How much are your home contents worth? Why most homes are underinsured
The insured sum in your contents policy is probably a guess — and guesses run low. Here is how to estimate what you actually own, and what the gap costs.
Somewhere in your insurance policy sits a number: the sum your home contents are insured for. Ask most people where that number came from and the answer is a shrug — a default the insurer suggested, a guess made years ago, or whatever the previous policy said. Yet that number decides what you get back after a fire or burglary, and guessed numbers run low. Almost always.
Why guesses always run low
Estimating contents value from memory fails for a predictable reason: you remember the highlights and forget the bulk. The TV and the sofa come to mind. The rest does not:
Clothes and shoes — a family's full wardrobe reaches serious money at replacement prices, and none of it feels like "valuables" until it all has to be re-bought at once.
The kitchen — cookware, small appliances, glassware, the contents of every drawer. Rarely one expensive item; always hundreds of cheap ones.
Hobbies and sport — bikes, skis, instruments, camera gear, tools. Often the most expensive things in the home after the electronics.
The invisible layers — bedding, towels, curtains, books, toys, decorations. Things you would never think to list, but would absolutely have to replace.
Replacement cost is what a new equivalent costs today — not what you paid years ago, and not what the worn item would fetch second-hand. Summed honestly, the total surprises almost everyone.
The afternoon method
You do not need an appraiser to get a defensible number — an afternoon and a systematic walk through the home gets you within range:
Estimate your contents in an afternoon
Walk one room at a time
Stand in the doorway and price what you can see: furniture, electronics, everything on the walls and shelves. Work in rough ranges — covering every room matters far more than precision in any one of them.
Open everything that closes
Wardrobes, drawers, the attic, the garage. This is where the forgotten half of your contents lives. Count categories — "all the winter clothes, roughly…" — instead of single items, or you will never finish.
Price replacement, not purchase
Use today's price for a new equivalent, not the faded memory of what you paid. Your policy decides whether claims settle at replacement cost or depreciated value — but the estimate should start from what re-buying would cost.
Single out the valuables
Jewellery, watches, art, instruments, collections: many policies cap what they pay per single item and expect valuables to be listed or insured separately. Your estimate should show which items push those limits.
Compare the total with your policy
Put the sum next to the insured amount in your policy. If the policy number is lower, that gap is exactly what you stand to lose on the day everything must be replaced at once.
What underinsurance actually costs
Being underinsured does not just cap the payout at the insured sum. Many policies apply a proportional rule: if your contents are insured for half of what they are worth, claims can be settled at half — including the small ones. How this works varies by policy and country, so check yours; the direction, however, never varies. The gap costs you at claim time, not before.
The fix is undramatic — most insurers adjust the insured sum with a phone call or a form. The hard part is knowing the real number. That is an inventory problem, not an insurance problem.
Where iTems fits
iTems turns the one-off estimate into a number that stays current: add belongings with the camera in seconds, let AI fill in details and values from photos and receipts, and the reports feature keeps a running total of what everything is worth — for the whole home or room by room. When the renewal letter arrives, the real number is one tap away instead of an afternoon of guessing.
Find out what your things are actually worth
Free to download — price one room today and see how far off the guess was.
