Spring Cleaning: Decluttering and Taking Inventory of Your Belongings

This year, spring has arrived at our doorstep a little earlier than usual. With spring comes spring cleaning! It’s the perfect time to clean all the rooms in the house, but also to take the time to sort through what is still useful and what we could part with. The goal is not to live with as few items as possible, but to ensure that those you own contribute positively to your life. You can sell some items or even give them away on Buy Nothing groups or to charity organizations.

We all tend to accumulate far too many things over the years. Conducting an annual sorting is a good way to declutter your property.!

Inventory of Your Belongings

This year, add a step to your spring cleaning: take inventory of your belongings. Why? In the event of a disaster, your insurance company will ask you to estimate the overall value of all your belongings in order to adequately compensate you. It is therefore easier to assess the value of your belongings and make a complete list of them when they are in front of you.

Here are the steps to follow to ensure nothing is forgotten:

• Make a list of all the rooms and storage spaces in the house.
• For each room and space, detail the items that are found there.
• To facilitate the process, make the list for each family member and the list of common belongings.
  • Furniture
  • Appliances and small kitchen appliances
  • Electronic devices
  • Valuables such as jewelry, artworks, musical instruments
  • Clothing and accessories
  • Sports equipment
  • Outdoor furniture

• Take photos and videos of the most important belongings to facilitate the claims process in case of a disaster. It is always easier for insurers to work with concrete evidence. Ensure that these photos and videos are easily accessible if you do not have access to your phone or computer. You can also send them to a trusted person, store them in your emails, or in a cloud storage service, for example.
• For each item, determine its replacement value. To do this, it is recommended to consult experts, professional appraisers, or insurance brokers, for example. They can help you estimate the current value of your belongings, taking into account their age, condition, and market value.Gardez votre liste dans un endroit sécuritaire, en version papier et électronique. Il est aussi recommandé de donner une copie papier à quelqu’un de confiance. 
• Finally, update your list annually to ensure nothing is overlooked.

Although we don’t wish for any disasters to occur, it’s always better to be prepared to face them! Having an inventory of your belongings on hand will save you from many headaches in the event of a disaster!