6 Tips To Complete Your Home Inventory for the New Year

Happy New Year!

As you're busy tackling your resolutions for the year ahead — whether it's getting in shape, learning a new skill, or traveling more — don't forget to add one more item to your list: updating (or creating) your home inventory for insurance purposes.

Sure, it may not be the most exciting resolution but trust us, it's crucial to ensure you're adequately insured. After all, even if you had an up-to-date inventory before the holidays, you've likely accumulated more stuff from all the gift-giving in the past few weeks.

As a homeowner or renter, all that new stuff means it’s time to take stock of your possessions and completely update your home inventory for insurance.

But why complete a new home inventory? A home inventory catalogs what you believe should be covered by your policy. Without it, you might forget items when filing an insurance claim after a loss.

We know this sounds tedious, but don't worry — we'll give you six tips to make sure it's less of a hassle.

Let’s dive into it.

1. Keep a Record of Everything You Received During the Holidays

2. Add the Items You Acquired Since Your Last Inventory

3. Clear Out Stuff You No Longer Have From Your Home Inventory

4. Take Note of Things You Will Give Away in the Future

5. Don’t Forget To Account for Inflation During Your Update

6. Be Sure To Update Your Home Inventory’s Existing Copies

Final Thoughts: New Year, New Home Inventory for Renters Insurance

1. Keep a Record of Everything You Received During the Holidays

The holidays were just a few weeks ago, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find all those gifts, right? Compile a detailed list of all the new items you received as gifts or bought for yourself during the holidays.

This record should include both valuable items and more affordable items. The inventory is for your insurance coverage — so if it’s of any value to you, add it to your list.

Also, you need more than the name and value of these items. You should include a description, serial numbers, warranties, and pictures in your records. If you have receipts showing the date of purchase, you can also attach them as evidence.

It’s also a good idea to include the item’s location within your home, just in case you need to find it later.

2. Add the Items You Acquired Since Your Last Inventory

Real talk: it’s probably been a while since you last updated your home inventory.

We get it, life gets busy, and a home inventory doesn't seem that important. But now that you're committing to updating your home inventory, it's important to remember to add all the items you've acquired since your last inventory — or all the valuables you own if you've never done a home inventory before.

Save yourself potential headaches during future claims processes by jotting down all the necessary details about your belongings, especially high-ticket items.

Put on your home inspector hat and go through every room with your home inventory list in hand to identify things you might've missed — which should be a lot if this is your first time creating a home inventory for your insurance company.

3. Clear Out Stuff You No Longer Have From Your Home Inventory

Are your once-prized collectibles or cool gadgets out of your life? Then they shouldn’t be in your home inventory.

While updating your home inventory records, you may also come across some entries for items that are no longer in your possession. These items may have been sold, given away, broken, or stolen.

Considering these things are no longer in your possession, you should update your home inventory accordingly to ensure you aren’t paying for coverage for items you don’t own anymore.

4. Take Note of Things You Will Give Away in the Future

We all feel generous after the season of giving.

Just as you probably gave away some things since you last updated your records, you may have plans to let go of more of your personal belongings during your spring cleaning in the new year.

Make sure to note items you plan to donate, give away, or otherwise remove from your home in the future, so your home inventory stays up to date. This information will also make things easier for you next time you update your list.

5. Don’t Forget To Account for Inflation During Your Update

Some things we can’t control, but we can react to them.

Factor in Inflation when updating your inventory list since it impacts everything in the economy, including your insurance coverage.

Whether your insurance policy covers your personal property’s replacement cost value (RCV) or actual cash value (ACV), you will need to estimate how the current inflation rate impacts the personal property coverage of your inventory if an incident occurs.

You can find details about the current inflation value here when updating the value of your personal property with the right amount.

6. Be Sure To Update Your Home Inventory’s Existing Copies

Once you’ve added new records to your inventory and adjusted the existing list to reflect the current reality, you’re almost done. All that’s left to do is update all the copies of your inventory.

…You do have backup copies, right?

It's crucial to have multiple copies of your inventory in case one is damaged. These could include a digital worksheet on your PC/Smartphone, a printout that you keep in a safe deposit box, a document in the cloud, and even a home inventory app.

Whichever one of these copies you choose to update as the primary source, be sure that you replicate these changes across the other copies.

You don’t want a situation where you have conflicting versions of your inventory. Also, be sure to use a naming convention that allows you to track the version history of your inventory records.

A filename that includes key details like your home location and the date of the record or a version number would be best. For example, CA-Home-Inventory-Jan-2023, or TX-Inventory-Version-1.0. Each update to the inventory can be saved with a new date or version number.

Final Thoughts: New Year, New Home Inventory for Renters Insurance

If you've made it this far — congratulations! You're well on your way to completing your home inventory and ensuring you have up-to-date renters insurance coverage.

If you still find the process a little overwhelming, don't worry — we've got you! We've created a handy home inventory sheet to help you keep track of everything you own.

Just download the sheet, print it out, and fill it in as you go through your home. You can even take photos or videos of your items to include in your inventory.

If you prefer a digital route, check out our post on the best home inventory apps for renters.

Trust us; it'll be worth the effort in the end. And when you are ready, contact us to compare and switch to Goodcover.

Here's to a happy and well-insured new year!

Note: This post is meant for informational purposes; insurance regulation and coverage specifics vary by location and person. Check your policy for exact coverage information.

For additional questions, reach out to us – we’re happy to help.