Home Maintenance Monday 12/30/24
Get anything cool during the holidays?
Whether you got a cool gift from a loved one or something for yourself, when was the last time you thought about updating the inventory of your home insurable items?
When life is good, we tend not to think about what happens when disaster strikes and during the holiday season a lot of people acquire more material goods, but winter is just beginning and this is the time of year with the highest risks for home fires and flooding. So now, before we ring in the New Year, this is a great time to think about updating your home inventory records, or creating those records if you had not done so already!
Whether you have a home owners insurance policy or a rental insurance policy, there's a good chance that you have insurance on your home and the things inside of it. A home inventory is just a list of all of the items you own, especially those of value. Here's how to go about creating one from scratch:
Do a thorough walk-through of your home and create folders (either physical or digital) for each space in your home. Don't leave anything out! It's easy to forget hallways and storage sheds. List all the items in each room and include anything that you want covered. According to American Family Insurance, you can list anything "including clothing, accessories, electronics, appliances, furniture, decorations, linens, artwork, hobby items, collectibles, and heirlooms — anything and everything should have a place in your inventory" and this makes sense because everything has a replacement cost when disaster strikes right down to your socks and underwear!
As you are creating your list of items, be sure to make notes that describe the items in detail and include such information as any serial numbers, the make, model, and dollar value of items whenever possible. Pictures are VERY helpful in the documentation process, you can take pictures of the items and further pictures of any of their defining characteristics. (serial numbers/custom colors/etc.) If you want to take your documentation a step further, you can do video walk-throughs of your home and items as well! Whenever possible, list out the store and year purchased and include any documentation such as receipts or item value appraisals. If you have an appraisal of your home, you should include it with your home inventory documentation. Any physical records can be scanned in for digital storage. However you want to maintain your records, this is a good option for backing them up. Definitely create a back-up of your inventory documentation and store in a secure location, whether that be a safety deposit box or Dropbox.
Outside of creating your home inventory catalog and keeping it in a safe place, the only other thing to do is to make sure to keep it current, which is what I'm encouraging you to do today! So whether you already have a great system that just needs updating or if it's time to start the record from scratch, there's no time like the present!
A little birdhouse with a star opening sits amongst hazelnuts and pinecones with candles lit in the background and reflecting off the surface of the table. ~ Cozy winter vibes.
Resources:
"How to Create a home Inventory List for Insurance Claims" web article located at: https://www.amfam.com/resources/articles/at-home/home-inventory