This is one reason people put valuables in banks. Because houses burn down.
Personally, I play the odds. I don't have children. I don't have people coming over to my house all the time. I don't get drunk or high on drugs. I'm home most of the time, because I work from home. This makes my house uncommonly secure from robbery or accidental fire. Consequently, I've made the decision not to use house insurance.
This decision saves me a few thousand dollars a year (it kept going up, which is why I dropped it). If there's a fire that destroys a major part of the house, I lose. If there is no major fire, I win. It's a gamble, but then, life itself is a series of gambles. The odds against an accidental fire are in my favor.
If what you are trying to perserve is small, you can buy a fireproof safe and bolt it to a concrete floor in your basement. But personally, I use a cardboard box in my closet.
Not everything is under your control. The year i decided to drop collision insurance on car was the year I got into my first at fault accident in a retarded spic infested area. SUV infront of me hard braked while i was checking over my shoulder because the retard tailgating SUV behind was blocking my side view mirror. Why did the guy hard brake? Because he didn't leave space with the car infront and some stupid woman merged and braked. Always going to be some catch 22 situation that burns you.
I basically agree except for the supposedly fire proof safe. I dont lose anything from making a separate stash and potentially could gain alot.
Most people have a mortgage that requires them to have fire insurance so their collateral doesn't go up in smoke.
accidental fire
How is your dryer vent?
It is the #1 reason for modern US house fires (key word - modern - most other fire risks have been eliminated) ... and I didn't see "I clean my dryer vent at least once a year" on your list.
My friends house burned down for this reason.
All dryer vents need to be cleaned yearly. ESPECIALLY if the pipe is anything except a 6 inch straight 4 inch tube. Mine has a couple right angles and a vertical section, so I clean it religiously.
Amazon and others sell various dryer vent cleaner kits which include a flexible wand with a brush that you hook up to a cordless drill.
I don't ever run the dryer without being home, It used to be in the basement and had to go straight up out of the dryer 5' and then another 6' horizontal. I'd have to take the whole dryer apart every year to clean it too because it was such a hard push and a few times there was a lot of burnt lint on the dryer heater. I moved it upstairs and made it only about a 2' horizontal run, The difference in how fast it can dry clothes now is a 1/4 the time it took before.
Lithium batteries are the most house fires I've personally seen. I hate leaving power tool batteries charging when I'm not home.
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