Peace of mind is something we all crave in our home lives.
Having security and stability within our own living space is an important building block that enables us to be relaxed and relatively care-free. Let’s face it; we all have enough to worry about with things like job security and our families’ welfare.
The last thing you need is any needless hassle or inconvenience, the type of distress that can be caused by not having home contents insurance if life suddenly takes a turn for the worse. It’s an easy mistake to make to think you can get by without cover and to simply bury your head in the sand, but it’s irresponsible and could be an expensive blunder.
Irrespective of whether you’re a tenant or a property owner, protecting and safeguarding your belongings will put your mind at rest that in the event of anything getting damaged or stolen, the funds will be made available for you to replace them with the minimum of fuss. Without cover, you’ll be left to foot the bill on your own and purchasing items like computers, jewellery or TVs for a second time may prove financially crippling. That is why everyone needs homeowners insurance.
You won’t even need to break the bank to get covered. To ensure you really are getting value for money think about increasing your excess, as this tends to lower the price of the premium and be aware of the exact value of your possessions and insure for the appropriate amount. Paying in one lump sum rather than by direct debit every month may also work out cheaper.
Here’s an interesting statistic to consider for the people who think they’ll never be a victim of household crime and reckon that home contents insurance is an unnecessary expense: figures recently published by the Metropolitan Police show that there were 61,422 residential burglaries in London between April 12 2010 and the same date one year later. That equates to roughly seven an hour. And while you may not live in London, it shows how frequently burglaries are being committed.
Fortunately, there a few ways of deterring any members of the criminal fraternity from breaking into your house and these good practises could also help to lower the price of home insurance in general. Install locks on all windows and doors and make sure you close them if you’re not in a particular room. You’d be surprised how quickly a thief can swipe any valuables left lying around, like a mobile phone, keys or wallet. Adding a burglar alarm to a property is the most obvious preventive measure, and consider getting CCTV and motion-sensor security lights, while timer switches used around the house will also give the impression that someone is always in at night. If you own a lot of jewellery then it may be worth buying a safe.
