Lifestyle Ensurance

 Today I'd like to talk about something I have termed 'lifestyle ensurance.' I don't think you're going to be able to phone any insurance company and get something called 'lifestyle ensurance' with the definition I have come up with. 

Ensurance- make safe.

Lifestyle- day to day living.

Why would anyone want to have something called lifestyle ensurance?

I will answer for myself here. 

                                             I highly value a safe day to day living.

I am going to list a few ways that I maintained a safe lifestyle for myself and my family.

When I first moved to the city, at age 17, having grown up in a hamlet that was approximately twenty minutes outside of Winnipeg city limits... I lived in a townhouse-style rental on a street called Keenleyside. I lived on the second floor which had only a stair walk up. You can live in places like this when you're young enough to climb stairs. Now, what do you think is the first item that was stolen from my balcony on Keenleyside? If you guessed 'bicycle,' you are right. I was very naive in those days and I was very shocked that someone would trespass on the balcony that I was renting and steal my bicycle. I decided to make an insurance claim because, in 1982, my deductible for a stolen bicycle was $50. Because this was my first 'home living' insurance claim, I was not aware that my insurance the next year would have a 'we remove the reward of a claim- free year' so your insurance will be more than the previous year. So, you must ensure that your claim is actually worth it because the next year will be calculated according to the previous year. It's so exhausting to learn all this. If I had never been stolen from or had my vehicles vandalized, I would not even know any of these rules.

Now, the reason my bicycle was important to me, in those days, was because I would work for home care directly downstairs for about 5- 5 1/2 hours and then I would cycle to Greene Avenue to work another 2 1/2 hours for a different client. I was 18 years old when I got that job. In winter I drove a gas guzzler because it only takes about ten minutes to drive that distance but it takes way longer to cycle and it wasn't always possible to take the time to cycle if I needed to be at another client at a certain time. I think I was also paid 'traveling time' for that government job. In winter, I had a client on Kildonan Drive.

So, in the first year of living in Winnipeg, in that rental, there was a humongous rent increase that so shocked me I started saving and saving and saving my wage for a down payment on a house. I attended a meeting to 'fight the rent increase.' That was downtown Winnipeg. I genuinely believed that the 'renters' (myself at that time) would win this travesty of a rent increase. We did not win... a corporation won. So, I decided to move out of that rental.

Now, when I think of shelter... I think of a safe place. I think of a warm house, safe from thieves, safe from inclement weather, safe from harm. So, to ensure all these lifestyle safety comforts, the first home I purchased was on Culross Bay.

It was a Greentree Homes purchase and my father worked for that company, at that time, so I was able to get a little help from my Dad in the 'finishing' department. I also was able to choose all the colours of the products that were available for that tiny home.

So, now life was going a bit better than in a high- priced rental townhouse. Now my vehicle could be parked right beside my house where I could keep an eye on it. These very significant changes made my lifestyle much better.

So, this was the beginning of what I term, my lifestyle ensurance. In order to ensure a safe place to live, it was of paramount importance that I didn't spend beyond my means. So, I purchased a new washer but I didn't have enough money for a dryer. So, I line- dryed all my laundry in the basement of my tiny new home.

My sister was throwing out an old stove that was in her 1930's house and she asked if I wanted it even though the oven didn't  work and only three of the four elements worked and the amount of greasy soil on the back of the stove was a shock to both of us. I accepted that dilapidated stove and it was cleaned and wired and the good Lord only knows how I cooked on that old Westinghouse for over 20 years. I didn't spring for a thermometer to test the temperature of the oven compartment until I was living at 90 Forest Cove Drive. I was so shocked to find that the old Westinghouse was baking at 100 degrees hotter than the dial indicated. This oven was manufactured long before the digital era.

I almost feel like I'm writing my biography.

So, before this story gets too long... I believe that to ensure something is vastly more crucial to my lifestyle than to insure something. Why? Because I have to decide how much insurance is necessary if I ensure that my safety follows some intelligent basics... 

Like...

Don't let dangerous people into my house. That kept my family safe from theft as well as attack.

If you have a dog, let your dog patrol the yard around the house while you get a little sleep.

Insure what you can't replace outright... with your financial means.

Fences are a great investment.

Be kind to neighbours.

I always tell people that I lived in Winnipeg for over 40 years, uninterrupted.

Now, I could tell about all the vehicles I have owned, all the accidents that ruined my finances, but, yet, how some vehicles probably saved my life and all the license plates that I had to find a way to remember... with something I call acronym memory... create an acronym that you can remember. 

But, that story is for another day.