A friend was telling me her story last week about a car accident she was in. Her car was a beater and wasn't worth the collision payments she was making on it. She could have put her collision money away in a bank account and put that money towards a newer car. I was making mortgage insurance payments on a small mortgage I have while at the same time being covered under the terms of my life insurance. I was double paying.

Take a look at your policies and I bet there is a way you can cut down on your expenses.

The biggest saving is in your deductible. Your deductible amount has a direct effect on how much you are paying it. The standard amount is $500. How many people that have a $500 problem are going to call their insurance company? Why would your risk higher premiums over $500? Raise your deductible to at least $1,000 and you are going to save money.

Buy your car insurance from the same company and you will get a better deal on both. It's like bundling your telephone and cable bills. You will get a discount for having both with the same company.

There are many commercials on tv for home security systems that state you can save on your home insurance by installing a system. Those of course are going to cost you more but you can also call your insurance agent and ask if there are any other types of deals or incentives available. You might get deals for extra smoke detectors or locks.  You never know.

If all fails, don't be afraid to shop around. You may be able to find a better deal elsewhere. Ask your friends, family and co-workers if they can steer you towards a good company.

Why not use some of that time online to do some compartive shopping of your major expenses? I know, it's totally boring right? If you dedicate an hour a week doing some compartive shopping I am sure you can save money. For example, lets say that you are paying for short term health insurance NC. Take 10 minutes out of your life and do some compartive shopping. I am sure you facebook buddies aren't going to miss you. Faced with high insurance bills? Take 5 minutes and do some digging online. Fill out a couple of quotes and see what you get back. Trust me, your cyber buddies will leave you a boring scribble on your myspace wall.

Make use of your computer and make use of your time. That person you really didn't like in high school can wait a half an hour to brag about their kids. Go and find some deals and save some money.

Invest in a home security system. Call your insurance company and see if they offer rebates for having home slarm systems. You would be suprised. You just have to make sure the the monthly fees aren't great than the savings for the year. If they then you aren't doing yourself much good if you are looking to safe.

Combine your policies. If you have different insurance companies for your different items you can get great savings by putting them all with the same company. It's like bunding your tv and phone services.

Raise your decductable up to $1,000. If you something goes wrong with your house and is under this amount the chances are you aren't calling them anyways. I have read you can save as much as 25% by just raising your deductable from $500 to a $1,000.

Those are just a coule of ways that you can cut down on your home insurance costs. Remember once you save a little on your insurance costs put it towards paying off that credit card or loan.

Think about your deductible. When I first started paying house insurance my deductible was $250. What I didn't realize was that the price you pay on your total annual house insurance cost is based on your deductible. The less your deductible is, the more your house insurance is.

Of course, this all depends on your current financial situation but if you have a piper burst that is going to cost you $350 to fix are you going to put it through insurance and risk having your rates go up or are you going to get if fixed and forget about it? If you have a break-in and they steal your $800 tv are you just going to replace it or put it through insurance? We both know that unless something major happens to your house you are not putting anything through insurance.

Then why not save some money each month or each year and bump your deductible up to an amount where you say to yourself and feel comfortable with just paying it off. Right now, I have had mine bumped to $1,000 for the past three years. Unless something that costs over $1,000 dollars happens I am not putting through insurance. It's a number I feel comfortable with and I benefit from the lower monthly or annual payment.

Think about what you can afford in the case of a minor happening and talk to your insurance company about increasing your deductible.