Protecting your home with combined building and contents insurance does not have to work out expensive if you look around and choose your policy with care.
You could take contents and buildings together - ie combined insurance - or choose to buy them independently of each other.
So what does the cover do? Contents insurance pays for loss or damage to your belongings (furnishings, clothing, TV's - everything that is movable inside the property) while the outer shell of your home, fixed features such as bathroom or kitchen and fences, walls, (and often sheds and greenhouses) are covered by buildings policy.
A combined building and contents insurance policy allows you peace if mind that if disaster struck, you would not have to find the money needed to pay for replacement or repairs yourself.
So, with cover for the shell of your home, and a policy for the contents, you would have peace of mind that if damage occurred through fire, subsidence, flood or any of the criteria set out in the policy's terms and conditions, you would not lose out financially.
Combined building and contents insurance can often be bought much cheaper when searching and comparing quotes gathered from an online specialist.
These brokers will be able to do the legwork for you and get quotes for you from some of the top policy companies in the UK.
So, how do you get cheaper insurance? There are several ways.
If you elect to pay more on the excess, you can often save on the amount you have to pay in premiums for the security.
And spending a little on making your home more secure can reduce home cover premiums as your property will be harder to break into and so not a big a risk.
When you take out contents cover for your home you will have to define a sum assured - this is amount that the policy company would have to pay out in the event of a claim.
The larger amount you insure then the higher your premium will be so state this amount carefully and do not take out more policy than you need.
However, that being said, do not under insure, either.
Go round your home and take a full inventory of every single item - you may be surprised how much they all add up to in value.
Also, never be complacent.
If you do not look around each year and see if you can get your policies a little cheaper then it is quite possible that you will be paying out much more than is needed.
A point to note is never assume that any items which are particularly expensive would be covered in a home contents policy.
If you are in doubt about whether something would be protected then make sure you ask the provider before taking out the home insurance.
Great savings can sometimes be made on combined building and contents insurance if you look into taking both of the policies together with the same policy provider.
The policy company will sometimes offer additional cover for just a little extra cost.