How could you prove the value of the items in your home if you suffered a cataclysmic event and had to file an insurance claim?
Remember, you are in shock but are expected to come up with a financial number that makes sense.
I hope this never happens to you and your family. It’s nauseating and painful and scary.
Finding out what your insurance coverage is AFTER a traumatic event is never the right time.
So make sure to talk to your insurance agent about what your policy really pays you in case you have to file a claim.
Now if you rent, it’s pretty straight forward. Renter’s insurance is usually a set dollar amount where you are given one lump sum if something happens to all your belongings. That’s why it’s important to do this exercise we’ll see in a minute.
If you are a homeowner, it’s a bit more complicated. Homeowner’s policies have different terms for replacing your lost possessions. Make sure you’ve talked it through with your agent so you know what is covered, what isn’t covered, and how much it’s covered.
With that in mind, here’s what you need to do this weekend…
Get your trusty video camera (or your handy-dandy smart phone) and stand 20 feet outside your front door.
Press the RECORD button.
Go inside and walk into the first room you come to.
Stand in the middle of the room. Slowly turn around 360 degrees. Make sure you are recording floor to ceiling. (0.6x mode captures the largest swath of stuff.)
Then go piece by piece of furniture. Narrate everything you see. Tell anything important about a particular item.
Open cabinet doors and film what’s inside.
Slide open drawers and record the contents.
Now go to the next room and repeat the process.
Keep going through your home room by room until you are done. (Don’t forget any attic storage or basement areas)
Then walk outside and film any outbuildings or garage items you have.
Don’t stop until you have walked and recorded every bit of ‘stuff’ you own.
Then you can hit the STOP button on your video.
This may take 30-45 minutes.
But it may be the best time investment you can make. Because you now have something that’s fantabulous…
PROOF.
Proof of everything you own. Down to where it sat.
And you aren’t quite done. You don’t want to keep this video just on your camera or your phone.
You want it someplace safe.
Put it on your laptop, but this is one of those important items that need to go on a portable USB drive that stays with you.
A USB drive like the Kingston Ironkey USB Flash Drive.
My Ironkey stays with me in my backpack that goes with me every time I leave the house. Since it’s encrypted with a password only my wife and I know, I don’t worry even if it fell into the wrong hands.
Get one for you and one for your spouse. Use the same password. My wife keeps hers in the bottom of her handbag (of course everything seems to go to the bottom of a woman’s handbag).
So spend some time filming your home and everything in it. Then put that video in multiple places.
And then pray you never have to file a claim.
Be Safe, Have Fun,
Darren Bayne
