11 Nov Everything You Need to Know About Creating a Home Inventory
in Safety by Gulfshore Home Watch and Concierge
If you’ve been following our blog, you’ve likely noticed past posts about the benefits of creating a home inventory, the items that should be included in it, and how to keep your home inventory safe. If you haven’t stumbled across this topic in the past, that’s OK. We’re going to recap some of the most important points now.
What is a home inventory?
A home inventory is exactly as it sounds- it’s a record of all the important items you have in your home. For example, whereas a home inventory may include items such as home electronics (tablets, smartphones, computers, televisions, video game consoles, etc.), sporting equipment (i.e.: jet skis, surfboards, paddle boards, etc.) and other types of valuables (i.e.: expensive shoes, wallets, watches and other related items), they typically don’t include things such as photo albums, last year’s Christmas cards, or running shoes.
The point of a home inventory is to document your personal possessions (along with their estimate value), in case you need to file a claim with your insurance company. Although some people suggest keeping diligent records of your purchases (including your receipts), others point out that creating a home inventory can be as simple as taking photos (or video) of your home, room-by-room.
As you go room-to-room, be sure to capture what’s inside your drawers and cabinets. Most people don’t remember what they had for lunch let alone what they have stored in their kitchen cabinets. If a disaster strikes, your home inventory will be an invaluable resource when you’re compiling a list of damaged / destroyed property for an insurance claim.
Store it somewhere safe
Once you have your home inventory, store it somewhere safe. For example, this isn’t generally something you’d want to put onto a thumb drive and stash in a wall safe. (If your home is damaged by a fire, hurricane or flood, the contents of your wall safe may be damaged.) If you’re able to stash it in a safe deposit box, that’s good. Or, if you want to be able to access it 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, cloud storage is a second option.
In closing
For more tips on how to create a home inventory (and where to store your list), be sure to check out our past blogs. For more information on how a home watch service can help keep your home safe when you’re out of town, call Gulf Shore Home Watch & Concierge today to get started.
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