Spring is always a good time to organize, clean, and update your house and yard. But spring is also a great time to clean up your personal insurance program. Between yard cleaning and painting the garage, we hope you call your agent and ask for a spring insurance review.

Here are some tips we have found helpful when starting your spring personal insurance clean-up.

Make Sure That You Are Dealing With A Licensed Insurance Agent - Insurance agents are required to be licensed by the state, and their information may be found online at the state's insurance department. A licensed agent will offer sound professional advice.

Examine Your Automobile, Home, and Personal Liability Limits – If your policy limits are less than $100,000, you may be able to cover your legal liabilities in the event of a claim or accident. Anyone with any assets or income to protect should get minimum liability coverage of $500,000 to $1 million or more. You will find the cost of higher limits is very competitively priced.

Recognize The Risks And Coverage You Need - Every property, home, and family is unique and comes with its own set of risks. In general, homeowner's insurance is intended to protect against dangers beyond the owner's control, such as rain, wind, fire, vandalism, pipe bursts, falling objects, theft caused by broken glass, and so on. Flood and earthquakes are generally excluded.

Keep a Home Inventory - Keeping an accurate inventory of your personal belongings will help you recover faster in the event of a loss.

Bundle Your Insurance - Save money by combining your vehicle, house, and umbrella policies with one insurer.

Choose the Right Deductible - A greater deductible lowers your premium, but you'll be responsible for more out-of-pocket expenses in the event of an accident. If you have a clean driving record and no accidents, you might choose to take a chance and pay a higher premium. The benefit for taking this risk might be as much as a 40% discount.

Consider Identity Theft — One of the fastest-growing crimes in the United States is identity theft.

Read Your Policy - I'm not referring to the 1-2 page Declarations Page that serves solely to demonstrate coverage, but rather the 20-30-page insurance Binder or Policy that provides the specifics of the coverage and exclusions. Nobody enjoys reading insurance policies, so don't be surprised if you don't comprehend them.

Your agent can help you review your coverage needs and make the changes necessary to your policy. Once this is completed, you can enjoy a cold drink in your freshly mowed backyard.