Home inventory app vs a notebook or printed checklist
A printed checklist is a great way to start a home inventory. Here's where paper works, where it doesn't after a loss, and how to use both.
The BoxTrack team · Facts checked · We make BoxTrackHome inventory app
A notebook or a printed checklist is how many people start their home inventory, and it's how several state insurance departments still present theirs: a printable sheet with a page per room.
At a glance
Home inventory app (BoxTrack)Where paper wins
- Free and simple. No account, no app, no learning curve.
- Easy to work through. Ticking boxes room by room keeps you moving.
- Good for planning. Even if you use an app, a checklist reminds you what to look for in each room.
Where paper fails
- It burns with the house. The whole point of an inventory is the day your home is damaged, stolen from or flooded. A notebook in a kitchen drawer is gone with everything else. Insurance guides say to keep a copy outside your home for exactly this reason.
- No photos. A line saying "TV" isn't proof of which TV.
- Hard to keep up. Adding new things means rewriting pages.
Pax is an AI. He knows BoxTrack and moving, not other apps, so check them on their own sites.
The details
Why this comparison+
Paper is fine. It has one big weakness.
What an app adds+
In BoxTrack, the list is stored online, so it's there if your phone or your home isn't. Each item has a photo, the date you added it, and its values, and AI fills in names and replacement values from your photos. You can add serial numbers and purchase dates, then make a PDF report to send your insurer.
Use both+
Print our free room-by-room home inventory checklist (no sign-up). Walk through the house with it, and photograph as you go. Then either keep the photos with the sheet, scanned into the cloud, or put them in an app.
BoxTrack's free plan covers 1 box with up to 5 items. A whole home needs a paid plan, with a 72-hour free trial.
About BoxTrack’s plans: the free plan is 1 box with up to 5 items, with every feature to try. On paid plans, Starter has up to 5 boxes and 10 AI photo scans a month; Plus has up to 49 boxes, unlimited AI scans (whole boxes too), the insurance PDF report, Excel and CSV export, sharing and custom fields; Unlimited adds unlimited boxes and Ask Pax, the AI assistant. New accounts get 72 hours free on any paid plan.