Your home insurance consists of two parts: buildings cover and contents cover. Buildings cover is for the structure itself, while contents cover is for everything inside that isn’t part of the structure. In most cases, buying buildings cover and contents cover together saves you money on your premiums.

When you compare home insurance, know what you want insurance for. Are you interested in personal possessions cover, which covers things like MP3 players, cameras, and netbooks that you commonly take with you when you leave your home? Are there expensive items (like jewellery, valuable antiques, or expensive musical instruments) that may require you to purchase add-ons? Would you be interested in music and video download protection?

Normally, home insurance companies automatically increase your contents cover by 10% for four weeks before and after Christmas, and will do so for other occasions (like a family wedding) if you request it. But always ask specifically if you want to be sure.

Automatic “new-for-old” contents cover is the norm, meaning that your contents would be replaced as new if destroyed by an event covered in your policy. Make sure when estimating contents cover needs you add up the cost of items at their current replacement costs so you don’t risk being underinsured.