Necessary - Everyone ought to maintain a Home Inventory List to document their home assets for insurance purposes in case of disaster. You don't necessarily need special home inventory software, though. A simple spreadsheet like our free Home Inventory List Template is an easy solution.

Be prepared - Most people like to think disasters won't happen to them. Hopefully they are right, but disasters DO happen sometimes (fire, flood, theft) and it is wise to be prepared. Protecting your assets should be a proactive (not reactive) experience. Having a Home Inventory will help you protect your belongings.

Worth the Effort - Taking inventory of your personal items can seem overwhelming. After all, who has time to list every household item, right? But, imagine having to replace all of the items you use such as couches, jewelry, clothes, books, or dishes. This may give you the motivation to carry out the process. If you are willing to devote some time now to creating your home inventory list, it can save you in the long run, and give you more peace of mind.

How to Complete Your Home Inventory

The Inventory Spreadsheet includes common locations and items that you might want to consider when creating your own inventory list. Some of the descriptions in the inventory list, like "Electronics", are just placeholders to remind you to include your electronics. For insurance purposes, it would be better to list each item separately so that you can include the price, serial #, and model # for each item.

The spreadsheet allows you to provide a lot of detail. While it's up to you how detailed to be, remember that even smaller items, like clothing, can add up. Remember to include model and serial numbers if possible. The date of purchase is important, as well as the condition of the item - especially items prone to theft.

Take Photos and Videos

Taking photos of your property for your home inventory will make working with your insurance company go a lot smoother. Record a quick video clip of each room in your home, and store the video clips and digital photos on a flash drive with your inventory list.

Photos - Begin on one side of the home and work your way to the other, and take clear, concise pictures of your items and what you want to be conveyed about them. This helps reinforce the description and condition of your items. Take pictures of the contents of dressers, closets, and cabinets, as well as jewelry boxes. Save your photos in the same directory, or sub-directory as the spreadsheet. A useful feature on this Home Inventory form is the ability to record the filenames of your photos.

Videos - Doing a walk-through video may seem redundant if you are already adding photographs. However, for insurance purposes, there can never be too many sources for documentation. It is a good idea to point out locations, key items or collections. This is a great way to backup your inventory with physical proof along with personalized narration.

Embedding Images - Google Sheets and newer versions of Excel allow you to save images directly within a cell in your spreadsheet. If that works for you, go for it. But remember that high-resolution photos can rapidly increase the filesize of your spreadsheet.

Keep Receipts

Even if you don’t have receipts for everything, try and hold onto the ones for the more expensive or important goods. This helps you keep good records and helps insurance companies compare prices of the items.

Be Honest

We tend to view our property as more valuable than it really is, but be honest when completing your home inventory sheet. If you can't remember the year of purchase, leave it blank or try to recall to the best of your ability.

Don't try and make the item seem more new than it really is. Don't rank everything "excellent." If it has dings or scratches or you've had it a while, rank it accordingly.

Remember, unless you pay for a Replacement Cost endorsement on your policy, personal property will depreciate over time. There is an "estimated value" column on this worksheet, but insurance companies have their own methods for calculating depreciation.

Make and Store Backups

Your home inventory list will do you no good if it goes up in flames or is destroyed by the same disaster that ruins your stuff. So, put your home inventory folder in a safe place.

A digital copy is a good idea, but be careful about where you store the electronic copies of your photographs, video, and inventory list. You don't want a picture of your jewelry or a list of all your valuables showing up on the internet.

Using a cloud service (i.e. Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Apple iCloud) can be convenient way to store a digital backup in case your computer is destroyed, but make sure the service is secure. You do not want to accidentally upload your inventory folder to a location that you are sharing with all your friends.

A physical copy (and a flash drive containing a digital copy) can be stored in a secure location outside your home and/or in a fireproof safe. A safety deposit box is an excellent place for this type of storage.

More Inventory Resources

• Home Inventory Worksheet (pdf) - Use this printable PDF worksheet to give you ideas about what you may want to inventory.
• Asset Tracking Template - Track office equipment, repair equipment, and other valuable assets.
• Software Inventory Tracking Template - Track hardware, software, licenses, expirations, etc.

Excel can be used as a database in the sense of storing and working with tables of information, but inventory control can quickly get too complicated for Excel. You may want to consider using Microsoft Access (a database program) or other specialized inventory management software.

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