photo credit: hoyasmeg

Homeowner’s insurance is a regular expense for anyone who owns a home. This extremely important insurance coverage protects what is, for many people, your most valuable asset. But, in these trying financial times, even the most necessary expenses need to be kept to a minimum.

Saving on your home insurance is often as easy as making a phone call. Many times, there are discounts available to you that you may not be utilizing simply because you didn’t tell the insurance agent that they applied to you. Talk to your insurance agent and explore the different discounts that will entitle you to lower insurance premiums. Possible discounts may include:

New Home Discounts – Be sure to tell your agent if your home is less than ten years old.

Material Discounts – Homes made with some more durable materials like stone or bricks may enjoy lower premiums. You should also ask your agent about any discounts for damage-resistant roofs made out of materials like metal or tile.

Alarm Service Discounts – Homes that feature monitored alarm services are often eligible for special discounts.

Insured Age Discounts – Older homeowner’s may enjoy lower premiums than their younger counterparts.

Claim-Free Discounts – Homeowners who never, or rarely, file a claim are often favored with discounted premiums.

Besides taking advantage of special premium discounts, you may be able to find another way to lower your insurance premiums. If you can afford to pay a higher deductible in the event of a loss, you can raise your deductible and enjoy some significant savings. Just take care to choose a deductible amount that won’t throw your family’s finances into chaos.

Finally, carrying all of your insurance coverage through the same company will entitle you to many multi-policy discounts. For instance, having your auto insurance and homeowner’s insurance through the same carrier will entitle you to a nice discount. While shopping for insurance, be sure to mention each type of insurance you need and find a carrier who can take care of each one. And, as with all things, be sure to shop around to get the best possible price.

For many people having a pet is virtually the same as adding another member to your family. Like every other family member, your pet will have needs to be met that will require you to budget for its needs. Your pet will need food, medical care, and even toys to stimulate his mind.

Although you certainly don’t want to scrimp on the needs of your new family member, there’s no need to spend more than you have to spend. By getting your hands a little dirty and shopping carefully, you can provide your pet with everything he needs without creating a huge hole in your budget.

When it comes to buying pet food, you can’t beat the benefits of buying food in large quantities. Sure, the large bags of food are a little harder to heft home from the store, but you’ll enjoy a much lower price per ounce if you choose to buy the biggest bag of food available.

You would never dream of spoiling your children with too many toys and treats. Enforce the same principle with your pet. The occasional treat won’t do it any harm, but don’t get too carried away with purchasing toys and food treats. These items are expensive and having a vast quantity of them won’t do a lot to add to your pet’s quality of life.

Save money on pet grooming by taking care to maintain the efforts of professional groomers. Brush your pet’s fur daily and give it a bath if it gets into anything too messy. Learning to use nail clippers for pets is another great way to stretch the amount of time between groomer appointments.

Learning to care for routine medical needs will help eliminate unnecessary and costly trips to the veterinarian’s office. You can learn to administer simple vaccinations yourself and clean out small cuts and scrapes. However, if you feel that your pet’s illness or injury is beyond your capabilities, don’t hesitate to make that trip to the vet’s. You don’t want your frugality to compromise the safety of your pet.

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that we reside in Florida. I’ve mentioned on several occasions in the past some of the problems regarding homeowner insurance rates in Florida. The insurance relief that many lawmakers had promised looks like it is vanishing in a puff of smoke - and that rates could actually climb higher.

Kevin McCarty, the Florida Insurance Commissioner, has written an opinion piece that was published today in the Bradenton Herald. He addresses what has been happening on the insurance front, including the fact that insurers are asking for rate increases, because:

While the companies did, in fact, receive savings from the Florida Legislature’s initiatives, the companies did not plan to pass this savings to the consumer as the Legislature intended. Instead the savings would be used to purchase additional reinsurance, even purchasing reinsurance from their own subsidiaries, and to shore-up their financial surplus.

In fact there are no less than 8 rate hearings scheduled with companies asking for rate increases. From the Florida Office Of Insurance Regulation web site, here are the upcoming scheduled hearings from insurance providers:

8/14 - Metropolitan Casualty Insurance Company
8/16 - Hartford Insurance Group
8/21 - IDS Property Casualty Insurance Company/Amex Assurance Company
8/21 - Capitol Preferred Insurance Company, Inc
8/23 - American Southern Home Insurance Company
8/30 - Sentry Insurance A Mutual Company
8/30 - Auto-Owners Insurance Company, Owners Insurance Company and Southern-Owners
Insurance Company
9/18 - Cincinnati Casualty Company and Cincinnati Indemnity Company

So it looks as if the saga continues with no real solution in sight.