I can’t say that going round my home taking pictures of the valuable items (TV, laptop, iPhone, wife & kids etc.) is particularly high on my list of priorities, but making a home inventory is probably the sort of thing that only looks like a good idea when it’s too late.
If you got burgled or had a fire, how would you prove to your insurance company that you owned that rare Picasso or really had just bought that 320″ plasma TV screen? Whilst creating a home inventory might still not guarantee a payout, it should give you a better chance of proving what valuables you had, and might speed up any payout. It might also help you set a more accurate level of cover next time you renew your home insurance.
Bargaineering has some good tips on keeping and updating your home inventory.
Taking photos of each of your rooms and the items in them is probably the easiest way of doing it, and the images could then be stored online (find somewhere secure to store them – it’s not a good idea to post a photo of each and every one of your valuables to your Facebook profile, along with comments like “off on holiday today, hope goldfish doesn’t die as there’ll be no-one at home to feed it xxx”. That’ just asking for trouble).
Don’t forget your garage and garden tools etc, some of these can be worth a few quid. And if it’s going to be worth the effort, you’ll have to update it every so often, especially after Christmas or birthdays when you’re more likely to get expensive items added to your home.
photo credit: wowtur
You could just take a bunch of photos and never annotate it, if you’re short on time. Then if something happens and you need documentation, you have it. It’s better than not having any photos at all.