You may not plan to lose any of your belongings but instances of burglary, fire, or natural disaster do arise. If something like this happened to you, would you be able to report exactly what you lost to the police or to your insurance agent? Take it from a knowledgeable source, you should take the time to do an inventory of your home now rather than adding to the stress after an emergency occurs. When conducting a home inventory, you should write down any valuable items with their serial numbers along with the method of acquisition and the date purchased. The price of the item is also important and if you have any receipts on-hand make sure to include them. Make sure to record furniture, appliances, carpeting, jewelry, artwork, toys, and the contents of your closets, cabinets, and drawers. An easy way to take inventory is to make a videotape of each room of your house. Photographs can also help in figuring out what you posses in each room. During the video, you should verbally make note of all your major assets as well as their value. On a last note, extremely important documents should be photocopied. This should be taken care of even if you weren̢۪t concerned about a far-off emergency, just to stay safe. Keep one photo copy in your home and the original, where possible, in a safe-deposit box. Documents include important papers pertaining to your house, such as the title, deed, and insurance policy as well as any personal documents such as birth certificates, passports, etc. Make sure to keep record of all your automobile certificates, and financial records as well as copies of your state and federal tax returns. You may be thinking, why take the time to do all of this now when it is not likely that a disaster will occur. Well, by taking inventory of your possessions ahead of time, you will save yourself from frustration should disaster strike.
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