Home insurance can be quite expensive, so it’s useful to look for ways to save money on your premium.  Basically, anything that either minimizes the likelihood that the insurance company will have to pay out on your policy, or reduces the amount they’ll have to pay, will earn you a reduction in your premium.  For instance, you could:

• Make sure you have deadbolts on both your front and back doors.  These are considered safer than just having doorknob locks, and reduce the likelihood of someone being able to break in.
• Equip the house with smoke alarms and fire extinguishers.  You can usually get a small discount by putting smoke alarms on every floor, to ensure you will catch a fire in its early stages, and fire extinguishers, to help you put out small fires on your own before they become big enough to do real damage.
• Install a security system.  A good ADT home security system helps prevent burglaries and vandalism by deterring thieves with signs, and helping the police catch them if they break in anyway.  The amount of your discount might depend partly on where you live — for instance, having ADT in Las Vegas might be more valuable than having it in another part of the country.
• Set a higher deductible.  One of the classic ways to save money on your insurance premiums is to set a higher deductible.  This means that you will be responsible for paying more of the claim out of your own pocket should something happen to your home.  However, make sure that you can afford the higher deductible before doing this — it doesn’t do you any good if you can’t come up with that amount of money.
• Group your policies.  Another classic way to save money on insurance premiums is to group all your policies together: home insurance, car insurance, etc.

My economics teacher in high school told us you should always insure what you can’t afford to replace.  I can’t say I know anyone who would be able to replace their home if something happened, so everyone should have home insurance, whether their mortgage has been paid off or not.

Fortunately, this doesn’t mean you can’t save money on your home insurance!  What are some suggestions YOU would give someone who wanted to save money on their home insurance premiums?

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