How to Perform a Home Inventory

With moving day fast approaching and your moving company booked, you may be wondering what else there is to do before the truck pulls into your driveway. Whether you’re moving a few towns over or across the country, you’ll need to perform a home inventory.

A home inventory sounds a little more daunting than it is––basically, you want to know what you’re taking from your old home, where it’s going in the new home, and a way to identify those items. This isn’t only for your organization but also in case you need to present these items on an insurance claim. You can use a notebook, spreadsheet, or specialized home inventory apps to help you keep track of these belongings and stay organized on moving day.

• How to document your home inventory
• Best home inventory apps
• How to perform your home inventory
• Benefits of a home inventory
• Recommended resources

There are several ways to document and protect your appliances, electronics, or other items you’ve purchased. The most basic way you can perform a home inventory is with a notebook and pen, but we recommend making several digital and physical copies that you can access anytime. There are some great apps and templates that you can use to keep your information digitally secured if you prefer.

• Encircle
• Itemtopia
• Nest Egg

If you’re using one of these apps on your smartphone, it will walk you through documenting your items. If you decide to perform your home inventory manually, you’ll need a smartphone or a camera with photo and video capabilities, a notebook or template to describe your items, and access to all your items.

To begin, go from room to room and document your large items and appliances. Try to capture a holistic view of your item using plenty of photos and videos. Be sure to take pictures of barcodes and serial numbers to identify the item if necessary. After this is complete, document the following for your large items and appliances:

• A detailed description of your item, including serial numbers, manufacturer, and model
• An approximate date of when you purchased the item, where you bought it, and any receipts you have for it
• The approximate current value of the item

Determining the value of an item can be accurately done if you’ve saved receipts from your purchases. Otherwise, try searching for the make and model online. Based on current retail prices, you can make a decent estimate for your item value. Most inventory apps estimate the value of your belongings, but it never hurts to research on your own.

As you can imagine, the larger items and appliances in your home will take a little more time to add to your inventory list. After that, you can document smaller items as you pack them. If you’re using an app or pre-made template, your belongings will likely be categorized by item type. If you’re entering these items manually, it’s a good idea to organize them into categories so they can be easily found in your inventory list.

After you’ve inventoried your belongings, take some steps to keep that inventory list safe and available in multiple formats. If you used an app, that data will always be available on your smartphone. Otherwise, make copies and store them securely. You can make physical copies and store them in a fireproof safe or lockbox. You can securely store digital copies on your computer, in USB drives, and in encrypted cloud storage software and access them anywhere.

Going forward, try to save receipts for large purchases and add those to your home inventory list. Not only will this help you stay organized, but in case of disaster, theft, or destruction of property, you can easily identify your items down to the last detail for insurance or legal purposes.

Aside from the benefits we’ve mentioned, here are a few other reasons why it’s in your best interest to perform a home inventory:

Hiring a full-service moving company, while worthwhile, can be expensive. By completing your home inventory before receiving a moving estimate, you can be sure you’re being as accurate as possible.

When you perform your inventory, you begin to see what items may not have a place in your new home. These items won’t need to be included in the estimate if you catch them during the inventory process. Additionally, you can rest assured that the moving coordinator performing your moving estimate won’t miss anything because you’ll have a complete list of your belongings to consult. If any items are damaged on moving day, you can file a claim with your moving company.

In case of an event such as theft or destruction of property, having a complete home inventory will help you quickly replace the items you’ve lost through the claims filing process. Before this happens, going over your home inventory with your insurance company can help to pinpoint exactly how much you need to pay for homeowners or renters insurance based on the value of your items.

A home inventory can help verify losses for tax purposes in the event of a disaster.
In the case of a sudden or unexpected event that results in damage, destruction, or loss of property, a detailed home inventory can help you document and verify your losses. If your loss is part of a federally declared disaster, you may be eligible for tax deductions or other forms of relief based on the amount of loss sustained.