Home inventories might seem like the domain of the fabulously wealthy and obsessive collectors. Perhaps you envision a wealthy friend greedily taking stock of each and every possession, or roll your eyes at your neighbor polishing his Star Trek memorabilia. Home inventories are truly for everyone, and taking one now may be one of the best things you can do to protect your financial well-being. Taking a home inventory can be easy if you use the best home inventory app. 

ItemEyes makes the process easy. Take just a few photos and quickly tag everything–no need for complex spreadsheets and endless combing through boxes of stuff. Here’s why the time to take that inventory is now. 

Everything has a story. Tell it. 

Every single possession in your home has a story–the shoes you bought on a whim while grieving a breakup; the comforting dress you wore to your mom’s funeral; the bread box you inherited from your great grandmother. These stories matter. 

In Louise Erdrich’s The Painted Drum, one character memorializes every loss in her life by pinning a note to the handkerchief she took with her to the funeral. The result is a literal box full of sorrows–a treasured reminder of the joy and suffering of a human life. 

You don’t have to go this far. But an inventory can help frame the story of your possessions, and your life. Your heirs will no longer see just a ring or a row of books on a shelf, but a legacy you’ve built. Your inventory can be a starting point for the stories your heirs will tell for generations. 

Planning for an inheritance–or giving it away now 

Speaking of heirs, have you considered who is going to get all your stuff when you die? Rather than leaving it all to one person or counting on the kids to split it up, the right home inventory app can help you designate special gifts for everyone you love. All you need is a few photos. But ItemEyes allows you to do more–tag possessions, tell stories, share the information with loved ones. 

And while you’re at it, maybe you’re ready to part with Great Aunt Millie’s 100-year-old silver now. An inventory may just encourage you to give gifts to your loved ones and watch them enjoy those gifts while you’re still able to. 

An insurance inventory 

Floods, fires, and hurricanes might seem like things that happen only to the profoundly lucky. The reality is sobering. In 2021 alone, natural disasters hit roughly 1 in 10 American homes. Insurance can help you pick up the pieces if the worst happens. Most Americans do not adequately insure their property. 

If you don’t already have your possessions insured, that needs to change. And even if you do, you may not have enough insurance to cover their full value. A home inventory helps you get real about how much you might lose if a fire or natural disaster struck your home. 

Reducing spending and clutter 

It’s easy to forget everything you have, particularly if you’ve lived in your home for a while. An inventory encourages you to really notice your possessions. This may reduce spending, support your plans to declutter, and help you appreciate–and better care for–that which you already have. 

Our possessions aren’t everything, and we can’t take them with us. Still, they help shape the story of who we are, and can even influence who we become. 

Treat your possessions like they matter, because they do. ItemEyes can help you make your home inventory today. Available for Apple and Android.