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Home inventory template
A spreadsheet is a practical place to start a home inventory, but a limited place to keep one. This template uses column names Stowcase recognizes so your television, record collection, and everything between them can be imported without retyping.
Download
The template, with eleven worked example rows.
A plain CSV. Opens in Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets, or anything else. The examples run from a television to a scheduled ring to a Blu-ray, so every column is shown filled in at least once. Delete them once you have seen the shape, keep the header row, and add your own.
The one column that routes everything
Name the collection, and the row lands there.
The vertical column says which collection a row belongs to, and it accepts any collection Stowcase holds — the whole house, not just the media shelves. Write the collection name in plain words or as a slug; Household Goods, household goods, and household-goods are all read the same way.
The valuable end
jewelry · watches · art · musical-instruments · coins · stamps · sneakers
Collections
trading-cards · memorabilia · sports-memorabilia · action-figures · lego-sets · statues · posters
Media and games
film_tv · music · book · video_game · board-games · comics · manga · ttrpg
Name a group rather than a shelf — other instead of electronics — and the row lands on the first shelf beneath it, which for other is Household Goods. Name something that is not a collection at all and the row is reported back to you on the review screen rather than filed somewhere arbitrary. Leave the column out entirely and Stowcase asks once what the file holds.
The columns
Four groups, and only title and vertical matter.
Only the title is strictly required, and vertical decides where the row lands. Everything else is optional: use the columns you have information for and delete the rest. A column you never fill in costs nothing, and a column you delete is not missed.
What it is
| Column label | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
vertical | Which collection the row belongs to. Any collection Stowcase holds. | electronics |
title | What the item is, specific enough to re-buy it. Required. | LG OLED C3 65-inch |
brand | Make or manufacturer. The first thing a replacement is priced from. | LG |
model_number | The manufacturer’s model. Needs a brand alongside it. | OLED65C34LA |
creator | Artist, author, director, or designer, where there is one. | Ridley Scott |
year | Year of the item, its release, or its manufacture. | 2023 |
format | Media collections only: Blu-ray, Vinyl, Hardcover, Cartridge. | Blu-ray |
condition | Free text. Matters on anything antique, collectible, or worn. | Excellent |
upc | Barcode. Format the column as Text so leading zeros survive Excel. | 024543627678 |
Where it is
| Column label | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
physical_location | The room. This is what the insurance report groups by. | Living room |
shelf | Shelf name or number within the room. | Shelf 3 |
row | Row within a shelf. | B |
box | Storage or moving box number. | Box 12 |
personal_id | Your own reference number, for cross-referring to paper records. | INV-00042 |
What it is worth, and what proves it
| Column label | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
serial_number | On anything that carries one. The field that makes a claim specific. | C02XK1JTJGH5 |
replacement_cost | What it costs to buy new today. The figure a replacement-cost policy pays against. | 1299.00 |
replacement_cost_source | Where that figure came from: user, retail, appraisal, or ai. | retail |
appraised_value | A professional valuation, where one exists. | 4800.00 |
appraised_at | The date of that appraisal. An undated figure is not a valuation. | 2026-03-14 |
appraiser | Who gave it, so the number has an author. | Halloran Fine Art |
scheduled | Whether the item is scheduled on a policy rider. Use yes or no. | no |
documented_at | When you last checked or photographed it. | 2026-09-01 |
What it cost, and what happened to it
| Column label | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
purchase_date | When you bought it. | 2024-11-02 |
price_purchase | What you paid. Currency symbols are fine; the number is read out of the cell. | 24.99 |
purchase_location | Store, seller, or site. | Local record shop |
price_sell | Your make-me-sell price. | 60.00 |
price_sold | What it actually sold for. | 35.00 |
sold_date | When it left. | 2026-08-02 |
no_longer_in_collection | Use yes to file a row as removed rather than owned. | no |
notes | Private notes: provenance, who it is promised to, anything the other columns cannot hold. | Gift from Sam |
Rules that save a re-import
Six conventions, all of them boring.
One item per row
A spreadsheet import creates a single copy per row. Six identical dining chairs are six rows, or one row you adjust in the app afterwards.
Dates as YYYY-MM-DD
Unambiguous in every locale and in every spreadsheet application. 03/04/2026 is not.
Yes or no for the yes/no columns
scheduled, sealed, and no_longer_in_collection all read yes, no, true, false, 1, or 0.
Identifiers formatted as Text
Excel strips leading zeros from a UPC or an ISBN the moment it decides the column is a number. Set the column to Text before pasting.
Leave unknown cells empty
An empty cell is understood as no answer. N/A is treated the same way, but empty is cleaner.
Keep the header row
The first row is the column names. Stowcase maps the ones it recognizes and asks about the rest, remembering your answers for next time.
Importing it
Four steps, once the file is ready.
- 01
In Stowcase, open Profile → Account → Import / Export and choose Import a file. CSV, TSV, XLSX, XLS, and JSON are all accepted, up to 20,000 rows and 25 MB.
- 02
Confirm what each column means. The template’s labels map themselves; anything you added by hand gets asked about once and remembered.
- 03
Review the proposed matches, correct a wrong one by searching the catalog, and drop anything you did not mean to bring.
- 04
Confirm. Every location and insurance column arrives with the items, so the insurance report has something to total the moment the import finishes.
Already have access? The import screen is at Profile → Account. Exporting works the same way in reverse, and an export can be re-imported unchanged.
Keep reading
The rest of the home inventory guides
Home inventory: what, why, and how
The whole idea in one page: what belongs in a home inventory, why an undocumented claim gets paid at the adjuster’s number instead of yours, and the room-by-room method that gets it finished.
Home inventory for insurance
What an adjuster actually asks for, how replacement cost differs from what you paid, which categories hit a policy sub-limit, and how to produce a schedule you can email.
Moving inventory list
Number the boxes, record what went in each one, and arrive with a list that settles a damage claim against a mover instead of an argument.
Estate inventory
List and value household contents for probate, an executor, or a family division while keeping one clear record.
Home inventory checklist
Room by room, the things people forget: the garage, the attic, what is inside closed drawers, and every serial number worth photographing.
Start your inventory