Start a home inventory for insurance
Photograph and list your valuables room by room — your future self will thank you.
- Time:
- 60 min
- Cost:
- free
- Difficulty:
- easy
- Where:
- Indoors
- Best:
- Solo
Nobody builds a home inventory for insurance until they have needed one, which is precisely the wrong order. After a fire or burglary, insurers ask what you owned and what it was worth, and reconstructing that from memory under stress produces an underclaim almost every time. An hour now is the entire remedy.
Why start a home inventory for insurance is worth an hour
Claims are settled on evidence rather than recollection, and photographs with visible serial numbers are about as good as evidence gets. The exercise has a second effect people do not expect: totalling the contents usually reveals that the sum insured is too low, which is a problem worth discovering before a claim rather than during one.
How to start a home inventory for insurance step by step
- 1
Video-walk every room
Narrate as you go, opening cupboards and drawers. A ten-minute video captures more than an hour of listing.
- 2
Photograph high-value items individually
Electronics, jewellery, tools, instruments. Include the serial number and any distinguishing marks in the frame.
- 3
Record receipts and valuations
Photograph what you still have. For anything valuable, a professional valuation may be required by your policy.
- 4
Total it and compare to your cover
Add up the estimated replacement cost. Most people are underinsured and only find out at the worst moment.
- 5
Store it outside the house
Cloud storage or a copy with a relative. An inventory that burns with the house documents nothing.
Tips to get more out of it
- Check your policy for single-item limits. Valuable pieces often need specifying separately or they are capped low.
- Update after any significant purchase, and do a full refresh annually. Photograph new items when you unbox them.
- Note serial numbers separately as text too. They are useful to police and are hard to read from a photograph.
Ways to mix it up
If you rent, the same exercise applies to your contents and takes less time, since the building itself is your landlord's responsibility. If you have already done this, spend the hour verifying that your sum insured still matches the total, which drifts upward faster than most policies do.
Start a home inventory for insurance: frequently asked questions
What should a home inventory include?
Video of every room, individual photographs of valuables with serial numbers, receipts where available, and an estimated replacement total.
Where should I store it?
Outside the house. Cloud storage or a copy held elsewhere, since an inventory destroyed alongside your possessions helps nobody.
How do I know if I am underinsured?
Total the replacement cost of your contents and compare it against your sum insured. Most people find a meaningful gap.
Related activities
Financial
Review your insurance policies for better deals
Check what you're paying for car, home, and gadget cover, and see whether switching could save you money.
Organization
Digitize important paper documents
To digitise paper documents, scan readable copies, give them consistent names and store them somewhere you can back up and search.
Home Improvement
Create a home maintenance checklist
Build a seasonal checklist of the small jobs that prevent big repair bills.