to be agog that my friends have no contents insurance

[AdmiralButterfly]

I mean it is none of my business but it came up in conversation. They have buildings insurance but not contents. So if they were burgled they would get nothing and if the house burned down they would not have anything to cover clothes and furniture etc. I am totally agog. They have all the normal laptops and TVs etc and all the usual burglar able things - jewellery, musical instruments, a bit of silverware.

We have never had contents insurance. We don't have anything that we couldn't easily pay to replace.

It really annoys me because if something happened they will be on Facebook asking for help and donations as they have lost everything - yes that’s why the rest of us pay £15 a month so if somethings happens we are covered.
Same people that don’t get travel insurance and then expect strangers to crowd fund their expensive medical treatment and transfer home when they fall off a jet ski abroad!!!

@HopelesslydevotedtoGu
I assume you have upwards of £20k stashed away to replace all your clothes/furniture/books/carpets/curtains/electronics/kitchen cupboards and surfaces/white goods/pants/socks/jewellery/kids toys/dvds/records/toilet brush/tools/hoover/hairdryer/rugs/Christmas decorations etc etc? It’s surprising how much it all actually comes to if you had to replace everything in one go!!!

It not about being able to replace items

If we had a terrible catastrophe, we have unlimited insurance if we had to be relocated

My husband is disabled - if the shit hit the fan somehow and we had to move; stay in a hotel its covered

We don't have piles of spare money

It always astounds me too. I worked with a woman years ago whose house caught fire and she lost absolutely everything. She and her 2 kids were left pretty much with only the clothes they stood in (luckily or unluckily depending on how you look at it they'd been out of the house when it happened). She was insured, but how on earth would you cope if you weren't?

Totally agree with @BrieAndChilli - you might not think you have much but to replace everything would cost a fortune! Anyone who doesn't have contents insurance or pay for travel insurance is crazy, it's not a massive amount per month if you can afford it, it's not a waste of money either - I hope I never have to claim because there are so many irreplaceable things (crap) in my home but I still wouldn't stop paying.

I didn't have it for a while as it got cancelled when my now ex lost his job and all the direct debits bounced.

I got it once I'd split up with him and sorted my finances out.

We don't have expensive stuff but if there were to be a fire there is no way I could afford to do up the entire house. That's what I pay out for.

We've not always had it- our flat's building was insured by the building managers and contents alone was really expensive compared with fitting out with a cheap sofa from Ikea and a 'capsule wardrobe' from our local next clearance store. We had the cash in the bank if we needed it, and saved thousands over the 10+years we lived there.

Now we own a house and have to buy buildings cover ourselves- this year it was cheaper as a package with contents so we have both. It's generally a much better deal bought together and therefore more worth it.

Insurance is like gambling- the house always wins. So as long as it's a considered decision it's not necessarily a bad one.

My house burnt down 5 years ago. Fortunately we had good contents insurance.

The cost of replacing all contents ( we had an itemised inventory) was about 80k. This was for a 3 bed semi.

Let’s hope those people who don’t have it don’t go through what we went through.

We have excellent contents insurance again just in case

I wouldn't consider myself wealthy by any stretch of the imagination... but just a quick glance at the contents of my wardrobe and we're talking 5k (I hoard)... white goods, carpets, etc., etc. All those things that in one initial outlay would cripple you.

My contents insurance is £6.22 a month - and I live near a river.

The same insurance also paid out for staying in a hotel until we could find rented accommodation whilst our house was being repaired. They also paid for the rent

I can see why people don’t, to be fair. Insurance is about risk and your risk appetite. I’ve never claimed on contents- neither have my parents, who have had it 45 years. I don’t think that’s unusual. So you can see why people decide to risk it.

We don’t. We had it for a while, then renewal came up, and we just didn’t see the point. The building is insured, though.

Who is your insurer Becky? If you don't mind me asking

🙈reading these messages about people who don’t have contents insurance is terrifying.

If your house burnt down tomorrow, what would you wear? What would your children wear/play with. What would you seat on, eat off? How would you replace your phone which is the only access to the internet because all tablets have been destroyed? What about hair dryers, makeup, toiletries?

Seriously you need to wise up. It can happen to anyone

We have never had contents insurance. We don't have anything that we couldn't easily pay to replace

So if your house was burned to the ground you could replace everything from your furniture right down your underwear. That's a hell of a lot of money to have put away

Absolutely Redglitter. They must have about 100k tucked away.

My insurance (including buildings, contents and personal possessions) costs £320 for the year, on a 4 bed detached, why would you risk not having it?

Even egg cups, safety pins, post it’s, pens and all the other bits and bobs add up

As someone who lost most of the contents of their house as a child, I have always had insurance in my own houses because I know how important it is!

We don't - we live in a flat and therefore have buildings insurance through the management company. For us, it was a question of assessing the risk and, ultimately, we were happy that the risk was low enough for us not to bother. Yes, something could happen but the chances are pretty minimal.

AND check if your garage is covered. We lost about 5k worth of tools, garden and outdoor stuff, as our garage wasn’t covered

To be fair why would they need £100k maybe they think they’d pick up a wilko bed, a few primary clothes, some Ikea crockery and an Ikea chap sofa and cope until they can afford to rebuy? Some people do live like that. That’s what I’d assume people who don’t insure plan to do?

I have contents insurance.

However if I didn't and the house burned down i would stay with family, buy some clothes on my Next account, then buy furniture on interest free credit when house is ready (like i did when i bought first house). I don't think I would need 20k savings to take the risk.

Emoji- if my house burnt down tomorrow:

I’d buy new clothes at the local Asda. I only capsule wardrobe anyway, less than 40 items of clothing at all times. DH also has an extremely small wardrobe. I think the only slight difficulty would be his shoes, as he is a size 15, so he’d probably have to wear his boots from work for a day or two until we could get an ASOS delivery.

We don’t have children.

Given my house has burned down, I expect we’d sit on and eat off my mother’s sofa and dining table. At a later point, we would get new furniture on Facebook marketplace, or gumtree. We have literally never owned new furniture anyway. Our current massive wooden dining table and chairs was £20!

I don’t have a phone.

My hair would dry naturally, I’d go to Lush and buy a new shampoo bar same as every other month, and on a day when I wanted to wear makeup, I’d just re-buy my favourite makeup items, since there aren’t many of them anyway.

Those are just the points brought up, though of course there’s likely a lot more. But DH and I are real minimalists. We would end up spending more in a lifetime on contents insurance than we would actually own.

We will probably get some when we have children, but I can’t see a reason why when it’s just the two of us!