Missed the other posts in this series? Read them here.
Guest post from Mandy White
Today is Day 4 of Organizing Your Important Documents, and marks our last section: Property Information. On Monday, we will go over some suggestions and tips for putting everything together, but the hard parts of gathering and compiling are nearly through.
Once again, please make sure you are using a secure computer or hand-writing this information. Let’s get started!
Home
Property Deed or Lease Agreement
Mortgage/lease information
Mortgage/lease holder contact information
Monthly payment amount and due date
Start date and term length of mortgage/lease
Home or Rental Insurance policy, and agent contact information
Property Tax information
Inventory of major household items (excluding electronics; be sure to include jewelry, art, and major household appliances like the Central AC/Heating Unit)
Item description, Serial Number, Year purchased
Replacement value and receipt (if you have it)
Warranty and repair information
List of major renovations or upgrades
Project, Date, Cost of projects
Contractor’s contact information (if applicable)
Vehicles
Vehicle Title
Insurance
Insurance company and agent contact information
Policy
COPY of your insurance ID card
Motor Vehicle Division information and COPY of vehicle registration
Note: PLEASE don’t put your actual registration in here! That needs to remain in your vehicle, along with your original insurance ID card.
Maintenance/repair receipts
Any other vehicle documents (such as Bill of Sale)
Computer(s)
Software registrations and key codes
Wi-fi password
Backup of your computer, updated regularly
We were extremely blessed to receive a travel hard-drive for Christmas to use to backup our computer. It is designed for this exact purpose, and came with the software to do so already loaded. However, travel hard-drives aren’t exactly cheap, so watch for sales, or think about requesting one as a gift. If you participate in the rewards programs from the office supply stores, you might want to save up enough points to purchase one.
As great as travel hard-drives are, using flash drives, or even DVD’s are also effective backup methods, and less expensive. You just want to make sure your pictures and data are protected from loss. Because our travel hard-drive is kind of bulky (about the size of a large smart phone), I keep it in a zippered pocket in the “Brain Book Supplement”. This is a second book that is specifically for bulky items. I will give you more information on it tomorrow.
Electronics
Inventory of electronic items
Item description
Serial Number
Year purchased
Replacement value and receipt (if you have it)
Warranty and repair information
If you like, you may download a printable version of this index (for personal use only).
Tomorrow, we will finish up with some final notes and tips for putting everything together.
Mandy White is blessed to be a stay-at-home wife and mother. She and her amazing husband have three amazing kids. She loves to serve others, and her favorite time of year is fall. Unfortunately, in Arizona, fall doesn’t start until November!
Thank you Mandy and Crystal so much for this series! My husband has pretty much handled all the bill paying, banking, investing, and insurance needs in our house during our 40 year marriage. I have been so concerned as to what I would do if something happened to him. Well, I have started on the journey of getting our important documents organized (thanks to the two of you) and I feel so empowered by the knowledge that I have gained. I sure hope a lot of families will take advantage of the guidance and knowledge that has been shared on this important topic. Thank you, again.
Thanks for this series of posts! This has been the motivation I need to finally get all this info together and take a better inventory of our household items.
Although, the husband has been much help with the replacement value on his instruments. His default answer is “It’s priceless!” followed by a look of shock and horror that anything bad could ever happen to his “babies” haha.
That makes me laugh – thanks!
I am so glad you are liking it!
Thanks for sharing the photos of your files. Though surprised how thin they are with all the documents you listed. Do you place each item in a plastic sheet protector, or do you punch holes in each sheet? Just asking because there would be lots of policies, mortgages, and statements in addition to the summary pages. Appreciating this series!
Pictures can be deceiving! The bottom one is a 3″ binder, and the one on top is a 2 1/2″ binder. I am contemplating moving both of them up to 4″ binders in the near future!
No, I don’t punch holes in anything. I will go into this a little more on Monday, but I use regular sheet protectors for most papers, and then I use Multi-page sheet protectors that I ordered off of Amazon to hold insurance policies, etc.
Thanks, Mandy, for the clarifications. I can see how your documents would fit in the 4″ binders. Though I prefer the accordion file, I like the ease of the binder method. The special sheet protectors is a little negative, but investing in your documents is using time wisely! 😉
Thanks for the photos of your files. I guess I had assumed they would be larger. Are all the items kept in sheet protectors? I am assuming you don’t punch holes in your policies, mortgages, and insurance documents. Appreciate you sharing your files.
This is so helpful. Thank you! Would love tips on category of “major household items”. It seems this could be a notebook all by itself if I included all appliances, furniture, jewelry and electronics.
I am so glad you are enjoying it! I don’t have a whole lot of jewelry or electronics, so I left it pretty vague. However, I would include anything that you would want to make an insurance claim for if it were stolen or destroyed in a fire – art, expensive electronics, fine jewelry, musical instruments, etc.
Hope that helps!