After a fire or break-in, your insurer pays for the belongings you can list and back up, and a list written from memory leaves gaps. Record a room-by-room video of your home this weekend, with drawers and cabinets open, and keep a copy in the cloud, not just on your phone.
Picture the claim after a cooking fire, the most common kind of home fire, according to the National Fire Protection Association. The kitchen cabinets held cookware, small appliances, and dishes, and you’ll have to name every piece before the insurer pays for it.
That list is your job under the policy. The industry’s standard homeowners and renters policy forms require an inventory of your damaged belongings showing quantities, descriptions, and values, plus the receipts and other documents behind those figures. Once the insurer asks, you have 60 days to send a signed, sworn proof of loss, the formal claim statement that includes that inventory. Look for the Duties After Loss section in your own policy.
Memory makes a poor inventory. A list rebuilt after the fire leaves out ordinary things like the spare skillet and the stand mixer behind the pantry door. A video you make now records them all and proves they were there.
Shoot it with your phone, one room at a time:
- Open every closet, drawer, and cabinet, and say the brand, model, and rough age of the bigger items as you film.
- Zoom in on the serial numbers of electronics and appliances, and on each piece of jewelry.
- Include the garage or shed, and if you own the home, film the outside and the roof.
- Save receipts or order confirmations for expensive items in the same folder as the video.
- Upload the video to cloud storage and email the receipts to yourself, so nothing lives only on a phone that could be lost with the house.
Redo the video once a year and after any big purchase. Schedule it for the week your policy renews, when you’re already looking at your coverage.
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