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Cheap insurance can come with a cost. Even though you may not see the cost reflected in your premium, chances are it will catch up with you down the line when it comes time to file a claim. Sometimes having cheap insurance means being underinsured which exposes you to financial risk in the event of a claim. However, that doesn’t mean you have to pay an arm and a leg for insurance. Here are the top two ways to pay cheap insurance rates without getting cheap insurance coverage:

Take advantage of discounts:These days insurance providers are offering discounts for all types of things including deadbolts, security alarms, smoke detectors and more. Ask your insurance agent to qualify your for every discount they can and you could save 20-25% on your home owners insurance premiums.

Package your home and auto:Many insurance providers will reward policyholders who bundle their home and auto insurance policies with them. Homeowners have reported savings of up to 20% on their homeowners insurance by packaging their auto with the same company. Ask for a home-auto quote to see what you could save.

For more information on how to save wisely on home insurance, visit the Insurance Information Institute.

I did actually give up soda for a couple of weeks but I decided to start drinking it again.   I decided to cheat one day because I was tired and needed the caffeine.  That led to cheating the next day and deciding to just scrapping the whole giving up soda thing. I do feel that I could give up soda again but I don’t want to right now. The benefits I hoped to see from giving up soda did not happen.  I was hoping that I would sleep better, lose weight, and have improved digestion.  The reason none of that happened is probably because I substituted sweet tea for my soda.  If I want to see any benefits I probably need to give up all caffeinated and sugary drinks.  That is something I might do in the future but for now I’m enjoying my soda.

I’m still doing well on giving up TV.  That has been pretty easy.  The internet, reading and our new Wii is more than enough to keep me occupied.  It also helps that we agreed watching DVDs would be okay.  We just got season 3 of Dexter from the library and are enjoying watching an episode or two of it a night now.  I suppose that is cheating but I was on the wait list for Dexter for months so now that I have it I’m going to watch it.

I’m not Catholic but I’m willing to use a religious practice for my own benefit.  My wife and I are giving up TV for Lent.  I am giving up soda as well.  I don’t think giving up TV will be a problem at all since football season is over.  There are current TV programs that I like but none of them are ones I can’t miss.  I’m hoping that giving up TV will lead to an increase in productivity although past experiences would indicate otherwise.  In the past when I didn’t watch TV I just spent more time surfing the internet and reading books.  I’m instituting some others to be less lazy so maybe this time will be different.

Giving up soda will be more difficult. This is not something I have had much success with in the past.  I did go without soda for six days last month without too much difficulty.  My main substitute for soda is sweet tea.  With all the sugar and caffeine in the tea I’m drinking there won’t be much benefit to it compared to drinking soda.   I do get tired of drinking tea quicker though so that should eventually lead to less consumption of sugary beverages and more consumption of water.  I’m hoping that giving up soda will lead to some weight loss and possibly better sleep.

Even if I don’t gain much from giving up these two items I still think this is a worthwhile endeavor.  It is good to see if I can practice some self-discipline on occasion.

I just discovered Dropbox a couple months ago.  I was looking for free backup for my computer and read someone’s blog that mentioned they were using Dropbox.  Since they give you 2GB of free online backup I decided to give it a try.  The service has been working great for me.  After installing Dropbox I just drug the files and folders I wanted to backup to the Dropbox folder.  This made them available both on my computer and online at the Dropbox website.  The feature I like even more is the ability to sync files between my two laptops.  Now it doesn’t matter if I am using my computer or my wife’s computer, since I have Dropbox installed on both I can access all my documents from either computer.  This is helpful when I am scanning documents for my wife.  I scan them on computer and then put them in the Dropbox and my wife has the files she needs on her computer.  Before I would have had to save them to a USB drive and then take that drive to the other computer and download the needed files off the  drive.  Dropbox is much easier.  Also, as long as I’m connected to the internet my files are automatically backed up when I save them to Dropbox or when I edit them in the Dropbox folder.

This is not a paid post and does not contain any affiliate links.  They do provide me some incentive for referring new people to Dropbox though.  Currently for everyone you refer who joins and installs Dropbox, they will give you both 250 MB of bonus space (up to a limit of 8 GB).  If you are interested in Dropbox please use my Dropbox referral link.