Hi all, There have been a lot of fires lately, and my sister's apartment was one of them today (lightning strike). She's fine and so is her dog, but it lead my DH and I to wonder exactly what and how the conents of our home should be documented in case we ever needed to do an insurance claim. I tried googling but all that comes up is advice on making a claim, not preparing in advance. Does anyone have any suggestions for where to look to find out this kind of information?
-Margaret
"Margaret St. John" ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with
Start by taking masses of pics of everything you value, for two reasons. Evidence but also to trigger your memories of everything you had, it's very difficult to think of everything after an event like that ! It's also very useful if you have a burglary.
There are lots of things out there. You might want to google "home inventory". That should turn up some information. There are a number of software programs out there, plus "fill in the blanks" sort of books, and plain old advice on how to do it yourself. There are even online sites where you can store the information (they store the info on their servers so you don't have to worry about keeping an offsite backup yourself).
Best wishes, Ericka
My husband and I did this 16 years ago and add information periodically as needed.
We used a database program, but you can easily use a spreadsheet or just a table in a wordprocessing program. Or purchase a ledger book. Anything with columns so you can notate what the article is, the year it was purchased, the amount of the item.
Do this room by room. That's less taxing than trying to undertake everything at once. Especially if you have to list 100 DVDs. Set yourself goals. You'll be surprised how fast it goes. Take pictures of the room, too. But two agents have told us pictures aren't necessary . . . just the inventory record, which we keep in a safety deposit box. Our agent also has a copy, but that's not necessary if you have a box.
Finally, make sure you have replacement value on your policy - whether or not it's renters or home owner's insurance. Otherwise, your possessions will decline (depreciate) in value and you'll be left holding the bag if anything happens. What insurance agents don't often tell you is the 80/20 rule. If you don't have your house and contents insured for AT LEAST 80% of their value, you could end up losing more money. I forget how to explain that, but talk to your agent to make sure you have adequate insurance coverage. Better slightly over insured than under insured. You can insist an agent do an audit. We did this when we didn't think our home was adequately covered by their estimates.
It's not going to be possible to put a correct value on everything you own. You'll have to make some ballpark guesses. Not many of us know exactly how much our clothes are worth, or our towels and bedding. But make sure you have entries for them.
It's well worth the effort.
Dianne
Margaret St. John wrote:
Thanks Ericka, it didn't occur to me to try home inventory in the search.
-Margaret
Thnaks for the inofrmation Diane.
-Margaret
Good advice. Also, did you actually ask your insurance agent? Most companies actually have some kind of booklet or format for you to use. As Sheena said, take photos. Furniture, and your jewelry. Keep a file of the receipts for valuables that you may have. But, even doing a set of photos of the interior of your house, garage, etc - will help you to recall what you have, and justify the replacement costs.
Didn't you have to do an estimate of your contents for your homeowners?
Anyhow, I think you could do your own journal or scrapbook, for a lot of people it's easiest to do it room by room, then list collectibles, jewelry, things like china & crystal, and of course your needlework, computers, other electronics. Clotheswise - you usually just get some kind of allowance unless you can show some special or high ticket items.
Good luck. It just makes me think of updating our stuff. Yuck.
Ellice
If you've got valuable or precious things, make sure store a copy of your inventory off site so it too isn't lost in a catastrophe.
If you have web-based email (like Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail, where the email stays on their server), you can email yourself a copy of your spreadsheet(s) and digital pictures.
I've done this for photos of my valuables, appliances, furniture, my stash and book databases, etc. Yes, I am anal, but if I'm paying for insurance, I want to ensure I get my money's worth if anything happens. Which reminds me, I really ought to update my records.
Meredith
My photo negatives are at Mom's house. If both ends of the continent are subsumed in the same event, we have bigger things to worry about than our insurance inventories! ;)
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