Depending upon the level of cover purchased, home contents insurance provides cover against theft, fire and other perils for the contents of your home. However, almost a quarter of all UK homes don't have any insurance cover against the loss of their personal possessions.

Home contents are deemed to be those items that can be removed from the property and are not part of the integral structure of the property. For example, fitted wardrobes would not be considered to be covered under a home contents policy whereas free-standing wardrobes would as they can be removed from the property. Similarly carpets would be considered as contents whereas floorboards are part of the structure of the house. Items such as Plasma TVs, musical instruments, CD and DVD collections, clothes, curtains and kitchen electrical items are all considered contents under most home insurance policies.

Anyone whose property is mortgaged will be compelled by their lender to purchase buildings insurance to cover the property. However, home contents insurance is an optional insurance that is purchased at the discretion of the occupant and many choose not to buy it.

According to the Association of British Insurers, almost one in four households does not possess home contents insurance. Some argue that they can't afford it but there are also a significant proportion who believe that home contents insurance is unnecessary and not worth the money. Their argument is that rather than paying premiums to an insurer over a number of years for cover, the money can instead be invested.

Recent research carried out by the Norwich Union found that the average family makes one home contents insurance claim every seven years amounting to just over ?1,000 per case. Their argument is to save that amount of money would amount to ?11.90 per month over seven years, less than the cost of the average insurance premium of ?15.00, thus adopting a DIY approach to would save money.

However, there are three major flaws to that argument. Firstly, if the uninsured were to suffer theft or damage after only one month they would be severely out of pocket. Secondly, although the average claim size may be only ?1,000 that does not in any way reflect the total picture. Although approximately half of claims will be less than the average amount, half will be over the average. Finally, the total cost of replacing all the contents in a home is estimated at ?27,000. In the case of a major catastrophe when all the contents would need replacing that would be quite a significant hit to an uninsured person.

In that case, a few pounds a month would seem a small amount to pay to achieve total cover and peace of mind.