Home Safety Tips-A Safe Home Means Lower Homeowners Insurance Rates

Here are some tips to make your home safe and sound-and possibly save you some cash on your homeowners insurance.

It's Not Just the Food that's Dangerous

Kitchens can be one of the liveliest parts of a home, but can also be very dangerous. A hot stove makes for great food, but can also burn hands and set things like wooden spoons and plastic spatulas on fire. Keep flammable things away from ranges and ovens, and make sure that kids and pets stay out from underfoot while cooking.

The best way to keep little hands from getting to the spaghetti sauce is by turning all pot handles toward the inside of the stove. This also makes it harder for the cook to run into them while moving about the kitchen.

Keep unsafe items safely stowed away in cabinets or drawers secured with child safety locks-this includes poisonous cleaning solutions, knives, sharp utensils and some appliances (coffee grinders, blenders etc.). Remember that it isn't just floor cleaners and bleach that can be poisonous-even vanilla and almond extracts can potentially be poisonous. Keep the poison control number near the phone and consider installing a carbon monoxide detector in your home.

Keeping the Burglars at Bay

Thieves would just love to take a gander at your home while you're out. The Insurance Information Institute (III) says that if it takes more then 4 or 5 minutes to break into a home, thieves will go elsewhere. Contrary to popular perception, most burglaries happen during the day, when homeowners are likely to be at work. To make sure burglars don't make off with your big screen, consider installing lights with motion detectors. An alarm which draws loud attention to your home can thwart would be thieves also. Keep your main doors locked tight with deadbolts and put locks on your windows. Having an alarm installed can also find you savings on your homeowners insurance coverage.

Burnin' Down the House?

Most of us have smoke detectors in our homes (if you don't, go get one for every level of your home). But when was the last time you check to make sure the batteries were still working? It is recommended by the US Fire Administration (USFA) to test your detectors monthly and replace the batteries once a year. Picking a holiday or special event (a birthday, Christmas, daylight savings time) will help you remember to change them.

Where is your fire extinguisher? Portable fire extinguishers are good for immediate use on small fires, but the USFA recommends that only those trained in the use and maintenance of fire extinguishers consider using them. Contact your local fire departments to see about training. You might also consider an in-house sprinkler system.

Homeowners Insurance Discounts for Having a Safer Home

By taking the time effort to improve the safety of your home you will be protecting those who live there. As an added bonus, most insurance companies give discounts (2-15%) on homeowners' insurance premiums when things like deadbolts, smoke and burglar alarms or fire extinguishers are installed in a home (III). Take that into consideration when looking for a home insurance provider on InsWeb.com.