As a mom of two young kids, I'll admit I sometimes dread the summertime. Having to get everything done around the house and keep them occupied is super challenging. Last year, it was such a beautiful summer - the weather was incredible, Sophie and Aaron were playing outside most of the day, and coming inside to cool down or for a glass of water every now and then.

But about-mid July, the worst possible thing happened - our central air broke. I got in touch with our home insurance agency straight away, hoping we could get someone in to fix it ASAP. Turns out, our homeowners insurance covered only accidental damages caused by events like fires or natural disasters, not normal wear and tear.

So, after days of the kids complaining about the heat, we had to call a handyman to come and replace it. And it wasn't cheap.

My husband and I debated over whether or not it would be worth getting a home warranty plan and if we really needed one. The house was pretty modern, so we didn't expect to regularly run into these issues, but we realized if something like this happened again, we may not be able to afford to fix it.

So we decided to look into plans that cover repair and replacement costs from normal wear and tear of home systems and appliances in the house. After asking a few friends for some recommendations, one name kept getting mentioned - HomeServe.

With a home warranty plan from HomeServe, you have access to a 24/7 repair hotline to take your call and schedule an appointment to get you the help you need. They will send a licensed technician right to your doorstep to handle all your covered repairs. After looking at plans from HomeServe, we realized it would be worth it to give us peace of mind and protect from costly home repairs in the future.

Plans from HomeServe cover your major appliances and home systems like plumbing, electrical and HVAC. Since we realized home breakdowns are unavoidable, we decided to get the coverage. And, the plans were more affordable than I thought it would be -- plans start as low as $7.99 a month.

And good thing we were prepared. When one of our pipes burst in the kitchen, we panicked for a second and then thanked our lucky stars for HomeServe. We called them and they sent someone to come over and fix it.

Surprise repairs are a routine part of the territory that goes along with being a homeowner. Now that we have a home warranty plan from HomeServe, we know that we are prepared for unexpected breakdowns that come our way next.