Home inventory for insurance, room by room
October 30, 2026
Most people only find out how much they own on the day they have to list it for an insurer. After a fire, a burglary or a burst pipe, you are asked to describe everything that was lost, and memory is a poor witness. A home inventory made beforehand turns that stressful job into a copy and paste.This guide shows how to build one in an afternoon, room by room, without turning it into a weekend project.You do not need perfection. A rough inventory that exists beats a perfect one that never gets started.For each one, photograph the item and, where there is one, the label showing the model and serial number. That label photo is worth more than a typed number, because typos are easy and a photo is evidence.Finally, read your own policy or ask your insurer what they need for a claim. Requirements differ between insurers and countries, and your inventory is only as useful as it is acceptable to them.
What insurers say a good inventory contains
The advice from insurers is consistent. Progressive's guide to home inventories suggests recording details such as the item name, purchase price, serial number, manufacturer, make and model, and purchase date. State Farm notes that you can document your belongings with a video walk-through of your home, or with a series of photographs along with written descriptions.Put together, a useful entry answers five questions:•
What is it? A short name and, for anything valuable, the brand and model.
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How many? Ten identical towels are one line with a quantity, not ten lines.
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Where is it? The room and the exact spot, such as the second shelf of the hall closet.
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What does it look like? One clear photo, plus a photo of any label with a serial number.
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What did it cost? An approximate price, or a receipt if you still have one.
Step 1: decide the order before you start
Work through the house in a fixed route, for example front door, living room, kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom, garage, storage. Finish a room completely before moving on. Skipping around is how cupboards get forgotten.Set a timer for 30 or 40 minutes per session. Two or three short sessions are easier to finish than one marathon.Step 2: start with what costs the most to replace
If you only get through part of the house, make sure the expensive things are in. Do these first:•
Electronics: laptops, TVs, consoles, phones, cameras, speakers.
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Appliances: the ones that are not built in, plus small kitchen appliances.
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Jewellery, watches and anything that is hard to replace.
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Tools, bikes, musical instruments and sports gear.
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Furniture and rugs.
Step 3: do the room walk-through
Open every drawer and cupboard. A quick pass for each room goes like this.Kitchen
Cookware, crockery, cutlery, small appliances, glassware, pantry staples in bulk. Group the minor items: "cutlery set, 24 pieces" is enough.Living room
TV and media equipment, sofas, shelves, books, games, décor. Count books by the shelf rather than by the title unless some are valuable.Bedrooms
Beds, wardrobes, and clothes. For clothes, count roughly by category: coats, shoes, suits, everyday wear. Photograph the open wardrobe once.Bathroom and laundry
Linen, towels, the washer and dryer, small appliances. These are cheap per item but add up fast.Garage, attic and storage
This is where inventories go stale, because boxes get piled up and forgotten. Open each box, photograph the contents and write what the box holds. Label the box so you can find it again.Step 4: record it where you can still reach it after a disaster
The worst place to keep an inventory is on the one device that burns or floods with the house. Whatever tool you use, keep a copy elsewhere: a cloud folder, a USB drive left at a relative's house, or an export emailed to yourself.A spreadsheet works, and so does a folder of photos. The trouble is keeping them current. The list you made two years ago will not mention the laptop you bought last month.Where Seiton can help
If you would rather not build the structure yourself, Seiton lets you map your home as a tree of places, with rooms, closets, shelves and boxes nested as deep as you like. Each item can have photos, a quantity per place, a barcode and tags, and you can search the whole house in one go. Put a model or serial number in the item description if you want it on record. It is free to start with unlimited places and items, it works offline, and export and import are built in, which is a handy way to keep a copy outside the app.Step 5: keep it alive
An inventory is only worth something if it is current. Three habits are enough:1.
When you buy something expensive, add it the same day, with a photo of the receipt.
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When you give something away or throw it out, remove it.
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Once a year, walk through the house again and compare it with the list. Do this at the same time as your insurance renewal, since that is when you are deciding how much cover you need.
A short checklist to finish
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Every room covered, including storage and the garage.
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Photos of valuable items and of their serial number labels.
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Quantities instead of duplicate lines.
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Approximate prices for the big things.
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One copy stored away from the house.
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A yearly reminder to update it.