For years I've been meaning to do this and haven't done so yet. So I'm making it a resolution here and with you all keeping me committed, I will do it this year!! The task? I need to create an insurance inventory of my house.
What is this you may ask? It's simply a listing of all the property in (and including) your house. It is to be used in case of damage or destruction of that property (like a fire, tornado, etc.) to show the insurance company what you owned so you can get everything replaced to the fullest extent of your policy. If you don't have one of these, you're relying on: 1) your memory -- and you will forget things, even significant things, and 2) the good graces of the insurance company to fully reimburse you.
Wait! Did I say "good graces", "insurance company", and "fully reimburse" in the same sentence? :-) I think you know what I mean.
You can create a home insurance inventory on paper, list it on your computer, take pictures, take video or use any of the aforementioned options in combination. If you really want to go hog wild, you'd make copies of receipts for your most expensive items as well. Finally, you need to keep your list/pics/video and any receipts in a place other than your home -- like in a safe deposit box -- for safe-keeping and to have in case anything happens to your home. (That's the whole point of the list, isn't it?)
Personally, I plan to use video. If a picture is worth a thousand words, 10 minutes of tape should be worth at least the replacement of everything I own.
Nice blog. Im actually in the process of doing this myself. Mine is a fairly detailed one, and includes (1) an Excel file listing everything we own, down to inexpensive housewares; (2) digital photographs of the more expensive property like jewelry, art, etc.; (3) serial numbers of expensive items like computers; (4) PDFs of receipts, warranties, etc (this is also part of a paperwork reduction goal I have); and (5) estimated values of every item on the Excel inventory.
This is proving to be an enormous task (since I am including things down to the Brita filter in the fridge, which presumably we'd need to replace in the event of a catastrophic loss). However it is very interesting also to see how much money we have spent over the years simply acquiring things. I frankly find it a good exercise to remind oneself about the importance of rejecting consumerism!
One additional side benefit from the insurance inventory, which didn't make your list of New Year resolutions. Your insurance inventory, once it is completed, should go into a set of "emergency survival equipment."
Yes, Im talking MREs, bottled water, medical supplies, firearms, etc. I started this project back during the Hurricane, and Im still not finished with it. However, I plan to wrap up both the insurance inventory project, and the survival gear project in the next few months.
It seems foolish to think that financial preparedness is more important than preparedness for physicla safety.
Posted by: Derek | February 22, 2006 at 03:26 AM