If you are looking for tips on how to reduce the yearly premiums you pay on your home contents and/or home buildings insurance policies, the following are some sure-fire ways to do it:

Increase the insurance excess amount

While still maintaining a sensible threshold, why not increase the excess amount on the insurance policy? The excess amount is the amount you and the insurance company agree you'll be liable to pay before you can make a claim on the insurance policy. In theory, with an increase in the excess amount should come a reduction in the premium - as there is less chance you'll claim.

Increase your home security

Insofar as home contents insurance is concerned, security is a major contributing factor. Therefore, if you want to reduce your home contents insurance premiums, you should seriously consider beefing up your home security system. Depending on the valuation you have put on your home contents, ideas here should include putting in a home alarm system.

Rent a safety deposit box

While none of us like the idea of keeping our most prized possessions safely locked away in a safety deposit box, if you have one or two very valuable personal items, you may well find that it is a lot less expensive to keep these in a safety deposit box and only bring them out on special occasions than it is to pay an expensive insurance premium to keep them on-hand all the time.

Look around for a new insurance provider

Although you do need to consider whether or not your home buildings insurance provider is an approved insurance company, so far as your mortgage lender is concerned, these days the insurance industry is a very price competitive one. As such, take advantage of this and look around to see if you can get a cheaper deal either on the Internet or in the real world.

Insure against the mortgage value

Although it is never recommended practice that you only insure your home buildings against the mortgage loan outstanding, if money is tight and the amount of your mortgage outstanding is not too far off the real value of your home, you may want to consider insuring your home for the value of the mortgage loan outstanding. This way, with a lower home valuation should come reduced premium payments.

Although there are a number of ways that you can reduce both your home contents and home buildings insurance, where possible it is best practice that you try to maintain adequate insurance to reflect the real value of all your wonderful possessions.

Joseph Kenny is the webmaster of the insurance site http://www.insure121.com/ where you will find information, news and links to the leading providers of home insurance in the UK.

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