Home inventory: how to document your belongings

A home inventory is a record of what you own, with photos, purchase prices and receipts. It makes it easier to show your insurer what you had and what it cost if something is stolen, burns or is damaged by water. You don’t need to list every fork. Photos of every room and receipts for the things that are worth something go a long way.

Do you need a home inventory?

After a burglary or a fire, your insurer will ask what is gone. That is harder than it sounds. The Norwegian insurer Frende points out that photos and video make it easier to remember what you had if your home burns. Gjensidige does not require a list for ordinary household items, but says that claiming to have owned an expensive watch without a receipt or other proof is unlikely to succeed.

In short: photos of everything, and receipts for what costs a lot.

How to make a home inventory, step by step

1. Go room by room. Include the storage room, attic, basement, garage and any cabin or second home. Plan the round so you don’t miss anything.
2. Take overview shots and close-ups. Open cupboards and drawers, and photograph boxes and storage too.
3. Write down what is worth something: what it is, brand and model, when and where you bought it, and what it cost.
4. Photograph rating plates and serial numbers on electronics, and the warranty cards.
5. Collect the receipts. Scan or photograph receipts for expensive purchases. If the receipt is gone, look for a bank statement or an order confirmation e-mail.
6. Keep it all outside your home, in cloud storage. Paper and memory sticks can be lost in the same fire or burglary.
7. Keep it up to date. Add new things when you buy them, and do a round once a year.

What to record

Field	Example	Why
Room or place	Living room, garage, cabin	Helps you remember what was where
Item	55-inch TV	What it is
Brand and model	On the rating plate	Gives the right price for a new equivalent
Serial number	On the rating plate	Shows that this exact item was yours
Purchase date	29 Nov 2024	Age often decides the deduction in a claim
Bought from	Shop or online store	Makes the receipt easier to find again
Purchase price	999	Shows what it cost
Receipt	Yes, photo saved	The best proof you have
Photos	Overview and rating plate	Shows you had it, and its condition

Free template

Download the home inventory template (CSV). It opens in Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets, with the columns above and three examples you can delete. If you would rather write by hand, print the template as a PDF. Keep the finished list in cloud storage, together with the photos and receipts.

What people forget

• Bikes, sports gear and skis
• Tools and garden equipment in the garage and shed
• Clothes, shoes and bags
• Kitchen equipment, glasses and cutlery
• Chargers, headphones and other small electronics
• Heirlooms, jewellery and art
• Whatever is at the cabin or second home

Small things are cheap one by one, but they add up when everything has to be bought again.

Value and depreciation

Insurers usually start from what a similar item costs new today and deduct for age and wear. The rules differ between insurers and between kinds of items, and older things usually mean a larger deduction. That makes the purchase date almost as important as the price. Valuables such as jewellery, watches and art may need their own cover, and insurers often ask for more proof for them.

After something has happened

Tell your insurer as soon as you can, and report burglary and theft to the police. Photograph the damage before you clean up, and keep damaged items until your insurer tells you what to do with them. Policies and laws set deadlines for making a claim; in Norway, the Insurance Contracts Act (§ 8-5) says a claim must be reported within one year of learning the facts behind it.

A home inventory in HYSI

HYSI is an app made for this. You scan your things room by room, add the price, date and shop, and keep the receipt with the item. If something happens, you make an insurance report as a PDF straight from the app. It shows your things with photos, prices and receipts, sorted by where they were. For a claim, you can add what happened, the status of each item and photos of the damage. Your insurer decides what it accepts as proof, but a tidy record makes it easier to show what you owned. See an example insurance report (in Norwegian).