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Home contents insurance is an insurance policy that covers your personal belongings and the contents of your home against loss, damage or theft. A home contents insurance policy protects your items that are inside the home you live in while they are there, and it doesn't matter whether you are the homeowner or rent the property from a landlord.

A home contents insurance policy is sometimes known as a personal property insurance policy. If you are a renter, it can also be called a renters policy, although a renters policy will usually cover damage or loss you cause to your landlord's property as well as damage caused to your personal property in the event of a disaster or theft, etc.

Most of us tend to undervalue the items we own in our homes. Maybe it's because we really don't want to think about how much we've spent on ourselves when we took shopping trips, but whatever the reason, most people will not have an accurate estimate, when asked, of how much it would cost to buy all the items in their home if they had to buy everything over again.

But that's exactly what you would need to do if your home were destroyed by fire tonight. You would have to go out tomorrow and begin to replace everything you own.

A home contents insurance policy will ask you for the current value of your personal belongings, but it will not ask you to itemize everything when you apply for the policy. Only when you suffer a loss will the insurance agent ask you to prove what you owned. So how much do you think your personal items are worth? Take a guess and then go through this list to jog your thinking about what you really own and how much money it would take to replace it all. I'll bet you'll be surprised at the total value of everything in your house.

Wall to wall carpeting, area rugs
Window treatments, blinds and curtains, drapes
Artwork, either on the walls or collectible pieces on shelves, heirlooms
Furniture in every room throughout the house, sofas and loveseats, chairs, dining room table and chairs, desks, coffee tables and side tables, beds, dressers, bookshelves
Outdoor and patio furniture, tables and chairs, lawnchairs, barbecue or gas grill
Light fixtures such as chandeliers or any special lighting you've added to the home since you bought it
Don't forget to count any items of value that you may have in your attic or in a storage shed close to the house which could be damaged or destroyed
Sporting equipment, bicycles, golf clubs, bowling equipment, scuba gear
Electronic equipment, desktop computers & monitors, printers, faxes, scanners, laptop computers, modems, wireless routers, cordless phones, cell phones, Ipods, PDA's
Appliances, TV's, DVD's or VCR's, stereos or CD Players, refrigerator, freezer, stove and oven, dishwasher, microwave, trash compactor, wet/dry vacuum
Jewelry, if you have appraisals for any special pieces, keep it in a safe deposit box
Lawn tools, hoses, leaf blower, weedeater, riding lawn mower, wheelbarrow, shovels and rakes

After going through this list, you will gain a better appreciation for the importance of a home contents insurance policy that provides adequate protection for you and your family.

Visit CORE now to get free access to advice and information on home contents insurance

Water damage in the home is often covered by homeowners insurance. For example, insurance may cover your losses due to a burst pipe or leaking appliance. However, if your home is flooded because a nearby river overflowed its banks, you're on your own (unless you have a national flood insurance policy from the National Flood Insurance Program).

Water damage claims are tricky. For example, if your home floods because a high wind event blew off the roof and torrential rains damaged your home, the damage will likely be covered but if the flood is the result of storm surge, you're probably on your own.

Below are a few water damage claims that are typically covered by insurance:

Burst pipes
Bathtub and sink overflows
Washing machine and other appliance overflows
Water damage from leaking roof

However, insurance policies are filled with loopholes. For example, if your pipes burst because they froze overnight while you were sleeping, the insurance will cover the water damage. However, if you left the home with the heat turned off while on vacation, then expect the insurance company to deny the claim on the grounds that you didn't perform necessary upkeep of your home.

In addition, say your washing machine overflows causing extensive water damage. The insurance company will likely pay for the water damage to the building and its contents but they won't necessarily pay to repair the washing machine.

Likewise, a leaking roof can cause water damage which is usually covered by homeowners insurance. However, the roof repairs are considered a maintenance issue and therefore the roof itself isn't covered. The exception to this is if the roof leaked because of damage from a covered event such as hailstones, falling trees, or high winds.

The following water damage claims are generally not covered by standard homeowners insurance:

Flooding from an overflowing river or lake
Sewer backups
Water seepage

If you want to be covered from natural flooding such as overflowing rivers, tidal surges, and flash floods, you will need to purchase a national flood insurance policy from the federal government. While many people believe that these policies are only for homeowners who live in designated flood plains, it's important to understand that flooding can occur outside of recognized flood zones.

Sewer backups are not generally covered by standard homeowners insurance policies. In fact, this type of water damage is often specifically excluded from the policy. This doesn't mean that you can't insure your home against this type of loss though. Check with your insurance company about purchasing a special endorsement that adds coverage for sewer and drain backups.

Water seepage, which is a common cause of flooded basements, is also excluded from typical insurance policies. Seepage is considered a preventable maintenance issue, not an accidental loss. If you're concerned about water seeping into your basement, take the necessary steps to maintain your home and prevent this type of damage. For example, you may need to re-grade your lot, install a sump pump, or seal your walls with a waterproofing sealant.

Clearly, water damage related insurance claims are complex. Professional water damage restoration experts in both mopping up the mess as well as navigating the complexities of what's usually covered and what's not.

Water Damage

Mark Decherd
Dryout Inc.
Water Damage
http://www.dryout.net

Blogging advice tailored for newcomers can be hard to find. With new terms and tools appearing daily, it can be confusing for new bloggers to know where to start. To learn the basics of blogging such as how to set up a blog and make money from it, keep reading; it's easier than you think.

First, pick which blog platform you would like to use. The top two contenders are blogger.com and wordpress.org. Here's some simple blogging advice if you're having trouble deciding. If you're entirely new to blogging, blogger.com is the way to go. If you're familiar with the basics of blogging or would just like to have more ''control'' over your blog, wordpress might be a better choice. No matter which option you choose, the process is simple. All it takes is filling out your name, email address and naming your blog.

Although each platform comes with its own web hosting, here's some blogging advice every blogger should take. Purchase your own domain name. Not only will having your own domain be easier for your visitors to remember, it will add another level of professionalism to your blog.

After you've picked out which blogger platform to use and have started to set up your blog, the next step is choosing your template. Templates are pre-made designs for your blog. The best blogging advice when it comes to templates is to make sure that your template reflects the topic of your blog. It's more sensible to use a car template if your blog is about exotic cars, than it is to use a template about food.

You may not realize it, but you're halfway done. You've picked a blog platform, registered your blog name, and picked out your very own template. You may have also decided to register your own domain name. Now its time for some blogging advice that everyone wants to know - how to make money from your blog.

There are 3 main ways to monetize your blog - through traffic, content and ads.

Traffic for your blog can be obtained in many ways. While most people think you have to pay a huge amount of money to achieve traffic results, the following tips are not only free, but also simple.

The easiest way to earn money from your blog is by simply filling it with content. If you can remember this, it will become one of the best blogging advice you've ever received. The more relevant content that you add to your blog, the easier it will be for search engines to find it. This means more traffic, which equals more money. When you first begin to blog, try to post several times a week and eventually work up to blogging on a daily basis. Readers like to know that every time they visit your blog, they will read something new.

Don't worry if you don't like to write; content comes in different forms. No longer is writing the only way to fill up a blog. Videos, podcasts and even games are now considered content.

Once you've filled your blog with content, the next step is to add your blog to social bookmarking sites. Social bookmarking sites are websites that cater to sending readers to blogs based on their personal interests. The top social bookmarking sites include StumbleUpon, Digg, Technorati, Reddit, Propeller, Fark, and Del.icio.us. However, many bookmarking sites prohibit any marketing ploys; so to minimize risk, bookmark 4 to 5 non-self-serving links for every self-serving link you bookmark. Post comments on other people's bookmarks and be an active participant in the discussions. Bookmark sites that other people have bookmarked so you'll be seen as part of the community.

Another effective way to create income is by signing up for affiliate programs and promoting them on your blog. This is not only great blogging advice, but can be used for other ventures as well such as websites. Every time a visitor purchases an affiliate product from your blog, you get paid a commission for it. The commissions can range any where from a few bucks to hundreds of dollars. The tip to remember when it comes to affiliate marketing is to pick programs and products that are related to your blog. It's much easier to get your visitors to sign up for a recipe subscription if your blog is about cooking, than it is to get them to sign up for a stock market subscription.

One last tip for creating money for your blog is to place ads. This can be done in various ways. One of the most popular ways is through Google AdSense. Each time a visitor clicks on one of the AdSense ads, you get paid. It's also free to sign up for an account. As a bonus, if you signed up under the blogger.com platform, all it takes are a few clicks to get AdSense onto your blog. If you chose wordpress, the setup is still easy. You just simply install a plug-in to add Google AdSense to your blog.

A lot of people will tell you that this is the blogging advice they wished they would've received when they first started to blog. Not only do you now know how to setup a blog, you also learned how to profit from it. Now the only thing you have to do is go create your blog and start earning!

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