Last year my home was broken into twice and over $2000 worth of our belongings were stolen. After having some of our electronics stolen I realized how useful my picture collection I've taken over the years can be. I didn't take pictures of my electronics out of fear they would be stolen but during day to day life. Those pictures which most would think are useless ended up being incredibly necessary in dealing with the aftermath of the theft.

Theft, Insurance Paperwork, and Serial Numbers

When we called police they asked us if we had the serial numbers to our TV, my macbook pro, and computer monitor that were stolen. I had never thought about recording serial numbers so the TV and computer monitor I knew were lost forever. If whoever robbed us took them to a pawn shop then without serial numbers they'd never know they were stolen.

My macbook pro however I had the serial number documented. I had the receipt where I bought it but I also had taken pictures of my macbook's serial number. I had to take it in for repairs and apple always asks for your serial number. I had taken a picture when I needed the number six months earlier when I was on a trip and my charger broke. I had this picture still on my phone the night I needed it to give to police.

That wasn't the only time a picture helped when dealing with the theft. When filling out insurance paperwork we couldn't remember details about our TV. We paid $500 for our flat screen years ago but we had long lost the receipt for it. The only thing we knew was it was a Sony 40 inch TV bought at Walmart.

A year prior the hard drive on our DirectTV box went out and an error code appeared on the TV. I took a picture of the TV with the error code because it was easier than writing it down for when I called DirectTV. I had this picture in my picture files. From this picture I was able to find out that our TV was a Sony Bravia and find the model number to help us fill out insurance paperwork. I had to load the picture into photoshop and zoom in really close and sharpen the image to see the name "Bravia" but I'm so glad I had taken that picture.

After getting insurance money to replace our belongings I took pictures of every single electronic device in the house. I took pictures of the receipts from when we bought replacements. Every TV, computer, video game system, etc I took pictures. The pictures showed the make and model and the ever important serial number on the back. Now if we ever get robbed again I can go onto the internet where they are safely stored in a few different emails so I can quickly get the information I need for police and insurance papers.

Most People Don't Record Serial Numbers

If we hadn't gotten robbed I would have never thought to record serial numbers. You think you are safe in your own home and until you get robbed you don't always think of what you need to do in case it happens. Taking pictures is an easy way to document the belongings in your home. Now with the existence of online storage like Apple's iCloud pictures can automatically be uploaded online for backup storage. Every picture I take on my iPhone is automatically uploaded to my computer and online storage. The most important ones I also send to email.

Some might say just get a pen and paper and write it all down but if you're like me you might lose that paper or have a thief steal your lock box (like me) where you keep all your important paperwork.