Personal property can be described as the contents in a home or business. This coverage is very affordable for renters, and should be purchased without exception. For homeowners, it is part of your homeowners policy, with specific coverage amounts determined and stated under the personal property category.

The easiest way to visualize it is to think of taking the roof off and turning the building upside down. Everything that falls out is personal property. Therefore, built-in cabinets, appliances, desks and bookshelves are not personal property. Carpet, wood and tile flooring, window treatments and light fixtures are not personal property. These are items that are considered part of the structure and are not considered when determining the dollar amount you need to insure your personal property.

Another way to describe personal property is what you’d take with you if you move. Whether you are a renter, homeowner or business owner, it is very important to be aware of the limits of your personal property insurance coverage.

There are specific limits to your insurance policy regarding assets in your home or business. You should be aware of these limits and discuss your specific needs with a qualified insurance agent. Every insurance company designates their limits for specific items. Here are a few items, with common limit amounts:

- Jewelry:  $1000-$3000

- Guns:  $1000-$3000

- Silverware:  $1000-$3000

- Business Personal Property:  $1000-$2500

- Sports/Stamp Collections: $1000-$2500

- Money:  $200-$500

These numbers are not per piece, but the full amount allowed. So, if you have a diamond engagement ring that is valued at $3000, and that’s the limit on your policy, you will have maxed out your entire coverage for all jewelry with just that one ring. If your policy has a $1000 limit, based on the example of a $3000 ring, you’ll only receive $1000 toward a replacement. Take a look at your jewelry armoire or jewelry box. How many pair of earrings do you have that are considered costume jewelry? You can easily exceed $1000 with 5 pieces of jewelry from Sears!

Original, irreplaceable fine art and collectables are items that could easily exceed their limit. To be sure you’ll receive full settlement, have them appraised and listed on your policy to ensure you’ll receive full replacement value at the time of the loss.

Have you inherited your grandmother’s fine silver? Do you know the value? How about guns? Just one rifle could exceed your policy limit!

If you have assets that exceed the specific limit in your standard homeowner’s policy, you will need to purchase additional coverage. The cost is minimal when you consider how much you stand to lose.

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Madison budget: âShared painâ seen
MADISON – The Borough Council’s yearly round of budget work sessions began with a by-now-familiar refrain of dwindling surpluses, increasing employee costs and how to ease the burden on taxpayers.

Read more on Madison Eagle

Estate planning isn’t just for the wealthy
You may have heard that the estate tax has been eliminated. It hasn’t been. You may have heard that estate taxes apply only to the wealthy. They don’t.

Read more on The MetroWest Daily News

Obituaries: Robert Gray Woolsey, 93, of Asbury
Robert Gray Woolsey, 93, of Asbury, died Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010 at his home in Asbury. He was born in Brooklyn N.Y. June 2, 1916, the son of the late Stephen and Edna Lyons Woolsey. He was a retired Vice…

Read more on The Warren Reporter

More Denver eateries dare patrons to super-size
DENVER – Some food stories beg to be launched with lapidary prose and the gentle ladling of descriptive passages, maybe with a French phrase thrown in for good measure. Gentle reader, this is not one of those stories. So we’ll cut to the chase: Do you think you have the guts – or gut – to eat an 11-pound pizza, crust and all, in two hours or less? Could you down – and keep down – a burger …

Read more on Summit Daily News

Homeowners told to buy flood insurance soon
If you want flood insurance to help protect your home against a spring flood, buy the insurance this week or you’ll miss the boat.

Read more on The Fargo Forum

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Insuring your home is one of the most important decisions you will make.  After all, your home is likely the largest investment you will ever make.  It is very important to know how this insurance basically works.  It is actually a combination of types of coverage that all goes together to make homeowner’s insurance.

Of course the first kind of insurance is which covers the structure itself.   There is more to consider than one may at first realize.  For instance, what about insuring for replacement cost as opposed to actual cash value. Insuring for replacement cost is having enough insurance to replace your home if regardless of any depreciation.  Sure, you expect your home’s value to appreciate, not depreciate.  But what if there is damage to a part of it.  Say a broken water pipe leads to damage that requires your cabinets to be replaced. This kind of insurance would pay to replace the cabinets and would not take into account any depreciation of value for the age of the cabinets.  

If you are insured for actual cash value you will pay less on insurance premiums, but in the event of a loss or damage, you may not receive enough money for replacement.  What you will receive is the cash value of the damaged property at the time of loss.

In order to determine what it would cost to replace your home today may require a professional appraisal.  A general idea can be gained by learning what the current rate of new construction is in your area per square foot.   Say that figure is $150.  Multiply that amount by number of square feet in your home and there you have it.  

Another type of coverage that goes into the homeowner’s insurance package is contents or property insurance. This takes care of the property that you have in your home.  This includes your clothes, furniture, appliances, and so on.  

Be sure to know that everything in your home isn’t automatically covered by this kind of insurance.  For instance, if you have jewelry, coins, silver, furs, or things of this nature, they may require a policy rider to be added in order to be covered.  

The same concern for replacement vs. cash value exists for the contents of your home.  The typical policy will pay for the current cash value of your home’s contents.  Replacement value will have to be specified is desired.  

When addressing the need for content or property insurance, making an inventory is a wise move.  This can be a room by room list of items, listing the approximate value of each, or one may choose to photograph or video these items.  A video could include a narrative of values or any necessary explanations.

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A job, but there’s a catch: a 1,000-mile commute
In the early dawn, after another week building cars, Michael Hanley leaves his job in Kansas. He quickly zips into Missouri, then heads up a ribbon of highway past grain silos and grazing deer, across the frozen fields of…

Read more on KIFI Idaho Falls

Madison budget: âShared painâ seen
MADISON – The Borough Council’s yearly round of budget work sessions began with a by-now-familiar refrain of dwindling surpluses, increasing employee costs and how to ease the burden on taxpayers.

Read more on Madison Eagle

Estate planning isn’t just for the wealthy
You may have heard that the estate tax has been eliminated. It hasn’t been. You may have heard that estate taxes apply only to the wealthy. They don’t.

Read more on The MetroWest Daily News

Obituaries: Robert Gray Woolsey, 93, of Asbury
Robert Gray Woolsey, 93, of Asbury, died Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010 at his home in Asbury. He was born in Brooklyn N.Y. June 2, 1916, the son of the late Stephen and Edna Lyons Woolsey. He was a retired Vice…

Read more on The Warren Reporter

More Denver eateries dare patrons to super-size
DENVER – Some food stories beg to be launched with lapidary prose and the gentle ladling of descriptive passages, maybe with a French phrase thrown in for good measure. Gentle reader, this is not one of those stories. So we’ll cut to the chase: Do you think you have the guts – or gut – to eat an 11-pound pizza, crust and all, in two hours or less? Could you down – and keep down – a burger …

Read more on Summit Daily News

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Not everyone will remember the road safety campaign aimed at toddlers and small children and called the “Tufty Club”. Tufty’s full name was Tufty Fluffytail and the cute and very sensible squirrel was the logo for the scheme. Road safety scenarios were acted out using roll-out plastic crossings, pedal cars and children acting as “lollipop ladies”. Squashed fruit and flattened footballs demonstrated what would happen should you not obey Tufty’s rules. The club started in the early 1960’s and continued into the 1980’s. By the mid 1970’s it’s understood that there was a membership of 2m youngsters.

One of the main life assurance companies featured a squirrel as its logo too. Presumably he was perceived as cute, friendly and reliable and policies were referred to as “the one with the squirrel on”, when customers were at a loss for the name of the company.

Whether a couple who recently had £10,000 worth of damage done by a rampaging squirrel would agree with these images is another matter. It was reported recently that this was the final figure to put right the damage caused as a result one of these fluffy friends falling down a chimney.

Returning to their home after a weekend away, they were met with a scene of devastation. Carpets and soft furnishings were chewed and ripped. Wooden furniture was gnawed and even the window frames had been gnawed through in the squirrel’s desperate attempt to escape from the house. Wallpaper had been scratched off the wall and even the light fittings had been damaged. In its panic it had sprayed urine and faeces all over the room and the smell was horrific. Fortunately the door of the room was closed and damage was limited to one room. It appears that the squirrel had dropped down the chimney – a fall of 30ft. The unfortunate squirrel was found dead behind a coffee table. It’s terror at not being able to escape from the unfamiliar surroundings had apparently resulted in a heart attack.

An RSPCA spokesman has said that this was a rare and unfortunate incident. He advised that if a householder hears odd noises or has cause to suspect that anything is trapped in the chimney, they should call out the RSPCA without delay.

In another report a squirrel was blamed for eating through a power cable and causing havoc by cutting off the power supply to thousands of homes and businesses for five hours, not to mention causing the failure of traffic lights in the town on an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon in Exeter.

Householders should be aware that whilst the soft furnishings and contents of the home would be part of a claim against the house contents policy, the damage to the window frames would come under buildings insurance. Therefore there would be two separate claims to be made as a result of the marauding squirrel in the first incident. Not all insurance companies cover damage caused by squirrels and obviously this should be checked on your policy.

When taking out insurance, then, both for contents and buildings, it is important that possible damage by squirrels and other rodents should be included. Read the small print carefully and specifically.

As Tufty himself would have said “Take care.”

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Not everyone will remember the road safety campaign aimed at toddlers and small children and called the “Tufty Club”. Tufty’s full name was Tufty Fluffytail and the cute and very sensible squirrel was the logo for the scheme. Road safety scenarios were acted out using roll-out plastic crossings, pedal cars and children acting as “lollipop ladies”. Squashed fruit and flattened footballs demonstrated what would happen should you not obey Tufty’s rules. The club started in the early 1960’s and continued into the 1980’s. By the mid 1970’s it’s understood that there was a membership of 2m youngsters.

One of the main life assurance companies featured a squirrel as its logo too. Presumably he was perceived as cute, friendly and reliable and policies were referred to as “the one with the squirrel on”, when customers were at a loss for the name of the company.

Whether a couple who recently had £10,000 worth of damage done by a rampaging squirrel would agree with these images is another matter. It was reported recently that this was the final figure to put right the damage caused as a result one of these fluffy friends falling down a chimney.

Returning to their home after a weekend away, they were met with a scene of devastation. Carpets and soft furnishings were chewed and ripped. Wooden furniture was gnawed and even the window frames had been gnawed through in the squirrel’s desperate attempt to escape from the house. Wallpaper had been scratched off the wall and even the light fittings had been damaged. In its panic it had sprayed urine and faeces all over the room and the smell was horrific. Fortunately the door of the room was closed and damage was limited to one room. It appears that the squirrel had dropped down the chimney – a fall of 30ft. The unfortunate squirrel was found dead behind a coffee table. It’s terror at not being able to escape from the unfamiliar surroundings had apparently resulted in a heart attack.

An RSPCA spokesman has said that this was a rare and unfortunate incident. He advised that if a householder hears odd noises or has cause to suspect that anything is trapped in the chimney, they should call out the RSPCA without delay.

In another report a squirrel was blamed for eating through a power cable and causing havoc by cutting off the power supply to thousands of homes and businesses for five hours, not to mention causing the failure of traffic lights in the town on an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon in Exeter.

Householders should be aware that whilst the soft furnishings and contents of the home would be part of a claim against the house contents policy, the damage to the window frames would come under buildings insurance. Therefore there would be two separate claims to be made as a result of the marauding squirrel in the first incident. Not all insurance companies cover damage caused by squirrels and obviously this should be checked on your policy.

When taking out insurance, then, both for contents and buildings, it is important that possible damage by squirrels and other rodents should be included. Read the small print carefully and specifically.

As Tufty himself would have said “Take care.”

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Trailer damaged in fire
A double-wide trailer on East 19th Street was damaged by a fire early Thursday afternoon.

Read more on Grand Island Independent

Pet Surrogates: Professional Sitters
By SARAH STEGALL LEDGER CORRESPONDENT Pet sitters, with clients including dogs, cats, turtles, guinea pigs, and fish, say their job is to ease the minds of those who need someone to take care of their animals while they’re away.

Read more on The Lakeland Ledger

ON DUTY: Providing funds — and fun — to Haitians
The relief efforts in Haiti received a financial and emotional boost in part due to the efforts of Niagara Falls native David Honadle.

Read more on Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

North American Galvanizing & Coatings Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2009 Earnings
TULSA, Okla. — North American Galvanizing & Coatings, Inc. announced today net income for 2009 was $9.7 million , compared with $11.9 million net income in 2008 . Cash flow from operating activities was $14.9 million in 2009 compared to $14.2 million in 2008. Fourth quarter 2009 net income was $1.4 million compared to fourth quarter 2008 net income of $2.3 million . 

Read more on GlobeNewswire via Yahoo! Finance

Madison budget: âShared painâ seen
MADISON – The Borough Council’s yearly round of budget work sessions began with a by-now-familiar refrain of dwindling surpluses, increasing employee costs and how to ease the burden on taxpayers.

Read more on Madison Eagle

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A happy home is one where the people living in it, feel secured, safe and also are able to fulfil their big and small wishes. And having the right home insurance gives you all the above. To have the right home insurance UK, it is important for you to choose your home insurance plan intelligently. In this article, we will discuss how to select the right home insurance UK plan, how you can minimize your premium amount further and live better.

The first thing that you have to understand is that home insurance is actually a big deal. You have to select your plan very carefully. Not every home insurance plan is meant for everyone. There is one that is meant for you and it is based upon quite a few things, like the monthly income of your home, the number of members you have living in the same home, the risks surrounding your home (whether your home is fire protected, or in a flood prone zone etc.).

Such factors are given high considerations before choosing the right home insurance UK scheme. And you can further decrease the amount of your premium money by taking certain measures. For instance, if you have a cease fire system installed at your home, or a burglar alarm in place, if you have taken up any safety measures or if you are living in a zone that are less likely to have natural calamities, then it can have positive effects on your premium money, that you need to pay every month.

How to select the right home insurance UK company? There are many organisations out there in UK, which provide home insurance. But knowing the right organisation is a critical thing to be done before making the deal. For that you can do your own analysis by taking up different brochures or speaking to different agents, or you can read about them in online compare sites.

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Auto, health, life, long term, and supplemental insurance policies – now you are telling me I need home owner insurance, too?

Well, yes, we are. Purchasing a home owner insurance policy is an important and responsible move. A Nevada home owner insurance policy will protect your home and its contents, as well as provide liability coverage in the event someone becomes injured on your property.

Plus, if you have, or are considering, purchasing a new Nevada home with the financial help of a lender, your lender will undoubtedly require you to purchase a home owner insurance policy until you have paid off your lender loan.

The first step to getting an insurance policy is shopping around for a Nevada home owner insurance quote – but what can you expect when it comes to your policy quote?

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The basic idea behind home insurance is pretty simple; trying to recover from a household disaster without it however, is not.

Home insurance was designed to provide consumers with the peace of mind that if anything disastrous happens to their home or belongings then they should be eligible for a financial payout, thus easing the burden of replacing what has been lost.

The insurance is split into two categories, the first – contents cover is usually required by all consumers, both homeowners and those living in rented accommodation. The second, buildings cover, is likely to be required if you are a homeowner, but may be provide by your landlord if you are a tenant; this is something that should be checked as it is not always provided a standard.

With both types of insurance it’s vital that you do not underestimate the level of cover you require, otherwise you may find that any prospective payout(s) do not cover your losses.

It is common practice for insurers to bundle the two together – offering a discounted package if you take out contents and buildings cover from them. Although this is often the easiest option, it may not prove the most cost effective. Also, when purchasing a home, your mortgage provider will almost always insist that you have some form of buildings cover, as until you fully pay off the mortgage it is their investment too.

The specific premiums that you will be required to pay will vary considerably, depending on a number of factors, notably; the area, any past claims you have made, the age of your property and value of its contents.

Although the overall cost of home insurance hasn’t changed that much over the past decade, the breadth of cover however, tends to fluctuate. To clarify, the number of situations in which your insurer will pay out can range from accidentally breaking your TV to having a handbag stolen abroad.

For this reason it is important to go over all of the home insurance details with your insurer prior to taking out the house insurance. The internet is an excellent resource for researching and finding cheap home insurance.

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