The words behind the numbers

Tuesday's post offered some statistics to support the need for a personal property inventory when considering disaster preparedness and recovery. A lot of people like to see numbers; others prefer to hear reasons behind or a result of these numbers. Here's some information that will help you see why everyone should have documentation of what they own.

When facing the arduous task of compiling an inventory for loss recovery, there is another aspect to be considered. These are emotionally draining times, and the opportunity to forget items or not be able think clearly is high. Often people just quit counting, listing and reporting items because they just want to be done with it all. They just stop the tiring act of thinking and doing their best to remember what they used to have! Preparing an inventory in advance will lessen the stress and reduce the time spent submitting the information required by the insurance company.

The first time we were burglarized, the shock and frustration was worse than the financial loss since only a few items were taken. But even for these 9 items, we spent an entire weekend just finding "like" items in the newspaper ads and physically going "shopping" to get pricing. We were told if we had an inventory (a list and photos) we wouldn't have had to do that. The second time we were burglarized ... well, that's for another post.

It is quite evident how important an inventory is for both a residence and a business. The photos help prove ownership and the written report provides the details required. The time and stress lessened or removed by having this information will prove a return on investment (ROI) on the time and cost it takes to compile a personal property inventory.