New Year's Resolutions That Don't Suck!

​With 2019 starting tomorrow, there is all sorts of talk about New Year resolutions. While these are typically something to do with weight, bad personal habits, etc there are some home maintenance resolutions that are quick, easy and will leave you feeling accomplished!

Here is our top 10!

1. Create a home maintenance checklist!

Not only will this get that checklist out of your head ( where it is easy to forget) it enables you to plan when to do things around your home!

2. Schedule reminders in your phone for the year to check the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors and replace the batteries.

3. Schedule the servicing of your Air Conditioning system for late April early May.

4. Schedule the servicing of your Furnace system for late August early September.

5. Create a Deep Clean Schedule.
Include items like your refrigerator, oven, clothes dryer and don't forget to clean behind and underneath them!

6. Make a designated donate location.

I don't know about you but this one saves me all the time. I don't get a lot of time to run things to the donation stations around the area and I hate clutter so I have a designated area/basket that I can put things when I don't have time and then either schedule a pick up or run them down when I have time and I am headed that way.

7. Create a Repair Budget for the year.

While some say to save 1% of your purchase price and some say you should save $1.00 per square foot of the size of your home neither of these methods considers the specifics of your home. Age of the home, the weather in the area, condition of the structure, location of the structure and type of home can all affect your overall budget. Averaging between the two methods ( 1% rule and $1 rule ) and then adding 10% to the total can help make the budget more realistic to the needs of your home. For example, if you bought the home for $100,000 then 1% would be $1,000. If it was 1200 sq feet then the average of the two would be $1100.00. If your home is an older home then you would add 10% to the $1100.00 or and additional $110 dollars to make the total to budget $1210.00 per year.

8. Schedule the yearly maintenance for your water heater.

Water heaters are usually the first things forgotten when it comes to yearly maintenance and yet we all love our hot showers. If you want your water heater to last longer don't forget it needs some TLC too.

9. Get a home warranty.

Great news!! You don't have to be a home buyer to get a home warranty!! Just to be clear a home warranty isn't the same thing as home insurance. A home warranty provides for discounted repair and replacement service on a home's major components such as the furnace, air conditioning, plumbing, and electrical system and some even cover the oven, dishwasher, refrigerator!

10. Check out a home maintenance app for your phone.

There are a plethora of awesome home maintenance apps available that can help schedule repair and cleaning maintenance, track costs, make a budget and keep track of contractors that you have used. Having an all in one app makes it easy to take care of your home!