing the really big things in the room, the ones that are easiest to remember. It can be fun to do this without being in the room to see how hard it would be without the list if you ever had an emergency. Then methodically go through the room and write down everything in it. This can take hours and be tedious if you are in a room with numerous small items like CDs, books or DVDs.

4. Inventory things like clothing and jewelery as you add them to the list. Take the opportunity to get rid of things that you no longer use. Consider having jewelry appraised if you do not know what it is worth, and be sure to check your policy limits to be certain that all your valuables are covered. Many policies have a $1,000 limit for jewelry unless it is listed specifically. Make a note of exactly how many pairs of jeans and shoes you have so that they are covered by the policy.

5. Search the garage, attic and basement for other items that you may have forgotten. Add the grill, lawn furniture and other items which may be outside. Be sure to include everything, because even the little things add up. Things people often forget include contents of the medicine cabinet, off-season clothing or sports gear, and items stored in out of the way places like closet shelves.

Tips & Warnings

• Once you have the list, be sure to update it regularly. Most people forget to add new items to the policy as they are purchased.
• Keep a separate alphabetical list of items that you collect, incluiding CDs and DVDs.
• Be sure not to forget intangible things such as software on your computer. Some computer programs cost hundreds of dollars, but are easy to forget once they are installed.

[Nelly01]

on 2/3/2009 Its really important that if you go to the effort of making an inventory that you actually keep it somewhere accessible and safe. I use http://www.third-drawer.com which is online so I can get to anywhere and it can store pictures, warranty information and all the other things you talked about. Its also pretty easy to load your information and definitely worth the effort