For those of you who don’t know, Josh and I were broken into Monday. Due to these circumstances and the fact that I recently became an insurance agent, I feel the need to write about insurance. Josh and I procrastinated on some things. On some accounts, this worked to our advantage, and it also kicked us in the ass. I know what you are thinking, she’s just trying to sell me something. Wrong. Matter of fact, I am going to write this post as a prelude to my insurance spill. So if you really don’t care to hear what I have to say, don’t read the next post. All I ask is you hear me out.
Being robbed is one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had. Especially beings I was the one that came home and found out what had happened. First, I didn’t believe it. The tv was on, maybe I forgot to turn it off. The laptop is missing, perhaps I just didn’t put it up last night. The rolled change is gone, shit! Then I was scared. I called Josh and told him what was going on and for him to get home asap. I called the police and they didn’t help much. They advised me to go outside and wait for the cops to get there and not to touch anything. (Later I find out the robbers could have still been in the house!!) That night, after we changed the locks, I felt violated. They freakin’ sat on our couch and watched TV! Then saw our pictures, went through my drawers. Then I got ticked. What makes them think they have the right to take the things that we worked so hard to get. There is nothing worse than a thief. I did, however, remember the thief on the cross next to Jesus. If he can forgive him, I should to. I’m trying, I really am. But it’s hard.
My suggestion to you is this, don’t think it won’t happen to you. It will. Go through your house and inventory what is important to you. Get serial numbers off of computers, guns, etc. and store information off site. Take pictures to prove you have what you have. Then, go to your local bank and get a lockbox there. Put your important paperwork and your inventory list in it. Yes, it may be a bit of an inconvenience, but I promise you trying to stop some crooks from stealing your identity is a worse inconvenience. Also, don’t keep all your eggs in one basket at your home. We had all of our important documents in one place. If we had strategically placed them through the house, they would have been less likely to find it.
Procrastination was a double edged sword in this case. We had talked about inventorying our house. Man, I wish we would have. There is something missing but we can’t figure out what it is. All we have is a blank spot on Josh’s desk where something used to sit. Also, we had talked about changing our homeowners insurance. I was waiting until I got out of school. I wish we would have went ahead and done it. If we would have, our insurance would not be going up 40% over the next 3 years. However, I had my Social Security Card out and had been meaning to put it back. Because I didn’t, the S.O.B.’s didn’t get it. I also was going to put some OLD OLD family pictures in the lockbox so if the house burned down, they’d be safe. I’m SO GLAD I didn’t. We had been talking about getting a lockbox. If we had done it before now, they may not have gotten all that they did.
I’ve said all of this to say this. Please, PLEASE make sure you are adequately covered with your current insurance. This goes for home and auto. (this is actually more important in auto as far as coverage goes) You have no idea how much you need insurance until you have to use it. People try to cheap out, then get ticked when they go to use it and they don’t have enough. I will get into this more in my later post.
Please take the precautionary steps to protect you and your family. I think everything happens for a reason. If I can help my friends and family better protect them and their belongings, then I’m okay with what happened. It was a little price to pay in the scheme of things.
* As a side note, I want to thank everyone that checked on us and helped us through this. You don’t realize what good friends you have until something like this happens.
