Three Advantages of Renters Insurance

Should you get renters insurance? If you are renting a home or apartment, you may be trying to decide if you actually need to get a renters insurance quote or if it would just be an unnecessary bill. Today we will talk about some of the advantages of having renters insurance. We would love to hear your thoughts about it! Stop by our Facebook page and share your experience with renters insurance.

3 Advantages of Renters Insurance

1. Protect your personal property: If something like a fire, theft or other disaster were to occur, your personal property (electronics, furniture, clothing) would be protected under your renters insurance. If a major disaster actually destroys your home or leaves it uninhabitable, your renters insurance should allow you temporary living expenses until you can attain permanent housing. Not all policies are created equal, so be sure to speak with an agent to determine how to properly inventory your property and to make sure you are clear on what will be covered in your renters insurance costs.
2. Protect against lawsuits: Most renters insurance policies protect you from personal lawsuits if someone is accidentally injured in your home or if someone's property is damaged in your home.
3. Peace of mind: Renters insurance will give you and your family peace of mind because you know that if something were to happen, you will not be on your own.

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When you give blood or vote, they usually give you a sticker to put on your shirt to proclaim to the world what you just did. "I Voted!" or "I Just Gave Blood!" There should also be stickers that say "I'm Moving Today," so that people can tell at a glance how much stress you're under, and either stay out of your way or randomly give you hugs and cookies, maybe even the occasional spontaneous backrub.

Because moving is stressful. The only things more stressful are divorce or a death in the family. So what can you do to make it less stressful? Well, until you start getting random backrubs from complete strangers on the street (which shouldn't be awkward for anyone), you should try to eliminate every tiny scrap of uncertainty you can from the entire moving process. And that means planning.

The more thought you put into the front-end of your move, the less stressful the move itself will be. Checklists are your friends. Use them for everything you can think of -- cleaning, packing, garage sales, change-of-address forms, moving day meals, utility notifications... You may end up needing a checklist to keep track of all your checklists, but at least you'll be prepared.

Knowing what your move will cost can also save you a lot of stress. You can find a host of moving cost calculators online to ballpark the figure, but moving cost calculators will never tell you the whole story. You can either radically overbudget your moving costs so that you have room to absorb any unexpected costs, or you can have a professional mover come in and assess your belongings with a trained eye.

Finally, consolidate as many tasks as you can, to get more done at once. While you're packing, separate out the things you don't want and then hold a yard sale. While the grownups are clearing closets and stuffing boxes, have the kids do the cleaning. And most moving container services also let their units double as portable storage units, so your items to be stored can be whisked (whisked, I say!) away to the storage facility without you having to shuffle the boxes around.

We don't get stressed about things we know are coming, things we expect -- it's the little things we don't expect, or didn't think of, that tip us over the edge. Even if something is difficult or time-consuming, as long as we know it's coming, we're much more emotionally prepared to deal with it. Things like checklists, moving cost calculators, and portable moving containers can go a long way towards keeping you as Zen as possible during a very un-Zen-like time of your life.

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It should come as no surprise that relocating your home is one of the most stressful events a person can undergo, surpassed only by a loved one's death, or divorce. But it may surprise you to know some of the ways to reduce the stress of moving, ways that go beyond just packing early, keeping a binder, and lifting with your legs. Here are some moving options to consider for your peace of mind.

• When You Move
  Just like any activity, moving has a peak season, as well as peak times of the month, and even the week. Moving estimates during the summer will be markedly higher than any other time of the year. Similarly, moving estimates at the beginnings and ends of each month will be higher than ones from the middle. And on an even smaller scale, weekday moves will be cheaper than weekend moves.


• How You Move
  Both full-service moving companies and rental truck companies have their advantages and disadvantages. Full-service means less work, but also less control over your belongings in transit and mug higher moving estimates. Rental trucks can save you money, if you're willing to put up with the extra hassle, stress, and exertion in order to make them work. But storage and moving container services provide a great in-between answer: easier loading (ground-level, in fact), more flexible scheduling, more affordable estimates, and tighter control of your belongings (once you lock the unit, it's not unlocked until you unlock it at your new home).


• Where You Move
  While you may not have much flexibility when it comes to what city you need to move to, your choice of location within that city could have a huge impact on your emotional well-being. A recent study published inEnvironmental Science and Technology shows that people who live near green areas have overall better mental health scores, with lower levels of depression and anxiety and higher levels of happiness in just the first year of residence. And the higher scores continued throughout the three-year study.

Relocating is a stressful proposition, no doubt about it. By doing what you can to reduce the stresses you cancontrol, you'll have greater emotional reserves left to deal with the stresses you can't control. And that could make all the difference.

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