Keep Your Valuables Safe
After the security of yourself, your family and your pets, the next most important safety issue is the protection of valuable belongings. These may include costly items such as jewelry and fine art, financial documents, and sentimental and often irreplaceable belongings such as photographs and collectibles.
Make the protection and preservation of your cherished possessions a priority. Protecting your valuables becomes priceless in avoiding a loss, whether it is from theft, fire, or an unforeseen natural disaster. Here are some invaluable tips for safeguarding your valuables.
Items of high intrinsic value
Jewelry, art, furs, antiques, heirlooms, china, collections
Valuables of all kinds should be cared for with special attention, to ensure you will be able to enjoy them for years to come.
Document.
A detailed inventory is essential for valuation and insurance purposes. Keep original receipts whenever possible, and create an inventory with the following information for each piece: Date of acquisition, where purchased, make and model, original price, description of item, provenance (for antiques and art), current valuation, location of item. Photographs and videos are excellent additions to the inventory. Download our home valuable inventory worksheet for easy tracking.
Insure.
Costly possessions should be covered by special riders to your homeowner’s insurance.
Protect.
Keep small pieces such as jewelry in a high quality home safe, or in a safe deposit box at your bank. Protect more prominent pieces appropriately; for example, using display cases to guard against casual theft or accidental breakage.
Maintain.
If you have valuable furniture and antiques, invest some time in learning about the maintenance they require to be kept in good condition. Proper care will enhance their beauty and value, and extend their life.
Important documents
Wills, legal papers, passports, birth certificates, insurance policies, property titles, military discharge papers, etc.
Legal and financial documents can be very difficult to reconstruct or replace, so now is the time to get organized and file your paperwork appropriately.
Locate.
Do you know where all your critical papers are? The first step is to sort through your files to locate everything of this nature. Then make a list of the documents, noting document type, ID numbers, dates, addresses, location, and other pertinent data.
Store.
While it is wise to store the originals of most of these documents in a safe deposit box at the bank, you may find you need to refer to them from time to time, so keep copies in a file at home. Keep your home and valuables inventories in the safe deposit box too.
Exceptions to the safe deposit box rule are papers that might be needed in an emergency, such as wills and medical directives. Keep the originals, along with the keys to your safe deposit box, at your lawyer’s office or in a secure place in your home. Make sure you tell your next of kin where to find them.
If you choose to keep any original documents at home, be sure to put them in a fireproof safe—preferably a hidden safe that burglars can’t access.
Irreplaceable items
Photographs, delicate memorabilia
Flood, fire, hurricane … disaster can strike almost any time, wiping out a lifetime of memories. Fortunately, with today’s digital technologies, a backup collection of your photographs and home movies can be created and safely stored on digital media offsite, or even online.
Although it is time-consuming to scan old photos, the effort is worth it to preserve unique and precious images. Digital photo labs can transfer images from film negatives onto CD-ROMs for a surprisingly low cost. Place your photos in archival quality albums and boxes, and place these, along with other delicate items, inside plastic containers with well-fitting lids to minimize the chance of water damage. Store in a cool, dark, dry location—an indoor closet or bookshelf is ideal.
*Content expressed in Home Security Source does not represent the thoughts and opinions of ADT Security Services, Inc. unless explicitly indicated.