Take home inventory in case of an emergency
ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - Do you know what's in your house? I mean all of it? Most of us don't. But it's simpler than ever to document what you own.
I know from first-hand experience why you need to do this. It's been a while, but many years ago I was burglarized. Cleaned out. The bad guy actually stayed in my house for a few days going through my things. It was awful. Fortunately, at the time, I didn't have much value. But a lesson I learned is to know what you own. You'd be surprised after you're reimbursed by insurance about a year down the road that you'll say to yourself, 'Oh, I forgot about that ring.'
Theft is stressful. And you simply aren't going to remember everything that's missing in those moments. Or with any other home disaster.
You've seen these house fires right here on FOX 5 News. And the flooding. Our first reaction is to say thank goodness everyone's OK, but then reality sets in for families that they have to rebuild. And here's where it's important to take stock of what's in your house before anything happens.
VALUABLES FIRST
Focus on your valuables first. By that I mean, the big-ticket items.
Appliances. Electronics. Jewelry. Furniture. And art and other collectibles. It's easier to do than ever because you don't need to hand write your inventory anymore now that you have a handy camera phone. Just walk around the house and take a sweeping video, and narrate if you have to.
SAVE RECEIPTS
That's pretty easy. But with some things like electronics and smartphones, you'll need serial numbers.
And a reminder for those big ticket items, when you file the receipts away, also make sure you have a digital copy saved as well.
DRAWERS AND CABINETS
Now, you don't have to know every single thing in each drawer or cabinet, but it wouldn't hurt to open them up and take some pictures just to pluck your memory in case you need to rebuild your life. And the closet: You don't have to describe every pair of jeans. Just write down the total number of jeans. Total number of sweaters. That sort of thing, unless you have a particularly valuable item of clothing like a vintage leather coat.
STORE INFO IN SAFE PLACE
OK, once you've got pictures and video, store this on the cloud. Or, put it on a thumb drive and save it in your safe deposit box or a fireproof box.
Need a hand? Try an app.
SORTLY - Simple, easy to use.
MYSTUFF2 PRO - Allows for barcode scanning.