Here is a Guest Post Written by: Joel Stanier

How much would it cost to replace all the things in your home? £10,000? £50,000? More?

When you start to think carefully about all the things you own, it can add up to a lot more than you may have guessed.

That’s a problem for around one in four households in the UK, according to research by Direct Line. Around 6.8 million households don’t have an adequate level of home insurance, meaning that in the event of flooding or a house fire they might not be able to afford to replace everything.

It’s easy to underestimate how much all your belongings cost. Price inflation is one reason this can happen – many people don’t realise that the items in their home may be worth more now than they were back then.

Why it’s important

It’s not just a matter of being unable to replace all your belongings. Some insurers have a clause called ‘condition of average’, which means that if you underestimate the value of your home’s contents, you may not receive the full amount you are insured for.
For example, if you are insured for £20,000 but it turns out your home contents are actually worth £40,000 in total, you may only receive half the amount you actually claim for.

How to make sure you’re prop, you’ll need to work out the approximate value of all your home’s contents. This will take a little time, but it’s time well spent.

There are plenty of home contents calculators available online, but these can only give you another rough estimate. It’s better to have a proper look at the things in your home.

It’s a simple matter of going from room to room with a notepad, making a generous estimate of how much each item would cost to replace. The word ‘generous’ is key here – you don’t want to guess too low and end up underinsured.

This is easy enough for things you’ve recently bought, but for older items – say, a 10-year-old sofa or cooker – you might want to look up how much those things would cost today.

And don’t forget that ‘home contents’ also includes any unfixed furnishing – including carpets, curtains and even wall coverings.

Fixed furnishings, like cupboards, worktops and built-in wardrobes will be covered by your home buildings insurance instead.