Most of us think that, if you have contents insurance then, in the event of a burglary, we would be totally covered. So nothing to worry about then? That’s not necessarily true. Some insurers will downgrade the amount they pay out if you have underinsured your belongings. For example, if your home contents were really worth £30,000 but you’d only insured them for £20,000, then the odds are that the payout on any claim you make will be reduced by 50%!

So how do you get around this problem? Well, its quite simple. Just make sure you insure absolutely everything in your home for the correct value. Remember to include everything from your expensive electrical items, iPods, DVD players, personal computers etc, to your CD collection and even your pots and pans. Absolutely everything should be included! Insurance companies generally value CD's and DVD's at £10 each, so if you’ve lots of them, they could increase your valuation quite a lot. Even items kept in a garden shed need to be included.

There are though, some insurers who treat their under insured clients quite differently. Take Norwich Union for example; they’ll pay out up to the insured value and anything over that has to come out of your own pocket.

Many insurers, set the minimum level for Contents Insurance at £15,000 but this still wouldn’t cover most homes as the average value now stands at £45,000. Some insurance providers are particularly worried about the problem of under insurance. More Than have recently increased the Contents cover for all their clients by 25%, a generous offer indeed! Their spokesman said of the raise: "The increases will be made from the customers renewal dates. There will be no direct effect on premiums until then." We expect many other insurers to follow.

If you're not too sure how to value your contents, there is help out there. Remember that contents insurance covers every single moveable object in your home - so if isn't bolted down insure it! You’ll find a useful checklist for valuing your contents at www.abi.co.uk.

So take a second look at your contents insurance and make sure everything that could possibly be stolen is included from your television and stereo to pot plants and teacups!