[1]We are making progress getting those important documents gathered, organized, and filed! Thus far, we have created a home for our credit report/credit card documents [2], personal documents [3], and now our home ownership documents [4].
Having filled 8 file slots, we are ready to address the ninth file opening from the front of the accordion file. My ninth file slot houses two additional sets of home ownership documents. The first set of paperwork is our personal articles insurance policy documents.
Description
If you are unfamiliar with this type of insurance and you have some valuable possessions, then consider this inexpensive type of policy. Per State Farm’s web site [5]:
You may have more valuable possessions than you realize. Your Homeowners Policy [or Renter’s Insurance Policy] can provide some coverage, but with deductibles and limitations. A Personal Articles Policy can provide the additional coverage that you may need.
Some items the Personal Articles Policy may cover are:
- Jewelry
- Furs
- Cameras
- Musical Instruments
- Silverware/Goldware
- Golf Equipment
- Fine Art (such as oriental rugs and paintings)
- Collectibles
- Sports Equipment
- Computer Equipment
Coverage
Our personal articles policy was written back in 2004. We began our coverage by insuring my wedding and engagement ring set. Later, we added our cellular phones and our point-and-shoot camera. Then in 2008, State Farm cancelled all cellular phone coverage since too many individuals were losing their phones and upgrading to another model. We lost our coverage on our cellular phones, but then we purchased a video camera which we added to our policy.
Having the added insurance on these items assures a replacement if the item is lost or repairing charges if the item is damaged. Though we have not lost of any of the items, we did need to replace our first point-and-shoot camera. We took a trip by air. When we arrived at our destination, our camera case was cracked resulting in very dark pictures. When we returned home, we contacted our agent for instructions. We then did the following:
- Purchased a comparable model to our current broken camera. We ended up getting a better camera for less than we purchased the original because our exact model was no longer available for purchase.
- Took the old camera and new camera with receipt to our State Farm agent.
- Traded our old camera for a check in the amount of the new camera price, verified with the receipt.
- Removed the old camera from our personal articles policy and added the new camera.
The process was very easy, inexpensive, and worth our time and energy!
Cost
Your annual premium will depend on your insurance company’s rates and the value of the items you add to this policy. Our policy to cover my ring and our 2 cameras is $43 per year. Yeah! It’s only $43, and these items are fully insured. If we had not had this insurance when our camera broke, we would have spent much more than $43 to replace it.
In addition to saving us replacement costs for broken insured items, this policy also gives us an additional policy with State Farm. We receive premium discounts for having multiple insurance policies. For us, this policy pays for itself because our policies on our vehicles and home receive more of a discount than this policy cost.
With a very reasonable insurance policy, you can cover your valuable possessions. I highly recommend a personal articles policy for your peace of mind. Our policy continues to be worth our money, energy, and time!
Filing System
My personal articles paperwork consists of:
- Original binder document
- Documents indicating a change, addition, or deletion
- Current policy
- Receipt for the current annual premium
All of these documents are paper clipped together and housed in the ninth file slot of my accordion file under the category of home ownership documents.
If you have never heard of a personal articles policy, then I hope you have been informed from the description, coverage, cost, and filing system. Next week, I will share the second and last set of documents in this file slot which will complete the home ownership category. Keep up the document organization as you continue in using time wisely. Happy organizing! 🙂