If you are ever a victim of a burglary or house fire, the one thing that insurance companies need to know is what things were taken or destroyed in order for them to cover your losses.
This article will highlight some of the important things you need to document for the insurance companies.
It is a good idea to document any high ticket item that is difficult to replace or irreplaceable.
Any high ticket or irreplaceable item makes a good candidate for engraving or photographing.
If you are too lazy to do this yourself, you can hire home inventory services anywhere.
They come to your house, take pictures of your expensive belongings, and document them for you for a fee.
Otherwise you should etch or photograph anything you think somebody could use to pawn off at a pawn shop.
Marking your belongings makes them a lesser target for theft and a lot more difficult to pawn or sell in the black market.
Here is a general list of items I think you need to document in your home inventory.
The following items should be etched, marked, labeled, and/or photographed:

• TV's
• Stereos
• Sporting goods such as bicycles, fishing poles, hockey equipment, and so on.
  
• Tools
• Power tools such as chain saws, lawn mowers, etc.
  
• Expensive clocks, watches, or time pieces
• Musical instruments such as pianos, saxophones, drums, guitars, and so on
• Radios
• Household appliances such as rice cookers, gas grills, juicers, and so on
• Cameras, VHS video cameras, digital video cameras, binoculars, Ipods, MP3 players, and so on.
  
• Firearms including pistols, revolvers, shotguns, and rifles
• Computer equipment such as desktops, laptops, monitors, scanners, etc.
  

The following is a list of items that you should definitely photograph for your home inventory:

• Jewelry and expensive wristwatches
• Fur coats and expensive clothing such a Ralph Lauren shoes
• Antique items such as your grandmother's old flour sifter whose manufacturer went out of business 30 years go
• Expensive artwork
• Oriental rugs that have unique designs
• Any gold or silver

One of the best things you can do to document your belongings is to write down the make, model, model number, serial number, and identification number of any appliance or electronic item you buy.
Those registration cards that normally come with your newly bought item were not meant for simply verifying your warranty, but rather identifying the ownership of that item.
Keeping record of an expensive electronic item such as a laptop can help authorities trace your property in the event of theft.
Now that many manufacturers are hooked up to the web, the consumer can now register their item on the manufacturer's website whether he has a Canon camera or a Cannondale racing bike.
Many computer manufacturers are following suit by providing the consumer with online registration of their electronic items.