How to Use PDFs for Home Contents Insurance Checklists.

A home contents inventory checklist is essential whether —

• you’re wanting to make sure you’ve got adequate home contents insurance cover
• you’re deciding whether to take out home contents insurance
• you’re making an insurance claim

Home contents checklists ensure you include and calculate everything you need to in your home for insurance purposes. By using PDFs for home content inventories, you can create a list with calculations. You can also take it to the next level and include everything an insurance company may ask for if you need to make a claim, such as receipts and photos.

What you’ll learn

• What a home contents checklist is and why create one?
• How to create a PDF home contents checklist
• Items to include in a home contents insurance checklist
• Keeping your insurance contents checklist secure
• When to update your home contents checklist

What is a home contents checklist or inventory?

A home contents inventory or checklist is a detailed list of household items usually compiled for insurance purposes. A basic checklist should include all your household contents, their costs, and the total value.

Home contents insurance checklists are the starting point when you're setting up insurance coverage. They are also useful if you ever need to make an insurance claim. Insurance companies will usually ask you for proof of the cost of your items being claimed and before and after pictures. Putting all this information into PDF files makes it easy to save, store and send the information as and when you need to.

How to create a PDF home contents checklist.

There are a few ways to create a PDF home contents checklist.

• Use a downloaded template and then edit and customize it to suit. Many insurance companies provide home contents templates as PDF files and other formats that you can use to get started. You can then use the features in Acrobat to edit and add your specific home content details.

• Use Excel or Word to create a home contents checklist and then convert to and from PDF. The layout and calculations you have set up in Excel or Word will transfer into your PDF file. PDF files take less digital storage space and are also easier to send and access from other devices and storage systems.

• Use Acrobat to create a home contents checklist from scratch. You can include a lot of interactive and dynamic features within an Acrobat PDF file. Do it from the get-go or when editing a converted document or template. Include calculations, interactive checkboxes, images, and copies of receipts as proof of purchase.

Items to include in a home contents insurance checklist.

An inventory of your home contents should include everything that you own and would take with you if you were moving house. So, that includes the contents of your home, garage, garden sheds, tools, and any outdoor furniture and items.

Home contents checklists are often created by room. This makes it easy to methodically work through everything usually kept in one room at a time. It’s also handy to have your household contents listed that way if you do ever need to make a claim and work through what has been damaged or lost.

Itemised checklist examples.

To get you started, some of the basic household items may include —

Living/dining room

• Furniture — lounge suites, tables, chairs, bookcases, display cabinets
• Decoration — paintings, photographs, indoor plants, ornaments, clocks, cushions
• Furnishings — rugs, curtains, throws
• Electrical goods — TV, music systems, portable heaters, lamps

Kitchen

• Appliances — fridge, freezer, microwave, dishwasher, toaster, kettle, etc.
• Food — frozen, fridge and pantry staples, drinks
• Cooking equipment — pots, pans, bowls, utensils
• Serve ware — crockery, cutlery, glassware
• Etc.

Laundry

• Appliances — washing machine, clothes dryer, iron, vacuum cleaner
• Cleaning equipment and supplies — broom, mop, detergents
• Clothes baskets, ironing boards, drying racks
• Etc.

Study/Home office

• Desk, chairs, filing cabinets, bookcases
• Computer equipment — devices, printers, monitors, portable storage
• Decoration — pictures, plants, rugs
• Etc.

Bathroom

• Toiletries and cosmetics
• First aid and medical supplies
• Electrical appliances — hairdryers, razors, hair straighteners
• Towels and bathroom accessories
• Etc.

Bedrooms

• Furniture — beds, drawers, seats
• Bedding and linen
• Decoration — pictures, plants, rugs
• Clothes and personal items such as jewellery
• Etc.

Garage, sheds, and storage areas

• Garden tools, power tools, ladders, lawnmowers
• Sports gear, bicycles, camping and barbecue equipment
• Luggage, prams, pushchairs, mobility equipment
• Etc.

Proof of purchase and images.

When you make a home contents insurance claim, your insurance company will want specific details. This will usually be what you paid for your item and some kind of proof of purchase. They may also ask for evidence of the condition of the items before and after you made the claim. For each item, this may include —

• the date of purchase
• the cost of the item
• where you purchased the item from
• serial numbers for appliances and electronics
• before and after photographs of items
• independent valuations of high-cost individual items

You can drop these images into your PDF or create links or notes on where to find them.

Receipts.

Use our free Acrobat Mobile Scanner app to scan your receipts directly into image or PDF files from your phone. Or take photos of receipts or use a desktop scanner or multifunction printer to scan paper copies.

Photos.

Insurance companies may ask you for photographs of your damaged or destroyed items or send an assessor to take photos. It can be helpful if you have photos that show the condition of your contents before any accidental damage or loss occurred.

Take general shots of each room as you compile your checklist. Or simply insert photos that you may already have taken that show particular items or a particular room. Take individual photos of expensive items and serial numbers and insert them into your insurance checklist.

From there, you can insert images into PDF files, convert images to PDF format and merge multiple PDF files such as your receipts and checklist into one file.

Keep your home contents checklist PDF secure.

Make sure you always have easy access to your contents inventory. If it comes to making a claim, you might need to access it at short notice at a stressful time.

It’s a good idea to keep a copy of your contents inventory outside of your home. Some suggestions for storing copies of home contents checklists include:

• Paper copies of PDF documents can, of course, be printed but they too can be damaged in the event of a major event at home such as fire or flooding. If you have an emergency supplies kit, or a grab bag, keep a paper copy there. Put copies of important documentation in a plastic bag with your emergency supplies, including insurance policy numbers.

• Electronic copies of PDF documents use very little space. Keep them in secure Acrobat cloud-based storage, on your mobile phone, on an external hard drive or USB, or a computer, laptop, or tablet. Use PDF features such as password protection to prevent unauthorised access.

Keep your PDF home contents inventory up to date.

Review your home contents inventory at least annually when your insurance policy comes up for renewal. Other times to review and update your insurance documentation are after purchasing new expensive items, and/or receiving birthday and Christmas gifts.

Related content.

Check out a few more articles we’ve written recently to help with your creation of an insurance checklist are —

• PDF Security: Protecting Sensitive Information
• PDFs in the Cloud: Accessing Your Documents Anywhere, Anytime
• Streamlining Family Life with PDF Forms