Do you have enough home insurance?

Why it’s important to make sure that you have enough home insurance

Nobody wants to consider the possibility that their home could be destroyed by a disaster or fire. But it’s important to be prepared nonetheless, and having the proper insurance will help you protect your home and provide for your family. So, the question is: do you have enough home insurance? There are a few things you have to ask yourself to answer that and make sure that you can get back on your feet after a loss.

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Home renovations can affect your home insurance.

Keep your insurance happy when you do home renovations

You can see it in your mind’s eye – a beautiful, sparkling new kitchen. It’s glorious. New marble countertops, sleek cabinets, and a shiny new oven and dishwasher. Gleaming hardwood floors that you can see your reflection in, a refrigerator that will hold all of the Thanksgiving leftovers with ease. Oooh, it’s gorgeous.

Record scratch and back to the present – sure, your imagination is great. But why not actually get the kitchen you want? You’ve finally decided that you’re going to take the plunge and remodel the kitchen. You’ve got a great deal of affection for your current set-up, of course, but you can’t resist the call of the marble countertops. They’re just too pretty.

So, what is there to do other than hit the hardware store to make your dream a reality? Well, we need to pause for a second on your kitchen daydreams and think about something that’s pretty important – your home insurance. Renovating your home can have an effect on your home insurance, so we’ve come up with four steps to help you renovate your home and keep your insurance happy at the same time.

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4 tips to protect your home from a power surge

In today’s technological age, we’re coming to depend more and more on our electronic devices. Our phones, laptops, and TVs have a special place in our hearts. We’ve convinced ourselves that we can’t live without them. Aside from our crucial and beloved devices, there are our household appliances/necessities—washers, dryers, microwaves, and other machines that we’ve come to rely on. And what about our lights? We need our overhead lights to see what we’re doing. The common factor of these necessities is electricity. We can’t get around it—electricity powers our lives. Electricity is good, right?

Well, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. If there’s an upswing in the amount of electricity flooding into our homes, it can lead to a power surge. Basically, a power surge happens when the amount of voltage pouring into our devices or appliances surpasses the safe level for our home and overloads it with electricity. While not all power surges spell death for our devices, there’s a definite possibility that they will leave our electronics fried.

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A claim can be denied for a variety of reasons.

5 tips to keep your home insurance claim from being denied

Filing a home insurance claim can be daunting. The reason that you have home insurance in the first place is to help you replace things that have been destroyed by factors outside of your control. It protects you from losses. Getting the insurance and paying the premiums is easy. Filing a home insurance claim and getting it approved can sometimes feel like another story.

When you’re filing a home insurance claim, it’s important that you keep a few things in mind to make sure that you get the payments that you need to rebuild what you’ve lost. Just because you fill out the paperwork doesn’t mean that the money will magically appear in your bank account. The claim could get denied, which is something that you don’t want to happen. If your claim is denied, you’re kind of back where you started.

To make sure that your claim isn’t denied, make sure that you keep the following tips in mind when you’re working through the filing process.

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Are your valuables insured?

Helpful tips for insuring your priceless jewelry, art, and other valuables

Take a wander around your house. Or, if you’re not at home, take a mental tour of your home. Chances are there are a lot of expensive things that you’ve forgotten are there – they’re just a part of your home, so you don’t really think about them anymore. It’s not like you dwell on how fancy the décor at your home is, or how expensive the silverware was. Your valuables are just, you know. There.

But the thing is that these valuables might not have enough insurance coverage through your home insurance policy. For example, the limit of coverage for jewelry is often $1,000, and the limit is often $2,500 for silverware. Plus, a home insurance policy might not cover the loss of these valuables due to theft, accident, or natural disaster – it really depends on your policy. Would that be enough to protect all the jewelry and silverware that you own? What about your artwork? Heirlooms?

You know you need to make sure to protect your jewelry and valuables from theft, but to make sure that your valuables are protected from anything that life could throw at you, we’ll go over your options for insuring your belongings.

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Have you read through your insurance policy lately?

Understanding the nitty-gritty of your insurance policy in 6 steps

Yep, trudging through the entirety of your home, auto, or life insurance policy is probably not exactly your idea of a good time. Big words, stuffy language, long sentences…oodles of fun, right? Oh, yeah. Insurance policies. Good stuff.

As daunting as the task may seem, reading through your policy is actually very important when it comes to making sure that you have the coverage you need for your family. Your policy spells out the agreement between you (the insured) and your insurance company (the insurer) and explains who’s responsible for what if you’re faced with a catastrophe.

Whether it’s your home insurance policy or your auto insurance policy, you need to make sure that you know what’s going on in that very important legal document. You never know when it’s going to come in handy. To help you out with that little bit of homework, we’ll take a piece-by-piece look at each section of your insurance policy so that you’re in the know when it comes to your insurance.

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Flash floods happen very quickly.

Don’t get on the wrong side of a flash flood this summer

Flash floods, like the name implies, happen very quickly and with little warning. Usually the summer months have the highest risk of flash flooding because they happen when areas prone to flooding get a lot of rain in a short period of time – like during a summer rainstorm. Summer storms can turn into deluges that make it hard to see your hand in front of your face.

Since summer storms can create conditions that are ideal for flash floods, we’ve got some summer severe weather tips so that you can stay safe when the sky opens up and dumps buckets of rain, cats, and dogs upon you.

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Protect your kids from accidental poisonings.

How to prevent accidental poisonings around the house

Kids are naturally curious. They love to explore, and, consequently, they tend to get into everything. Some things that look bright and shiny to a little one, like a laundry detergent pod, are really dangerous if eaten. The number of things around the house that are poisonous is kind of scary when you think of the mischief a kiddo might find. There’s a lot involved with figuring out how to childproof a home, but keep the following tips in mind to protect your kids from accidental poisonings.

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You might be thinking of using pesticide if you have a bug problem.

11 tips to use pesticide safely (and win the battle against bugs)

Summer’s officially here. And with summer comes bugs. Big bugs, little bugs, all sorts of bugs, all of which are most likely not welcome in your home. If you’re facing an insect invasion and are at your wit’s end with squishing your new friends, you might be thinking about using a pesticide. But pesticides are designed to kill things, so they can be dangerous if not used properly. To keep your family safe from accidental poisonings, keep the following tips in mind.

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If you ever have to evacuate your home, it helps to be prepared.

What to do if you have to evacuate your home in an emergency

There are a variety of reasons that you and your family might be forced to evacuate your home and head to a safe area. Wildfires, floods, hurricanes, and transportation accidents might leave your family with no option but to skedaddle. It might be your choice if your feel unsafe due to an impending natural disaster, or you might be required to leave by local officials.

You might not have lots of time to get out and go, so it’s crucial that you be prepared for the possibility of an evacuation, especially if you live on the coast or in another area that has a high risk of natural disaster. You need to have a plan so that you know exactly what to do and you can move out quickly and safely. We’ve got some preparation tips that will help make your emergency evacuation as smooth as possible.  

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