Record your belongings room by room with values and serial numbers — the document insurers ask for after theft, fire, or flood. Saves in your browser, prints beautifully, exports CSV.
| Room | Item | Value | Serial / notes |
|---|
💾 Saves in this browser only. Keep the downloaded PDF with your insurance papers and re-export after big purchases.
Key takeaways:
A home inventory manager is a room-by-room list of your belongings with replacement values and serial numbers — the document insurers request after theft, fire or flood, and the one that's nearly impossible to reconstruct from memory under stress. Building it in a calm hour, before anything happens, is what makes a claim fast instead of a fight.
Totalling the list also does double duty: it's the number that tests whether your contents sum insured is realistic, and most households are surprised by how high it runs once everything is added up.
| Field | What to enter | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Room | Where the item lives | Groups your PDF into insurer-friendly sections |
| Item | Clear description | Identifies what was lost |
| Replacement value | Cost to buy new today | Matches new-for-old policies |
| Serial / notes | Serial, model, purchase details | Verifies ownership and helps police recover stolen goods |
After a burglary or house fire, insurers ask for an itemised list of what was lost — and reconstructing your possessions from memory, under stress, reliably misses thousands of dollars' worth. An inventory made in a calm hour fixes that. Use replacement values (what it costs to buy new today), because most contents policies are new-for-old; totalling them also reveals whether your sum insured is realistic — most households are shocked by the number, and underinsurance is the norm.
Serial numbers do double duty: police need them to identify recovered goods, and insurers use them to verify claims. While adding items, photograph or video each room on your phone — the combination of this list plus room photos is exactly what assessors want. Store the printed copy somewhere the disaster can't reach: with a relative, in your work drawer, or scanned into cloud email.
Should I list every item or just valuables?
Start with anything over about $100, then sweep up categories (clothing, kitchenware, linen) as single lines with estimated totals. Precision on big items, reasonable estimates on the rest.
Replacement value or what I paid?
Replacement value — today's cost to buy new. Most contents insurance is new-for-old, and this is also the number that tests whether your sum insured is adequate.
Do I need receipts?
They help but aren't essential — note purchase details, keep the serial numbers, and photograph the items in place. Insurers accept a combination of records for proof of ownership.
How often should I update it?
After any major purchase, and a quick annual review — put it with a yearly ritual like tax time. Re-print and re-export the CSV each update.
Is my inventory private?
Yes — it's stored only in your browser on this device and never uploaded. That privacy also means you must export or print copies as your backup.
Is there a free home inventory checklist I can download as a PDF?
Yes — the Download PDF button (and Print / Save as PDF) both generate a room-by-room copy with every item, value and total, ready to store with your insurance documents.
Can I email my home inventory to my insurer or a family member?
Yes — Email opens your mail app with a text summary of your items and total value pre-filled. Attach the downloaded PDF or CSV for the fully detailed version.
What's a good home inventory checklist template for insurance?
Room, item, replacement value, and serial/notes — exactly the four columns here — is what most insurers ask for after a claim. Add photos separately; this tool covers the written record they pair with.