Home / Protect Your Claim

The 30-minute routine that beats "insufficient documentation"

The most reversible denial reason in insurance has a one-afternoon cure. Do this once, and no adjuster ever gets to tell you that you can't prove what you owned.

The routine

1. Walk every room with your phone's camera. Slow video, closets open, drawers open. Narrate big-ticket items. This alone defeats most "prove you owned it" arguments.
2. Photograph serial numbers on electronics, appliances, and power tools. One close-up each.
3. Gather receipts. Photograph or screenshot receipts for anything worth real money. Email confirmations count — forward them to one folder.
4. Shoot the "before" of your home's exterior. Roof, walls, foundation, yard. After a storm, these become your most valuable photos.
5. Write down the big numbers. Purchase price and date for the expensive stuff. Approximate is fine; documented beats perfect.
6. Store it where disaster can't reach it. Not in a drawer, not on one phone. Cloud storage or an app built for this — a house fire shouldn't be able to eat your proof.

Keep it alive

When you buy something big, spend 60 seconds: photo, receipt, serial number, done. Twice a year, re-walk the rooms. That's the entire maintenance program.

Educational content, not legal or insurance advice.