"We found ourselves, effectively, starting over."

June 4, 2010

We all try to save money in as many ways as possible when renting an apartment. In 1994, when my wife and I moved back to Tennessee from Washington, D.C., we were no exception. We searched for all sorts of ways to reduce our ever-growing expenses. We didn't eat out as often; we went to fewer movies and fewer concerts and on less expensive vacations -- sometimes foregoing our vacation altogether in order to stay within a well-planned, stringent budget. We meticulously used coupons at grocery stores and when shopping for clothing and various household goods. In addition, we took full advantage of car-pooling, ride-sharing and mass transit. As well, we kept an efficient eye on our use of electricity.

The first month of renting our apartment was uneventful. One week into the second month in our new apartment, I came home from work to find the lock on the apartment door broken. My first inclination was to believe that maybe the apartment maintenance crew had begun putting new locks on the doors, but upon walking into the apartment, I witnessed the shock of my life: The remnants of our belongings were tossed about in disarray and "something" just didn't feel quite right.

It was a very disorienting feeling. As my pseudo-vertigo (from the shock) began to clear a bit, I saw that our $500 television, less than a month old, was missing. I immediately went to the bedroom, where we kept our jewelry. About $3,000 in jewelry was missing as well. In the kitchen, we were missing an elegant $1,000 silver service. Various other electronic equipment also was missing, including a state-of-the-art $2,500 stereo system, less than a year old. Even more disturbing was that there was virtually no furniture left in the bedroom, which meant that the thieves must have disassembled the bedroom furniture in order to take it down the stairs. We had recently purchased a bedroom set consisting of a king-sized bed, dresser, end tables, Queen Anne chairs, all in matching dark cherry wood finish, for about $6,500.

When I called my wife, and we reviewed various details, we realized that the loss and damages, totaling more $10,000, would have to be shouldered entirely by us because, as you might have deduced, one of the so-called "cost-saving" steps we first took was to initially forgo the cost of renters insurance. From this harrowing experience, I can honestly say that I wish we had had renter's insurance! Instead, we found ourselves, effectively, starting over -- buying again all those things that renter's insurance would have compensated us for.

The lesson learned here is that there is nothing wrong with being cost-conscious and frugal but that you must carefully weigh any cost savings you might gain against the size of the potential losses that you might incur. For sanity, safety, and peace of mind, it is well worth paying a small monthly or quarterly premium for renters insurance, versus having to face the daunting emotional and monetary costs of starting over from square one after what would have been a coverable loss – if insured.

-Jeff from Tennessee

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