Home inventory for insurance
Document your belongings for insurance claims
Nobody keeps the receipt for a four year old television. Insurers know that, and they accept other kinds of proof, but only if you have them. iFoundIt lets you photograph what you own, record what matters, and export a report before you ever need one.
Free to download • Works offline
Photo and details per item
Capture a clear photo and note the purchase date, price, and serial number while the item is in front of you.
Export a claim-ready PDF
Hand an adjuster a tidy list instead of trying to remember a houseful of belongings under stress.
Organize room by room
Group belongings by room so a total-loss claim is easy to itemise and nothing gets forgotten.
Keep receipts with items
Photograph the receipt next to the thing it paid for, so proof of value stays attached to proof of ownership.
Backed up and safe
Your inventory lives in the cloud, so it survives the event that destroyed everything it documents.
Ready before you need it
The only time you can build this is before. Afterwards you are working from memory, and memory is expensive.
How to prove you owned something without a receipt
After a burglary or a fire, your insurer will ask you to list what you lost and show that you owned it. This is where most claims get uncomfortable, because almost nobody keeps receipts for a whole house. A receipt is not the only accepted proof. The catch is that the alternatives all need to exist beforehand.
Here is what insurers commonly accept in place of a receipt.
Photographs of the item in your home. The strongest everyday proof available to a normal household, especially if the serial number is visible in the shot. It shows the item, it shows possession, and the file carries a date.
Serial and model numbers. These turn “a laptop” into a specific laptop with a known replacement value, and they are what gets stolen goods traced. Photograph the sticker now, because you cannot afterwards.
Bank and card statements. A line showing the purchase is good evidence, and unlike a paper receipt it still exists years later.
Order confirmations and emails. Search your inbox before you assume something is undocumented. Online orders leave a trail that survives house fires precisely because it is not in the house.
Manuals, boxes, and warranty cards. Useful for appliances, tools, and electronics, and they tend to outlive the receipt.
What happens if you have none of it? You can still claim. You will be asked for a list, and without proof of ownership an insurer will typically settle on an average replacement cost for a similar item rather than what yours was actually worth. That gap is the reason to do this in advance. The Insurance Information Institute and the NAIC both publish neutral guidance worth reading alongside your own policy, and our walkthrough on documenting belongings for a claim covers the process end to end.
How it works
Walk through each room
Photograph valuables and everyday belongings, room by room.
Add values and serial numbers
Note the purchase price, date, and serial number while the item is in your hands.
Export and store it elsewhere
Generate a PDF and keep a copy somewhere that is not inside the house.
What makes a home inventory stand up to a claim
A list of item names is not evidence. These are the details that decide what a claim is actually worth.
Get the serial number in the photo
For anything with a serial number, photograph the sticker as well as the item. This is the single highest value thing on this page and it takes ten extra seconds per item. After a fire or a burglary, it is not something you can go back and do.
Photograph the receipt while you still have it
Till receipts fade to blank paper within a couple of years, which is roughly when you need them. A photo of the receipt stored with the item keeps proof of value attached to proof of ownership.
Do not skip the ordinary things
People photograph the television and forget the wardrobe. In a total loss, clothing, kitchenware, bedding and tools add up to more than the electronics, and they are the hardest to recall under stress. That is why they get under-claimed.
Record what it would cost to replace today
Not what you paid in 2019. Replacement cost is what most contents policies pay out on, and a value recorded years ago will be wrong in one direction or the other.
Keep the copy somewhere the fire cannot reach
An inventory stored only on a phone that was in the house has documented nothing. Cloud backup handles this, but export a PDF too and email it to yourself. Two places, one of them not your address.
Questions, answered
How do I prove ownership for an insurance claim without receipts?
Photographs of the item in your home are the strongest everyday proof, especially with the serial number visible. Bank and card statements, order confirmation emails, manuals, original packaging, and warranty cards are all commonly accepted too. The catch is that these need to exist before the loss, which is what a home inventory is for.
What happens if I have no proof of ownership at all?
You can still claim. You will be asked for a list of what was lost, and without supporting proof an insurer will usually settle based on an average replacement cost for a similar item rather than the specific one you owned. That difference is normally larger than the hour it would have taken to photograph everything in advance.
Why do serial numbers matter so much?
A serial number turns a general description into a specific item with a known model and replacement value, which removes most of the argument about what you owned. It also helps if stolen goods are ever recovered. Photograph the sticker at the same time as the item, because afterwards is too late.
How do I create a home inventory for insurance?
Go room by room and photograph each item, then record the details that identify it: purchase date, price, and serial number where there is one. Include ordinary belongings and not just valuables, since clothing and tools add up quickly in a total loss.
Does a photo inventory actually help with a claim?
Insurers and consumer bodies including the NAIC and the Insurance Information Institute commonly recommend keeping a photo-based inventory as supporting documentation for contents claims. It shows you documented things before the loss rather than reconstructing them afterwards. Always follow your own policy requirements, which vary.
Where is my inventory stored?
It is backed up in the cloud and synced across your devices, so it survives if your belongings do not. It is still worth exporting a PDF and keeping it somewhere separate, because the whole point is having a record that is not sitting inside the building it describes.
More ways to use iFoundIt
Be ready before you need it
Download iFoundIt free and document your belongings while you still can.
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