Next, determine the value of your personal property. To properly make a determination, you must list every piece of furniture and fixture within your home. Some insurance companies provide household inventory schedules to help you. As you compile your inventory you should supplement it with receipts indicating the purchase price and date of purchase and photographs of major items. Your inventory should be updated on an annual basis, or at the very least, whenever you purchase a large appliance or piece of furniture.
Some people periodically videotape all their possessions.
You may also want to verbally describe major items. Store the videotape in a safe place away from your home. Now you must decide whether to purchase coverage on an actual cash value or replacement cost basis. If your sofa is five years old and is destroyed in a fire, a replacement policy would cover you for the full value of a new sofa that is of a like kind and quality. Then, when you suffer a loss, your insurer would pay you the amount it would cost to replace or repair your home without deducting anything for depreciation.