Household document inventory: printable checklist + CSV

Household document inventory kit: what exists, where the original is, where the copy is

Updated September 6, 2026

Before folders and labels comes a simpler question: what do we actually have, and where is it? This kit answers it on one sheet, then shows you the gaps: paper-only originals, papers nobody can place, dates nobody wrote down.

Every filing system fails the same way: it organizes the documents you remembered, in the place you were standing. An inventory comes first because it asks a smaller question than "how should I organize this?" It asks "what do we have, and where is it?" Twenty minutes answers it, and the answer shows you the gaps before a flooded basement or a lost passport does.

What is in the kit

A checklist (below, printable) for running the inventory group by group.
A CSV template listing the common household documents in eight groups, with columns for where the original is, whether a digital copy exists, the expiry date and a note. One row is filled in as an example.
The interactive version. The household document inventory tool covers the same 39 documents, works out the gap list for you, and exports both the CSV and a calendar file for the dated items. Use whichever you will actually finish.

The three questions per document

Where is the original? Home folder, safe, bank box, with a lawyer or relative, digital only, or "not sure." The last answer is the most useful one you can write, because it is the gap. A document you own but cannot place is, for practical purposes, a document you do not have.

Does a digital copy exist? Not "somewhere on a computer" but a copy you could open on your phone in the next minute. A single paper original is one flood, fire or move away from gone. The guide on backing up important documents explains the 3-2-1 version of this; for the inventory, a yes or no is enough.

When does it expire? About a dozen household documents carry dates: passports, ID cards, licences, permits, insurance, inspections, vaccinations, certifications. Write the date; the expiration dates checklist says how far ahead to act on each.

The gaps, in order

When the sheet is filled, three kinds of row stand out.

Paper-only originals. Birth and marriage certificates, the deed, the will, diplomas. Photograph them this week; it costs nothing and removes the single largest risk on the sheet.
Unknown locations. Find them or start the replacement. The important documents organizer guide covers where originals should live once found.
Missing dates. Fill them from the documents themselves, then put every one in the calendar with a month's warning.

Where the inventory lives

The inventory belongs in the emergency binder as its table of contents, printed, with a copy in the digital version of the binder. Tell one other adult where the binder is. The inventory is most useful in exactly the situations where you are not the one opening it.

The app version of the same idea

Paperlock is, in effect, the "digital copy exists" column made automatic: photograph each original once, and the vault holds a searchable copy, reads the expiry date, and reminds you before it. It does not know about the paper you never photographed, which is what this inventory is for. Fill the sheet, close the gaps, and the two together mean every document in the house has a known location, a copy, and a date somebody is watching.

Inventory checklist

Go group by group: identity, home, money, car, health, family and legal, pets, work
For each document you have, write where the original is — honestly, including ‘not sure’
Tick whether a digital copy exists that you could open on your phone right now
Add the expiry date for anything that has one
Mark paper-only originals as the first gap to close: photograph them this week
Mark anything with no known location as the second gap: find it or replace it
Put every expiry date in the calendar with a reminder a month before
Print the finished inventory for the emergency binder and tell one other adult where it is
Redo the inventory once a year, or after a move, a birth, a death or a new car

Download the CSV template

The CSV opens in Numbers, Excel or Google Sheets. Nothing you type is sent anywhere — this is a plain file.

Common questions

What is a household document inventory?

A one-page list of the documents a household holds, with three facts per document: where the original is kept, whether a digital copy exists, and when it expires if it does. It is the step before any filing system, and the document you most want in an emergency.

How is this different from an emergency binder?

The binder holds copies of the documents. The inventory says what exists and where, including the originals that are not in the binder — the deed at the bank, the will with the lawyer, the passports in the safe. Keep the inventory in the binder as its table of contents.

Should the inventory itself be kept private?

Treat it like a document, not a to-do list. It says where everything valuable lives. Keep the printed copy in the binder, tell one trusted adult where that is, and do not email it around.

How often should I redo it?

Once a year, and after any event that creates or moves documents: a move, a birth, a death, a new car, a new job, a marriage or divorce. Ten minutes each time keeps it accurate; an inventory that is two years old is a list of where things used to be.