The Household Chronicle

Practical guidance, without the sales pitch.

A corner of the house

Money & Finance

Practical guidance, without the sales pitch.

4 pieces gathered here

  1. A section of wooden fence knocked flat in a yard with a fallen tree limb lying across the broken rails
    Small Loss, Real Deductible? Working Out Where Claiming Costs More Than PayingThe deductible is the visible part of what a claim costs. The rest arrives at renewal, stays for years, and is rarely calculated before the call is made.
  2. A partially framed two-story house under construction, with stacks of lumber on the ground and scaffolding along one wall
    Insured for What You Paid? Rebuilding Costs What It Costs Today, Not What It Cost ThenUnder-insurance rarely announces itself. It sits quietly on the declarations page for years and then reduces a claim that had nothing to do with a total loss.
  3. A kitchen counter with reading glasses, a highlighter and a paper clip resting beside a plain unmarked envelope
    The Declarations Page: Four Numbers That Decide What a Claim Is Actually WorthThe page at the front of a homeowners policy is the part almost nobody reads, and four figures on it settle most of what a claim will eventually pay.
  4. The kickspace beneath a kitchen sink opened up, showing a stained subfloor, a braided supply line and a shutoff valve
    One Sentence About Repeated Seepage Decided a Claim Nobody Thought Was ComplicatedA supply line had been weeping behind a cabinet for most of a year. The damage was obvious, the cause was obvious, and the settlement surprised everybody.