Storm Season – Be Ready: A photographer’s guide to documenting your belongings for insurance.

Here in Virginia, hurricane season starts June 1 and usually lasts until November 30. So now is the time you need to start preparing for it. Especially if you need to update your insurance policy for coverage but have to wait at least 30 days for it to become effective.

Sure, you know about having; a disaster plan, your hurricane ‘kit’, and being ready in case you must implement your emergency plans. But, did you know that what happens after the disaster is just as important?

We all have ‘keepsakes’ that are precious to us and usually those are the first things we think of when thinking of insurance value. But did you know that the items we use everyday could be just as, if not more valuable? Think about that for a minute. Imagine if you had to replace it all. Your dishes, couch, dining room table, utensils… the list goes on.  These are your household inventory and assets and documenting them now, before the risk of danger, is so vitally important.

Protecting Yourself with Documenting your inventory

There are a number of ways to do this and you might want to use more than one.

1. Walk through your house room-by-room and take clear sharp pictures of them and the contents in them.
2. Video your path as you walk through your house capturing each room and what’s in it
3. Write a list of everything that’s in each room.

Helpful Tips on Photographing Household Inventory

• Show context. Don’t just show a close up of a chair.  Show where in the room it is and what’s around it. Then work on showing the chair’s details.
• You may want to close the curtains before you start your walkthrough. You want even lighting as you photograph your belongings. If the sun is shining brightly your camera/phone will try to adjust for the different lighting and will lag before taking the pic. This can cause blurry and unsharp photos.
• Don’t be afraid to turn on your flash. You want the picture to be well lit and minimize the amount of contrast.
• If you’re videoing, try to hold the camera/phone steady and don’t move it around quickly. Slowly pan around the room to show its contents. Zoom with your feet. By that I mean, walk slowly to the item you want to fill the frame with rather than using the zoom feature.
• When photographing jewelry try to fill the frame. In other words, make sure the viewer can see the details in the jewelry and not just some small blob that you’re saying is great great grandma’s diamond ring that’s been passed down.
• When photographing furniture get more than one picture. Show it from different angles and heights.
• Don’t forget the outside; garage, patio set, pool, swing set, barbecue…

I got the pictures, now what?

First, review them with a friend or better yet, your insurance agent. Are they clear, sharp and leave no doubt what the picture is about? Sure, you know its your sofa with the genuine leather, brass tacked seams. But does someone just looking at the picture know that? That’s why you want someone else to see them too. If it’s not clear what you’re trying to show here, go back and take another picture of it.

Now save those pictures. Copy them to a CD/DVD, Flash Drive, Cloud Storage and I recommend to also print them. I’d recommend making 4”x6” or larger prints of each item. Make at least two copies of the digital media and the prints.

Store the second copy of the digital media and prints someplace safe away from your home. You can put them in a bank safety deposit box, mail them to a trusted distant friend/relative to keep safe for you. Give a copy to your insurance agent. The point is, don’t just have one copy in your house. You never know what may happen.

And now all you have to do is update them whenever you get something new. This is a living archive of your assets and you’ll want to keep it current. Add new items and delete (archive) those you no longer own. Keeping it current will be a whole lot easier than you might think.

Is this your first time here? You can get to know a little more about me here. If you liked this, you may also be interested in a post I wrote about keeping your child safe.

I hope these tips help you. Let me know in the comments below if you try any and how they worked for you. I’d love to know.

Oh, and if they did, then pass this on to a friend and help them too!