Tighter security – burglar alarms and key-operated windows – will further bring down premiums, says Mr Mason.And think carefully before making minor claims, he adds. “Yet in reality, you are much more likely to be broken into than have your house burn down.”To give yourself proper contents cover, start by drawing up a list of what you own, and then work out what it would cost to replace everything new. You may well come up with a surprisingly high estimate.If this seems too much of a chore, some insurers offer a blanket contents policy, although the amount of cover can vary. Churchill, for example, offers £40,000 and More Than £60,000.Contents policies usually provide either new-replacement or “indemnity” cover, the latter deducting a sum from your overall claim to account for wear and tear; you pay a smaller premium as a result.For cheap cover, consider buying online and increasing your voluntary excess; both could save you 10 per cent. A typical family home in the UK now contains £44,447 worth of possessions, estimates More Than. Unfortunately, we tend to reckon we’re worth barely half that, it adds. So the loss of much of what you own in a storm or burglary could leave you high and dry.If you think there’s no way your possessions could add up to a value of nearly £50,000, bear in mind that contents insurance covers you for a wide range of goods, from kitchen equipment and frozen food to CDs, videos and clothes.”People think buildings cover is a higher priority than their contents because the cost of rebuilding a property is so high,” says Richard Mason from the price-comparison website insuresupermarket.

In fact, reports insurer More Than, one in five households have no contents cover at all.Two key points lie behind this apathy. First, lenders insist that homebuyers take out buildings insurance, but make no such demands for contents.Second, we continually underestimate how much we’re worth. Remember that in experiments, people who feign high self-esteem begin feeling better about themselves. Try to put greater intimacy into your friendships: you may think nobody understands but people actually enjoy sharing confidences. After all, it worked for Morrissey, didn’t it?Mostly BsCongratulations, you have a healthy life balance – but then you knew that.

You invest energy in friends and family rather than status and fill your time with pleasing activities. Optimistic people often think they are more powerful than they really are, which is no bad thing You’re probably a fun person to be around. Just not for the poor buggers who answered mostly As.Katy Guest. Disgruntled Apple customers may be complaining about a delicate screen on the latest iPod but our love affair with all things hi-tech is still going strong. A hefty chunk of the near £60bn racked up on our credit cards is down to our thirst for electronic goods. But while adept at spending to fill our homes with gadgets, we are rather less willing to fork out on protecting our new goods against loss or damage through fire, theft or flooding.
Even though £1bn worth of items is stolen from UK homes every year, many of us continue to scrimp on home contents insurance and leave ourselves exposed in the event of a claim. I argue with my partner but I respect his or her point of view.

WE like philately, baking bread together and long walks by the sea.Agree (b) Disagree (a)9 Things usually work out for me the way I want. This is because I deserve it, of course.Agree (b) Disagree (a)10 I have the capacity to change my life. On the other hand, why would I?Agree (b) Disagree (a)Mostly AsYou keep trying to change the external conditions of life – new car, new house – but find nothing works. Sometimes I find myself so involved in my napkin collection that I clean forget to eat.Agree (b) Disagree (a)8. I dread Mondays so much my mood sinks by teatime on Sunday night.

The Antiques Roadshow has acquired Ibsenesque qualities of gloom.Agree (a) Disagree (b)7 I often find myself doing things that totally absorb me. My colleagues welcome my pithy contributions to water-cooler debates, and my boss thinks I am a genius. And I hardly ever get asked to do the tea run.Agree (b) Disagree (a)3 My life seems stuck in a rut I am bored, stupefied, fed up and jaded. It is not something extraordinary or blissful, simply a feeling of “I am here and I am me”.Virginia Ironside is an agony aunt and authorLionel BluePeople who can give are happyI think of the medieval theologian Peter Abelard’s definition: heaven is when you get what you’ve always longed for and, when you’ve got it, it will be as nice as when you still wanted it When I visit hospitals, the people who can give are happy. If there were a prescription for ennui I would be on 10 a day.Agree (a) Disagree (b)4 My friends never disappoint me They also think I am pretty cool They are smart people.Agree (b) Disagree (a)5 Nobody knows the real me Kurt Cobain did But then he died.Agree (a) Disagree (b)6.