Best App for Household Inventory: How to Track Everything You Own

You're standing in the paint aisle, the hardware store, or on the phone with a repair tech — and you can't remember a single thing about what's in your house. Here's the actual solution.

Most people end up searching "home inventory app" after one of a handful of moments: the repair tech asks for the model number and you don't know it. The dishwasher breaks and you're not sure if it's still under warranty. You go to touch up the wall and realize you have no idea what paint color it is. You try to rehire the plumber who did great work two years ago and you can't find his number anywhere.

None of those are inventory problems. They're recall problems. The difference matters — because the app you need is different depending on which one you're actually trying to solve.

The real problem isn't inventory — it's recall

There are two different things people mean when they say "home inventory."

The first is insurance documentation — a list of what you own and what it's worth, so if your house burns down or gets robbed, you can make a claim. Apps like Sortly and Val were built for this. They're designed to catalog items, assign values, and help you prove ownership.

The second is household recall — the information you need to know in the moment. What size furnace filter does this house take? What's the paint code for the living room? When does the refrigerator warranty expire? Who did we use for the tree removal last year and were they any good? This is the thing most people are actually missing.

The apps built for insurance documentation are genuinely useful for that purpose. But they don't solve the standing-in-Home-Depot problem. That problem needs something built around fast lookup — not cataloging.

What is the best app for household inventory?

The honest answer: it depends on what you mean by inventory.

If you need insurance documentation

Val (valuables.app) is the best-designed option. It's iPhone-only, built around scanning items, logging purchase prices, and generating documentation for insurance purposes. Clean UI, focused scope. If you want a visual catalog of what you own with estimated values, Val is worth trying.

Sortly is the more established option. It's been around longer, works on more platforms, and is used heavily by small businesses and people managing storage units or rental properties. It has QR code generation and folder organization. More powerful, also more complex.

If you need day-to-day household recall

That's what kept is built for. The app is organized around the things a homeowner actually has to remember — not a list of everything they own, but the specific details that matter when something goes wrong or something needs to be replaced.

You can scan a barcode to add an appliance and kept pulls the model number, specs, and common replacement parts automatically. You can store your furnace filter size so you never stand in the aisle guessing. You can save your paint codes, contractor contacts, and warranty dates. And you can search all of it from your phone in a couple of seconds.

App comparison: what each one actually does

Most homeowners who go looking for a "home inventory app" end up needing two things that no single app does perfectly: a catalog of what they own (useful for insurance) and a fast-lookup reference for what they need to know (useful every day). The two goals point in different directions.

What is the app that keeps track of belongings?

Again — what kind of "keeping track" do you mean?

If you want to know where a specific item is in your house (which drawer, which closet, which storage bin), apps like Sortly let you assign locations and use QR codes to tag bins. This is genuinely useful if you manage a lot of storage or if you run a home business with supplies scattered around.

If you want to know the details about what you own — the specs, the warranty status, the model number, the service history — that's where kept is designed to live. The distinction is between location (where is it?) and information (what do I need to know about it?). Most of the frustrating moments homeowners describe are information problems, not location problems.

Some examples of what kept users actually save:

• Furnace filter size — so you can buy the right one without pulling out the old filter first
• Refrigerator model and serial number — for when you need a repair or a part
• Exterior paint color and finish — for touch-ups and trim matching
• Warranty expiration dates — so you know whether to call the manufacturer or pay out of pocket
• Contractor contacts with notes — who you used, what for, whether you'd hire them again
• Water heater install date — because most last 8–12 years and you probably don't know when yours was put in
• Roof age and last inspection — for insurance purposes and planning

That's not an inventory in the insurance sense. It's a reference guide for the house you live in — organized by what you actually need to know, not by what you own.

How to catalog household items

If you want a true household catalog — a list of everything you own with photos and values — here's the most efficient way to do it:

Room by room, not category by category

Start in one room and don't leave until it's done. Going room by room prevents the mental exhaustion of trying to remember every appliance you own across the whole house. One room at a time is completable. "All electronics" is not.

Scan when you can

Every major appliance, electronics item, and piece of equipment has either a barcode or a model number somewhere on it. Apps like kept let you scan barcodes and pull the product information automatically — so you don't have to type anything. Take a photo of the serial number plate on the back of the fridge while you're at it.

Prioritize high-value and high-hassle items first

Start with appliances, electronics, HVAC equipment, and tools. Those are the things that break, need replacement parts, and have warranties. Furniture and decor can wait — you rarely need to look up the spec sheet for a couch cushion.

Capture what you'll actually need, not just what exists

For most items, the useful information isn't "I own this." It's "here's what I need to know when something goes wrong with this." That means model number, serial number, purchase date, and warranty expiration. For home systems, it means the spec that drives replacement — like furnace filter size or appliance model number.

What to actually put in your home inventory

Not everything deserves a spot in your home inventory. Here's what's worth tracking and why:

Appliances and home systems

Refrigerator, dishwasher, washer, dryer, oven, microwave — note the brand, model number, serial number, purchase date, and warranty expiration. For HVAC: the filter size, the last service date, and the service provider's contact info. For water heater: install date and tank capacity.

See our guide to finding your appliance model number on every major brand.

Paint

Save the paint color name, code, brand, and finish (eggshell, satin, flat) for every painted surface you might ever touch up. Interior walls, exterior, trim, cabinets — all different. Without this you'll spend 45 minutes with a paint chip at a store counter trying to match a dried wall sample. Check out our full guide to finding and saving your paint colors.

Warranties and purchase dates

Most homeowners have no idea whether their appliances are under warranty until something breaks. At that point they spend an hour looking for a receipt or a registration email. Save purchase dates and warranty lengths for every major purchase — when the dryer stops working, you'll know in five seconds whether to call the manufacturer or call a repair tech.

Contractors and service providers

Every time you hire a plumber, electrician, HVAC tech, lawn service, or painter — save their name, number, what they did, when, and whether you'd hire them again. Most people lose good contractors the same way: they don't write it down right after the job when the number is still in their recent calls. See our guide to building a contractor contact list that works.

Home systems and specs

Things like circuit breaker layout, water shutoff valve location, septic system info, and HOA docs. Not glamorous — but the kind of thing you desperately want when you need it and have no idea where it is.

How to keep track of household inventory

The best system is the one you'll actually use. That sounds like a cliche, but it's the real reason most home inventory attempts fail — they start as a project and die when the motivation runs out.

The spreadsheet trap

A lot of homeowners start with a spreadsheet. It works great for the first weekend. Then the spreadsheet lives on a laptop. You need the filter size at Home Depot, you're on your phone, and the spreadsheet is — somewhere. The motivation was real; the system just wasn't designed for how you actually use information in the middle of a Saturday errand.

The binder trap

Same problem, physical version. Manuals and receipts in a binder are better than nothing. But binders don't travel with you, and most of the information you need on-the-spot isn't in the manual anyway — it's the specific spec for your specific house that you wrote down once somewhere.

What actually works

Information you can access from your phone, organized around the questions you actually ask, updated in the moment when you have the information in hand. The bar isn't perfection — it's "better than trying to remember." A few entries in an app you check regularly beats a comprehensive spreadsheet you can't find.

The trick is building the habit incrementally. Add your furnace filter size today. Add your refrigerator model number next time you're near the fridge. Save your paint code the next time you walk past the can in the garage. Don't try to do the whole house in a sitting — that's how it becomes a project that never gets finished. Read more in our guide to building a home maintenance record system.

How to create a home inventory list

If you want to build a home inventory from scratch, here's a practical room-by-room checklist for what to record:

Kitchen

• Refrigerator — brand, model, serial, purchase date, warranty exp.
• Dishwasher — brand, model, serial, purchase date, warranty exp.
• Oven / range — brand, model, fuel type (gas or electric)
• Microwave — brand, model (over-range units have specs for replacement)
• Paint color — name, code, finish, brand

Laundry

• Washer — brand, model, serial, purchase date, warranty exp.
• Dryer — brand, model, serial, fuel type, purchase date, warranty exp.

HVAC / home systems

• Furnace filter size (see our full guide on finding yours)
• HVAC brand and model number
• Last service date and tech's contact info
• Water heater — brand, capacity, install date
• Water softener (if applicable) — brand, model, salt type

Whole home

• Exterior paint — color name, code, brand, finish, year painted
• Interior wall colors by room — same details
• Roof — age, material, last inspection date, roofer contact
• Contractor contact list — who you've hired, what for, whether you'd hire again
• HOA documents and contact (if applicable)

A complete home inventory is a goal. A partially complete one is genuinely useful. Start where it hurts most and build from there. The home maintenance checklist can help you figure out what you've been forgetting to track.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best app for household inventory?

The best app depends on what you mean. For insurance documentation and cataloging item values, Val or Sortly are the best-designed options. For day-to-day recall — filter sizes, warranty dates, paint codes, model numbers, contractor contacts — kept is built specifically for that. Most homeowners need the second thing more than the first, even if they don't frame it that way.

What is the app that keeps track of belongings?

Several apps track belongings in different ways. kept tracks the information you need to know about what you own. Apps like Val and Sortly track what you own for insurance and resale purposes. For most homeowners, the daily frustration is information — not knowing specs or details — rather than not knowing what they own.

How do you catalog household items?

Go room by room. For each major appliance, scan the barcode or record the model number and serial number. Add the purchase date and warranty expiration. For home systems, capture the spec that drives replacement — furnace filter size, water heater capacity, etc. An app like kept lets you scan items to pull product info automatically, which saves a lot of manual data entry.

How do you keep track of household inventory?

The most reliable method is a mobile app you actually use — one where the information is with you wherever you are. Spreadsheets and binders fail because they're not accessible in the moment. The goal isn't perfect completeness; it's information you can find in under ten seconds when you need it.

How do you create a home inventory list?

Start with the things that cause the most friction: furnace filter size, paint codes, appliance model numbers, contractor contacts, warranty dates. Add those first. Then work room by room, recording the details for each major appliance and system. Don't try to do the whole house in one sitting — it becomes a project that never gets finished. Build it incrementally, whenever you naturally have the information in hand.