Even items you need can cost less if you do a little research. First, think about your insurance: it adds up to a lot of money because there are a lot of different kinds of insurance: homeowner's, flood (if you need it), renter's insurance, automobile insurance, medical insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, nursing care insurance, etc. Some people use insurance products for different purposes, such as whole-life policies as ways to save money (I may research that in the future -- we were told it was a rip-off, but I did have a good one at one time that I think would have been worth a fortune, had our "friend," who became an insurance salesperson not advised against it in favor of term life...as my husband says, the woulda, coulda, shoulda.)
First, analyze your needs. You want to be insured for what you need to be insured for: hopefully, you have property insurance (homeowner's, rental, flood, etc), automobile insurance (required in most, if not all states), medical insurance, and, if you have a home and children, life insurance. Many of these products are given as benefits by your employer, in particular, many employers offer medical benefits, and some offer some amount of life and disability. Those may or may not be sufficient to meet your needs. In addition, you may end up with medical benefits from two employers: you and your spouse's. You may, or may not, be paying a portion of that cost as your contribution. You need to check your medical and other benefits periodically so you see if you can reduce their costs or to make sure you are getting enough insurance for your particular needs. In our situation, my husband contributes for family coverage; however, I could be covered (and so could my family) at work also. I have opted-out, because my employer gives that back as cold-hard cash if you do not take the benefit. But, we are recalculating: is what he is paying to cover the family more or less than what I get back. Obviously, if it is more, we are making a mistake in using his coverage; if less, we are making the right decision. I will be looking into that further when I get back to work in September.
After assessing your needs, be sure you are getting the insurance you wanted to have. For example, in homeowner's insurance, there is a difference between replacement value of items and non-replacement. The replacement cost is generally fairly low so it usually makes sense to get it: if I do not have replacement value and something happens, I will only get the value of what the item was worth. I may not be able to replace the item for that amount. Thus, you really want to make sure that you are getting the coverage that really helps you in the event of a loss; however, you want to be smart about what you pay. Do not assume that the company you are with is necessarily the best or the cheapest. Ask around about other insurance companies used by friends and family or use the internet to compare quotes. But, compare apples to apples: in other words, you want to use the declarations page of your insurance to see what you actually have in coverage so that when you are quoted a rate you know whether or not you would get that rate for the identical coverage or if that rate is for a lesser product.
However, you need not have the most expensive insurance out there. You have to decide what is important to you. One thing I uncovered in researching my finances is that it is highly unlikely that I will make a minor claim with my homeowner's insurance. Thus, if anything happens, it is likely that it will be a major claim. Therefore, I do not need a small deductible. It turns out that I was paying almost 1/3 of my homeowner's amount in maintaining a $250.00 deductible. By increasing my deductible to $1,000., I saved about 1/3 the cost of the insurance. That sounds incredible, but it makes sense. The company knows that I will not be putting in claims minor damage. I will not be nickel and diming them. So, I am a lower risk and I pay a lot less money. If I did have a claim, it would cost me $750.00 more out of pocket, but I will make up for that in a very short time by the reduced premium. The longer I need not make a claim, the longer that this will become a true savings.
Homeowner's really is about catastrophe anyway. The $750.00 will not feel like such a big deal if I have a huge claim anyway. While I was researching, I learned something very important: homeowners who are putting in small claims for any kind of water damage (burst pipes, etc), are being put on a sort of blackball list. It has to do with mold: any water damage in a home could mean that there is a bigger mold problem which is a costly problem for insurers. Thus, homeowners who put in these claims unknowingly set off a chain reaction of being put on a list of "water-damaged" homes and essentially blackballed from getting standard insurance. Then, when they try to sell their house, they find that it is uninsurable. It is amazing that this practice is permitted, but, from what I have read thus far in very reliable sources, it is occurring. So, be careful about putting in minor claims for water damage; in fact, the recommendation I got was not even to call to ask about whether you can make a claim when there is water damage because that can trigger your addition to the list. This is really unconscionable on the part of insurers, but, unless it becomes illegal, it will continue.
I also quickly handled the return of plates on a car that we just got rid of so that my automobile insurance could be reduced as soon as possible; doing that quickly allowed me to save more money than had I procrastinated and not returned those plates. I did it quickly because my spiral notebook system forced me to write down that task and I dealt with it immediately. Again, not rocket science, but certainly an excellent result. We were also discussing taking the collision coverage off the older car; but we got rid of that car and bought a new car instead. We will be looking into ways to further decrease our insurance by taking defensive driving courses. (I'm learning whether or not on-line courses are allowed in my state because I found one for $45.00 per person.) Also, what we pay with a young, male driver in the house would be a lot more had we not known that they reduce the amount of the insurance premium for such things as being away at college, having a B average (a good student discount), and, having taken the regular driver's education class that most new young drivers take. Thankfully, our insurance company asked us about those things -- but, if you do not get reductions for those, you might call your own insurance company. Finally, I am sending my homeowner's policy to my auto insurer for a rate quote; having both policies together may lessen their overall expense.
I have been learning far more about our benefits from work and how to use them properly, and, with my spiral notebook, it is easy to make sure I deal with an issue and later follow up on it. One example is dealing with an insurance claim for a procedure my son had while he was at school. If the insurance does not pay, the entire bill will be about $1,000.00. However, I believe they are just not processing things correctly. By dealing with that issue and being persistent, I will save that money. For those of you with Flex Accounts, use them to the maximum need you have (which is not necessarily the maximum allowed). They are pre-tax dollars, and money that comes back to you should you use a covered service. But, many policies still have "use it or lose it" so people fear them -- look at your plan again, there are new rules giving companies the chance to opt out of the entire use it or lose it issue, and, you may be surprised at what is covered. For example, over-the-counter medicines of all types can be reimbursed -- you just need a paid receipt. Because these benefits are pre-tax dollars, it just makes sense to take the maximum that you need; otherwise, you will still be paying for the services and the medications but you will be using after-tax dollars.