I just got off the phone with my buddy, Schultz, who had one of the more frightening apartment situations I've heard about in awhile. Apparently his roomy, Cooper, left the apartment to go out of town for a few days. In the process of scurrying out the door, he somehow forgot to turn off a burner on the stove.

The kicker of the whole story is that Coop left on a Tuesday and unbeknownst of the bright burning burner, Schultz had planned to stay at his lady's place for a couple of days that week. That stove burned bright for all of Tuesday, Wednesday, and some of Thursday before, luckily, Schultz needed to pull by the pad to pick up a clean pair of p.j.'s.

Now, let me be honest, Schultz and Cooper don't run the cleanest operation around town, but they have quite a few really nice things littered amongst their cluttered compound. I'm sure as he stared in disbelief at the scorching stove in the overheating kitchen, images of his 42" plasma, Mickey Mantle rookie card, and classic Darth Vader automatic toothbrush melting in a raging fire burned at his heart like his life flashing before his eyes.

Thanks to everything sacred and holy though, Schultz was able to take the heat and turn off the burner before any of their many dust flakes floated by, caught fire, and spread throughout the entire complex. Things turned out just fine, but it just goes to show you that a simple mistake could lead to a hot situation.

Schultz asked me what I knew about Renters Insurance and I told him what I tell everyone: It's a necessity! This little scare is a testament to the true need to cover yourself in the case that something goes wrong in yours or even in any of the other apartments in the complex. Fire, floods, theft, etc. can all lead to the tough loss of your personal possessions and investments. If you cover yourself it will be a lot easier to recover your financial losses in an apartment fire. Cash money!

Am I starting to sound like an insurance salesman? Seriously though, as a piece of advice from one seasoned Apartmentite to all of you others, look into getting your stuff covered.

The fact is: without rental insurance coverage, your possessions would NOT be covered and all of your things would unfortunately be lost. Replacing all of these items out of your own pocket could cost tens of thousands of dollars. Can you afford that?

Apartment communities have property insurance that will cover the damage to the building itself, but these policies do not cover the renters' personal belongings. So what do you do?

Get Renter's Insurance!

With Renter's Insurance your cost for replacing all of your personal belongings when they are damaged, stolen, or vandalized on the insured property will be covered. You may be thinking, "I don't own that much. I don't need it."

Think again.

Take every single possession you own from your TV and clothes all the way down to your silverware and cups. The cost of replacing these items will add up to a surprising amount. For less than $20/month in most cases and a possible small deducible, the comfort of knowing that your belongings will be replaced with no additional cost is well worth it.

The truth is that accidents happen to all of us, all the time, and many times it is completely out of our control. Be prepared. Don't wait around until it's too late. Save yourself headaches, heartache, and thousands of dollars and consider covering yourself with Renter's Insurance.

For more info on renter's insurance, apartments, and stuff like cheese check out ApartmentHomeLiving.com