House contents - value??

[Piglet]

We have to go through a crazy exercise in inventorying our house contents. We are moving to the US for a year and were told by the moving company that we must provide a detailed inventory of all our belongings. We must assign a value as well as an amount to EVERYTHING! This exercise is for the return customs - there are very strict limits on imports to Canada - $750 per person even if you are gone a whole year. The moving company told me that if I don't itemize everything then I will not be able to bring anything new back with me. In reading the fine print, it seems I am allowed to replace broken/worn items, but not purchase anything new above the $750 per person. This is making the inventory process a major challenge. So I have now diligently counted my socks (40 pairs), pajamas (10 pairs), underwear, skirts, pants, blazers, etc. Don't even get me started on my shoes.... ugh!

So, my question to the moms of the BBB - what do you approximate the value of these things? What about kitchen contents? What is the total sum of all your appliances, cutlery, dishes, cups, etc.? What about the toys? 3 kids worth of used clothes? Is there a website for these types of calculations?

HELP!!

[KBecks]

That sounds like a mammoth project!!! Are you supposed to do replacement value or actual value of your used stuff? I have done a home inventory for insurance stuff in Quicken but I guesstimate and use purchase price for a lot of things like our furniture, etc. I estimated on things like dishes, silverware, etc and clothing.

I would try to save some time -- can you do quick counts while you are packing? I would probably estimate a little high. A lot of it is guessing but if a new pair of jeans is $60 then I'd put $60 for each pair of jeans, etc.

I think as long as you are close you should be good, what is the downside if you are a little off? I'd try to figure the consequences and then decide how accurate you need to be in the reporting. Do the best you can and I wouldn't sweat the estimating a whole lot.

ETA You could look at online shopping sites to see what new things cost if that helps you as well.

[ThreeofUs]

Wow. Sounds like quite the exercise.

Ebay is a good place for finding the value of used items. You could also just use a standard depreciation per year. There should be a government form on this, though, that would tell you the acceptable means to do this.

ITA with Karen - estimate high. You will also be able to use this for other purposes. Say, if the movers mess up your move and deliver 1/2 your load to Siberia or something, as well as for homeowner's/renter's insurance.

You may want to back it up with a video to show condition.

[MommyAllison]

Ugh that sounds like no fun! Will you have to do it again when you return? Or how do they determine if you are within the $750 per person? (Sorry, that's just a question - I have no advice! :) )

[Piglet]

Yes, we have to do it on return, but that is why we are doing so much of it right now. For the return, all we have to do is track our purchases/disposals through the year. This opening inventory is the hard part so that we don't have a headache on the return. I spoke with a friend that went down to San Diego for 4 years and he confirmed that there is no such thing as too detailed when it comes to customs and to have a very thorough inventory... yuck!

[bubbaray]

You're being relocated for corporate purposes, yes? There are corporate relocations firms that will do this for you. YOU shouldn't have to do it -- they will do it as part of your move.

[Neatfreak]

Our moving company was confident that it was fine for us to group items for value estimates, so we estimated the values our wardrobes as an entirety, estimated the value of all of our books as an entirety (but if DH had a mink coat or I had a valuable antique book, those items would have required a separate listing on our inventory list). I used a lot of replacement value for kitchen items and toys.

The valuation inventory was the worst part of our move prep. I purged as much stuff as I could just so that I wouldn't have to think of it ever again.

[Piglet]

No, we were told that it was our responsibility, since it would be our responsibility to pay the customs. The company is providing the insurance for the move, so they would accept a less than detailed lump sum for the contents valuation, but they said that customs could be a lot trickier :(

[Piglet]

That is good to know. I already drew the line on inventorying the kids clothes and toys. I just wrote 12 buckets of kids clothes at $500 per bucket or whatever seemed reasonable. I think I underestimated the toys, but I really have no plans to buy more toys for a good long time and look forward to an excuse to purge!

[Neatfreak]

You're being relocated for corporate purposes, yes? There are corporate relocations firms that will do this for you. YOU shouldn't have to do it -- they will do it as part of your move.

We also were responsible for doing our own inventory list. The corporate relocation company (MI Group, in case anyone is interested) merely gave us the forms they wanted us to use, and the stickers were were supposed to put on all of our stuff.

[Piglet]

That is the same company we are using. I am PMing you :)

[bubbaray]

We also were responsible for doing our own inventory list. The corporate relocation company (MI Group, in case anyone is interested) merely gave us the forms they wanted us to use, and the stickers were were supposed to put on all of our stuff.


A good friend of mine used to do sales for a different relocation company. I'm 99.9% sure that that company had staff to do the inventory lists. I mean, its not like executives have time to do their own, KWIM? It might be that it costs more and whether or not an employee is offered this service depends on their "rank" in the organization.

[Neatfreak]

That would be a very helpful service, but I am not sure that the company we were given use of does that - the VP that my DH reported to moved to Bangkok the year before we did, and he and his family had to submit their own list. It's a mult-inational, not a small company, either.

Would there be any liability issues with a third party doing the work?