When you think about protecting your home, surely home intrusion isn’t the only think you think about. In a world of “what-ifs,” there are dozens of things that might befall on you or your home – that’s why we all have a nifty little thing called Insurance. Sure insurance is great – it lets us all have a bit of peace of mind when thinking about those G-I-A-N-T things that might happen. Think about all those residents (who would afford insurance) in New Orleans, Louisiana during the summer of 2005. Hurricane Katrina certainly wasn’t something you could have prepared your home for. The levees and other governmental projects are another matter, but you can’t fault disasters like that on the homeowner.
Regardless of whose fault a disaster is, the bottom line is that you never want to lose everything in one. There are always ways to be prepared. If you live in California where wildfires are the norm, where entire communities are often evacuated until the wind changes, where your backyard just happens to be filled with tinder waiting to burst into flames…well, then you get fire insurance. And to really ensure that those precious documents and irreplaceable keepsakes don’t go the way of so many, you install a fireproof safe. If you don’t believe me, read this story by Molly Green who lived through such a horrible disaster and was happy that she invested her money in a good fireproof safe:
I have always tried to avoid listening to what my mother-in-law tells me. However, there was one piece of advice from her which I listened to, and am very grateful that I did. She had been bothering me to get a fire resistant safe to store valuables for a long time, ever since she gave us a silver platter which had been in her family for years and she was incredibly worried about its safety in our home. Finally, I obliged. After many hours on the internet researching the various types of home safes, and a few trips to various stores to see the selection, we purchased a home safe that provided maximum protection against fires, promising to maintain the temperature inside the safe at less than 350° F. Although the protection of valuables such as jewelry and heirlooms from theft is also very important to my husband and I, we were more concerned with fire safety. Into the safe, I put our marriage license, our birth certificates, the deed to our house, and pictures from our wedding, honeymoon, and other vacations we’ve taken. We keep the safe in our living room, downstairs and both my husband and I each have a copy of the key to the lock. Last year, after a night out with our friends from across town, we came home to find the fire department and several policemen at our house. There had been a fire, started carelessly by the people next door who neglected to turn off their outdoor grill after use. The direction of the wind blew the fire over to our house, and no damage was done to our neighbor’s house. However, the neighbors did see the fire and called the fire department. The flames had been tamed, but only after significant damage had been done to our house. Had we not put all of those documents and pictures into the safe, the situation would have been much, much worse. Luckily, most of the things which had been ruined in the fire, such as furniture, clothes, and appliances, were all replaceable. There was damage done to the few pieces of jewelry I do not keep in the safe, but mostly all of it was able to be restored. My husband and I feel very lucky that we decided to invest in a safe for our home before it was too late. The extra security having an in-home safe brings to any family is amazing. We can go on vacation without having to worry as much about important documents. The safe is large enough to hold many of our valuables, but small enough that it can easily fit into a corner in our family room, and cannot be easily seen, or easily carried out by a burglar.
(Note: many of our fireproof safes are likewise waterproof. So if you’re from Louisiana where your home might be prone to flooding instead of fires, fear not!)
