One of the most enjoyable things about arriving home feeling great after a long break, is going through the mountain like pile of mail. Naturally most of it is bills. No different for me. The best one? My house insurance has just gone up by 50%!! Thats ontop of the 26% last year. Yes I know, it’s as a result of the earthquake in Christchurch….oh and the Japanaese floods….ooh and the constant Queensland floods…oh and the fact that insurance companies dont like paying out insurance claims…after all they’re really just in the business of gambling…..they are getting you to place a bet with them on whether or not you will make a claim. Naturally they are setting the odds. So feeling very shitty, I got a quote from several other companies. One was $1000 dearer. Another was cheaper ….but only if I took my contents and car over as well. The conents and the car were in fact dearer which overall meant more. I told them this so they gave me a quote with out the car, but because the car wasnt there the house price was dearer. Also as I had claimed for insurance twice in the last year(one as a result of a burst pipe and the other hail damage) I would have to pay more as I had a history of making claims.I would have tought they should charge less as these two faults had both been fixed and were unlikely to happen again. But no. In the end I decided to stay where I was but have managed to reduce the price. Heres the interesting part. By moving the office of insurance to my local one instead of in town it saves $8 a month…yes I dont know the difference either and they will never tell you unless you ask. Also for the privilege of paying monthly, they charge you between $25 and $35 more a month. Much better, now it’s only gone up by around 75%….cant believe my luck!!