Homeowners Insurance: Taking Inventory of Your Possessions

Having homeowners insurance or renters insurance is a must if you want to protect yourself from making a bad situation worse in the event of a fire, theft or some other damage to your property.

Taking inventory of the possessions in your home is essential to making sure you have adequate insurance coverage.

Inventorying your possessions is a time consuming process but once you have a list of all possessions you only need to update it every year or when you make a large purchase. It's best to take inventory room by room and keep a categorized list of each room. The list should also include inexpensive items, you would be surprised how quickly those items add up to a big cost if you need to replace everything at once.

When you go around your home to take inventory also take photos or a video recording of all items. Make your list a very detailed list, include item sizes.  For example, 47 inch Sony LCD flat panel T.V. instead of large T.V. Be sure to include jewelry items, you can get a rider on your home owners insurance policy for these items.

The Insurance Information Institute (iii.org) offers free online home inventory software.  The "Know Your Stuff" software is easy to use and allows you to record items by room, purchase price, date purchased, serial number information and allows you to upload photos.

Now that you have a detail list with photos or video recordings don't store the list in your home (if you're not using iii.org) . Keep the list in another home, safe deposit box, with a family member or with someone else you feel comfortable knowing how much your processions cost you.

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