Now’s a great time to create a home inventory

​With new routines, many of us are longing for that sense of accomplishment that our (temporarily on hold) normal activities provide. If you'd like an at-home task to fill the void, we have a suggestion you can feel great about: Make or update an inventory of your personal belongings.

A room-by-room record of your possessions can be invaluable if you ever need to file an insurance claim. Try this test: Without looking, try to list everything in a single closet. You'd miss a lot, right? And that means your insurance couldn't help you recover everything that's rightfully yours after a fire, theft or other major loss. But fortunately, with an inventory, it would be easy!

Fewer than half of us have a home inventory and, according to the Insurance Information Institute, that number is even lower (37%) for Millennials.

You can use an inventory worksheet (here's ours) or an app like MyHOME Scr.APP.book (from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners) for Android and iPhone. You also can make a DIY video on your phone, and this quick video tells you how. The important thing is to capture everything you have and then update your inventory as you replace or buy new items.

You can break your inventory into manageable chunks (a room per day, for example). If you stick with it, before long, you'll have an invaluable record that can help you worry less and live more.