House Insurance question

[MassiveJim]

Just in the process of renewing house insurance and am considering something I never paid much attention to before.

What happens in the event of a total loss eg Fire regarding a payout.
If I insure my contents for £75k, should the insurer just payout that amount and then we go about replacing our belongings or is it normal for them to expect some kind of itinery of all household items.

the cheapest insurer confirmed they would want an itemised list, and the one I have just been on the phone to had very "wooly" wording with regard to this.

I hope to god this never happens but should the worst happen the last thing I want to be doing whilst trying to piece our lives back together is be arguing with the insurance company about how much they should pay me.

 

[MassiveJim]

I did a quick reccy of everything major in the house and came to about £50k.
That includes all electronics, furniture and estimated about £5k in clothes total for 2 adults and 2 young children.

But that won't account for everything, how do you record all of the small things ?
There is so much stuff in our house I cannot imagine I could ever accurately record it all.