Track Your Belongings With A Home Inventory Checklist

Picture this, you planned ahead, researched packing hacks and carefully boxed up all your belongings. Moving day arrived, your movers loaded up their trucks and quickly got you resettled in your new home—just one problem. You can’t find your favorite photo album, or maybe it’s a treasured keepsake, device or another item.

Even with careful preparation and experienced movers, there’s a chance that items can go missing between your old space and new home. This can quickly dampen an excellent moving experience and cause headaches in the weeks you are settling into your new home.

To help avoid this, your expert moving team from Yarnall Moving & Storage Solutions will prepare and provide you with a moving manifest, which lists a complete tally of everything they were responsible for during your move. Before signing this document, you should cross-compare it with your list or a home inventory checklist. By taking this extra step, you can ensure all your things arrive on time and without damage.

What Is A Household Inventory and How Do I Create One?

Quite simply, a household inventory is a living document that archives all your personal belongings, including decorations, tangible assets, wardrobe and anything else that can be found around your home. There are various examples and templates of this kind of document online; however the most common is a checklist broken down by household categories. This kind of document is essential for moving but also can be used to file an insurance claim in the event of a natural disaster, burglary, or other misfortune.

Keeping up with all your possessions is not an easy task, especially for those constantly on the go or planning to move into a new home. However, by planning early and taking the time to inventory the items in your home carefully, you can bring much-needed order and organization to often arduous moving preparations.

Here is a short list of action items and tips you can take to begin creating your own household inventory:

• Go Room By Room – The items in your home are already sorted based on location, so start there. Move from room to room across your house and outdoor areas, note items and their approximate values.
• Make Copies of Important Documents – You should always have extra copies of important documents like birth certificates, lease agreements, deeds and other similar records. Make a physical copy of these and store them separately from the original. If you have a smartphone, take this one step further and scan and upload each document for an electronic, secure cloud-backed online repository.
• Don’t Forget Appliances – Often overlooked, the appliances in your home should be on your household inventory, especially if you plan on bringing them with you to a new home. These include washing machines, microwaves, smart light bulbs, etc.
• Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff – A household inventory is meant to make your life and move easier. There are plenty of things on your plate if you are preparing to move to a new house, so ensure your inventory doesn’t include items with little meaning or those easily/cheaply replaced. Yes, make sure you take stock of individual clothes, but maybe you don’t need to write down each pair of socks you own. The same goes for other areas of your home.
• Make Multiple Copies – The last thing you’ll want to occur is for your move’s date to arrive and then not to be able to find the household inventory you worked diligently to prepare. Avoid this pitfall by making several copies of the list and keeping them in a place where you can quickly locate them.

Pro Tip: In addition to a checklist, take photos of your possessions and store them in a safe, secure place, like an online cloud storage account.

Using Your Household Inventory on Moving Day

When your dedicated team of moving experts arrives on the day of your move, make sure to work with them to ensure everything on your list and the boxes that contain them get loaded onto the moving truck. Finally, once your items arrive at their destination and are unloaded, your expert moving team will provide you with a master moving manifest. Before signing this document, cross-check your household inventory list with the items, your moving team was responsible for.

You will be able to immediately identify if something has gone missing or been misplaced during the moving process by taking this extra step. It will allow for the problem to be addressed quickly and the missing item recovered, or at a minimum, provides you with the option to file an insurance claim for the value of the lost item.

Moving? We can help.

We pride ourselves on having a loyal, dedicated team of movers. On average, our moving team has been with Yarnall Moving & Storage Solutions for more than 17 years. And over the decades, we have changed with the times and expanded to offer needed services. As problem-solvers, we help customers overcome their unique moving and storage challenges. We’re here to help every step of the way. Learn how.