After a fire, flood, or burglary, your insurance company will ask you to list what was damaged or stolen with approximate values. Most people discover at that moment that they can't remember what they owned, let alone what it cost.
How to Build One in 20 Minutes
A home inventory doesn't need to be elaborate. A single walk-through video on your phone - room by room, opening closets and drawers, narrating what you see - takes about 20 minutes and creates a timestamped record that will be invaluable if you ever need to file a claim.
Document High-Value Items Separately
For higher-value items like electronics, appliances, jewelry, or collectibles, supplement the video with: - Photos of serial numbers - Photos of receipts saved to cloud storage - Appraisals for jewelry and art
Where to Store It
Store your inventory somewhere other than your home. A house fire destroys everything in it, including the laptop you saved records on. Cloud storage or a copy sent to a trusted person outside the home solves this.
Review it once a year, or whenever you make a significant purchase. An inventory that's three years out of date still beats no inventory at all. The NC Department of Insurance recommends North Carolina homeowners maintain a current home inventory as a standard part of managing their coverage. Learn more about home insurance coverage and what IronHaven recommends for Wake Forest, Raleigh, and Triangle-area homeowners.
