Keep a Record of Valuable Possessions
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more details, please see our disclosure policy.
Keeping a written record of your valuable (ie replaceable) possessions can save you a lot of stress if a natural disaster, theft, or fire strikes your home.
Want to save this post?
Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I'll send you time- and money-saving tips every week!
It’s common knowlege that we frugalites like to make sure we get a good deal on the things that we purchase. There’s also the understanding that we take care of what we have. No one wants to replace something unneccessarily. That’s why buying adequate homeowner or renter’s insurance is a wise way to protect your investment and personal belongings.
However, theft, fire, and natural disaster are events that could force any one of us into shopping for replacements.
Anyone who’s suffered property damage and the subsequent insurance claims knows what a hassle it is to create a list of valuable possessions that need to be replaced. The insurance company can’t replace your child’s baby book or your wedding pictures, but they will often work hard and spend money to replace the lawn furniture that got sucked up into a cyclone or the tv that was stolen.
However, if you don’t really know what you had or what it was worth, you may be on your own to replace it.
That’s why it’s good practice to keep track of what you own.
A quick way to document your possessions is to walk your home with a video camera and capture on film all those special items. However, if you ever do need to file a claim, you’ll still need a written record with a description of the item, serial number, date of purchase, place of purchase, and purchase price.
Download this free printable household possessions inventory. Now’s as good a time as any to start a written record of your valuable household possessions. Log in what you already possess and then as you acquire new items, write down the information right away. And yes, it might take some time to catch up on the bookkeeping.
It could save you a lot of hassle as well as replacement costs in the event of loss of property.
Today’s Frugal Friday!
What a great idea! We really need to do this. I’m linking up a post about how to make your own pasta. It’s something I put off trying for years, but once I tried it discovered it’s way easier than I thought – and so tasty!
Keeping a list of our possessions is something I really need to do…so tedious though. I need a helper! 😉
I shared a recipe today for homemade wholewheat sesame crackers. They were a lot of fun to make and were very delicious. I never knew I could make my own crackers! Thanks for hosting and have a great weekend!
I love preparedness-themed frugality posts. Thanks for sharing your idea! I’m sharing two recipes today to help reduce the grocery budget.
1) Heirloom High-Rise Yeast Bread Recipe and Bread Making Tips:
http://www.lonehomeranger.com/2012/01/babcis-bread-cultivating-need-to-knead.html
2) Colcannon Irish Potatoes, Cabbage and Ham: http://www.lonehomeranger.com/2012/01/colcannon.html
This is a great idea and something I need to add to my to-do list.
thanks for the link up. I submitted: 5 Tips to Succeeding Your Goals.
http://www.familybalancesheet.org/2012/01/5-steps-to-succeeding-your-goals.html
Thanks for the reminder, Jessica. This is one of those tasks that I know I *should* do, but haven’t done anyway. We recently updated our wills (another task that’s so-not-fun in a similar way) so surely I can tackle this too!
Ewww… forget about updating… we don’t even have wills. Something more I don’t want to think about.
Oh dear, we did the video thing last year, including our thousands of books, but I have not prepared a list of valuables. Oh well, onto my list it goes!
I’ve been too busy being frugal to prepare a frugality post. LOL
Have a blessed weekend!
And as other comments have pointed out, make sure your video is in a safe spot. I forgot to mention that in the post.
I love this. Thanks for the inventory download, too! This week I posted on starting a natural food buying club. With a strong buying club, you can get organic, grass-fed and natural products at wholesale prices, instead of “Whole Paycheck” prices. 🙂
http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/how-to-start-a-food-buying-club
What a fantastic idea! I wish I had seen this a week ago when we really started packing for our upcoming move. We could have kept a list while we were packing. I might have to do it soon anyways.
BTW Love your comment note “lets use our big girl words”
Great tip! My sister’s home was destroyed by fire last year. It was such a pain to go through and figure out what was missing/damaged/destroyed. Although it’s important to update it every now and then, too!
I’m definitely going to add this to my list of important projects to complete. One of the devastating tornados ripped through our area this past spring. Our home wasn’t touched, but we know many who lost so much… and insurance is a pain if you don’t know exactly what you lost.