Hmmm…where to start this story.¬† On 1 May 2000, I moved out of my parents’ house and into my first apartment. On 1 September 2000, it all went up in smoke.
It was the Friday before Labor Day.¬† Being a long weekend, people left work a little early, but I was plugging away– in a groove.¬† Around 4:30 p.m., the phone rang and it was one of my co-workers who’d already left.¬† She was in the car and heard on the radio that there was a major fire at the intersection where I lived.¬† Since there were several complexes where that fire could be, I shrugged- not worried at all.¬† But being the start of a long weekend, I decided to call it a week and left.¬†
I found a news radio station and, as I listened, I realized the fire was in fact at the complex where I lived.¬† But I still wasn’t concerned because there were five other buildings — it would be one of them on fire.¬† WRONG!¬†
The intersection was blocked, but I got as close as I could.  Flames everywhere. Forty neighboring fire departments sent trucks and firemen.  I drove home and told my parents one of their chicks was moving back home for awhile. 
Why would Thriftistas be interested in this story?¬† Three weeks earlier I had FINALLY listened to my oldest sister’s nagging and got renter’s insurance.¬† Best $90 I have spent in my life!
In addition to the insurance company handing me a check for $500 to go buy clothes and necessities until everything was straightened out, they also arranged for cleaners to go through the apartment and gather up all the salvageable clothing.¬† They arranged for movers to pack up all my undamaged property and put it into storage.¬† Since my apartment was on the second floor and the fire was only on the third, I only had smoke and water damage; most of my belongings survived (except yet another Bon Jovi “New Jersey” CD destroyed– I still don’t know why the fates don’t want me to own that album!).¬† Basically, the insurance company did my thinking for me the first few days.
Here is a breakdown of what the insurance company spent:
- $1000 on cleaning my clothes
- $1400 to replace living room chairs
- $1000 mattress
- all new underwear
- all new make-up and toiletries
- $400 to repair my laptop (if it had been a desktop computer, it would have been destroyed)
- a new TV, a new VCR, a new CD/radio
- $125 library fine (yes, I had that many books and movies checked out)
- new photo albums (someone warned me to remove all the pictures from the album, let them dry, then put them in new albums or they would mildew in a few months)
This is just what I remember– this is what the insurance company spent on someone whose was lucky…for a lot of other people in the building, the damage was a lot worse.¬† I think there was more.¬† But for $90, I got $$$$ and peace of mind.¬† Totally worth the money!
Lesson for condo owners too:¬† Now, I was actually renting a condo.¬† There were a few unfortunate condo owners who assumed that because the condo association had insurance, they didn’t need any of their own insurance.¬† They learned an extreeeeemly expensive lesson.¬† Because they didn’t have their own insurance, they had to pay rent and mortgage during the year it took to rebuild.¬† The condo association’s insurance did NOT cover their personal belongings. And to top it all off, they still had to pay condo¬†dues during the year they didn’t live there.
So this is where I nag, nag, nag!¬† If you don’t have insurance, consider buying some.¬† I did the math one day and it was about five years after the fire before the insurance company and I were “even”– and I even included my car insurance premiums when I calculated how much I paid them.¬† So worth the money.
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Not sure which of us was the ‘nagging’ Big Sis, but GREAT advice and very well said. The only thing I add is to make sure you have a REPUTABLE insurance company (which you did). You could have saved a little money elsewhere, but you would not have gotten the service you did.
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