Your home is your sanctuary, yours’ and your family’s little retreat from the world. It’s your safe haven, if you will, which is why it’s so devastating when something bad happens to it. You love your home, it’s a piece of who you are, which is why it’s so upsetting when something happens to it. The fact is that our homes are not disaster-proof, which means that sometimes, bad things can happen to them.
While it’s totally soul-destroying to see the building that you have worked so hard to turn into a home transformed into a state of catastrophe, it’s important to remember that buildings and belongings can be replaced, people cannot. That’s why it’s so important to try and stay positive, no matter how bad the situation might seem, it could always be worse.
Of course, the fact that it could always be worse doesn’t necessarily make coping any easier. It’s hard to realize that you’ve lost something so precious to you, and potentially some of your belongings too. However, despite what’s happened, you have no choice but to get on with things and find a way to move forward, which is where these tips come in.
Below are some handy tips for making the process of coping in the wake of a household disaster a little easier.
Understand it’s only temporary
One of the most important things that you can do when it comes to a household emergency is understand that the situation – whatever it may be – is only temporary. If the disaster that has impacted your home has meant that it is unlivable, it can be harder to cope as not having a home to call your own can be extremely upsetting. However, it’s important to focus on the fact that the entire situation is only temporary and sooner or later, things will go back to normal.
Contact your insurance company
Incidents such as household disasters where properties are almost completely destroyed can be completely devastating, but as long as you have adequate household insurance in place, they don’t have to be the end of the world. Hopefully, your home is insured, which means that you are covered for any damage that is done and can have your home rebuilt or the areas that need fixing, done for free under your insurance policy.
How it will work is simple: your insurance company will pay out what they determine the damage will cost to repair. To ensure that they get a fair deal, a lot of people opt to hire an independent adjuster, to make sure that they get what they are owed. Sometimes, insurance companies can try and offer a cheap price than what should be offered, which is why it’s important to consider hiring someone independent to take a look and give their own quote. You’ve paid your insurance policy for years, so you deserve to get your money’s worth.
Decide what to do
Once you’ve had the situation in your home got under control, such as the fire put out, the flooding stopped, or the storm that’s destroyed part of your home has ended, you need to decide what to do next. Should you consider moving back into your home while the repairs are made? Or, should you move out of your home and stay somewhere temporarily, such as in a rental property or with a family member?
This will most probably depend on a range of factors, with the most important being whether it’s safe to move back into your home. Sometimes, after household disasters, the structure of the property is impacted, which means that you cannot safely live there and need to move out for a while. The people dealing with your home – the local authorities or your contractors – should be able to tell you what it would be best for you to do.
Put a plan of action in place
One of the most important steps that you can take when it comes to getting over a household disaster and coping with the consequences is to have a plan of action in place. You will find it far easier to cope if you have a plan of what needs to be done when and a timeline of goals in place to refer to.
To work out what needs to be done and when it should be done, talk to your insurance company and your contractors and work out when the funds will be paid and when the work will start and finish. By creating a schedule for the work that needs to be completed, you can make yourself feel better about things. It’s surprising how much easier these kinds of issues are to deal with when you have a schedule in place.
Process what’s happened and move on
Don’t push the fact that you nearly lost your home to the back of your mind. Grieve your loss. If you and your family lost treasured possessions in the disaster that occurred in your home, take the time to grieve that loss. You need to give yourself team to process what has happened. A household disaster is a huge deal, which is why you need time to deal with what’s happened in your own way.
Once you’ve taken the time to process things, the next step is to move on from what has happened. While having your home damaged is upsetting and stressful, it’s important to understand why you need to move past what has happened. There comes a point where you have to let the bad stuff go and find a way to move forward with your life.
What you need to do is look to the future – although it may not be all that great right now, what you need to focus on is that soon your home will be rebuilt and family life will go back to normal. It might be hard to imagine that right now, in just a few months time this awful ordeal with be just a distant memory. So try and stay positive and focus on the future.