Owning a home is a constant process of cleaning, maintenance, and improvements. If you fall behind on these tasks, your house could, at best, look dirty and unkempt or, at worst, need serious repairs.
Fortunately, you don’t have to spend every weekend cleaning and working on your home. With the right maintenance, you can limit your work to a few hours each week. Follows these five easy steps to keep your house in shape.
1. Clean the exterior of your house.
Your house might be spotless on the inside, but if it looks dirty and neglected on the outside that won’t make a great impression on passersby and can even lead to serious damage. Along with basic yard maintenance and landscaping, make sure you remember to clean your home’s physical exterior.
Make sure you watch the exterior of your windows at least monthly and look into pressure washing your house seasonally. Regular house washing will prevent build-up of grime, making it easier to clean your home and help you identify mold and moisture problems before they become severe.
2. Catch problems early on.
Houses do not heal themselves and problems that you have will not magically go away. In fact, they are likely to get much worse if they are ignored. As a homeowner, one of the best ways to save money is to catch problems early on and stay alert to any warning signs your home exhibits.
For example, if your shower is taking a long time to drain or your sinks are making strange noises and unpleasant odors, you may need to call a plumber. If you live in Georgia, calling an Atlanta drain repair company when these symptoms arise can prevent a major plumbing emergency. There are also reputable drain repair in Johns Creek, GA companies that you can use when you need a plumber fast. Don’t skimp on fixing that sewer line since issues in your drain line or sewer line can cause major issues that will be expensive to fix later on. When it comes to homeownership, an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure.
3. Clean a little bit each day.
Have you ever looked around your house and wondered how it got so messy? There are dishes stacked up, the floor is dirty, and there is grime in the bathrooms. When your home looks like this, it can take hours to clean it – which is both frustrating and exhausting.
Instead of waiting for your house to get dirty, clean a little each day. Wipe down your countertops so the food particles don’t stick. Take out the trash before it starts to smell and overflows. If you set aside 30 minutes each day for cleaning, your home will never get overwhelmingly dirty.
4. Practice decluttering techniques.
The longer you live in one place, the more clutter you are likely to have accumulated. Gifts, impulse buys, and home decorations can build up and make it seem like your house is smaller. During your spring cleaning and fall cleaning each year, go through your home and collect items you want to donate. You can also invest in storage containers to better organize your items. Decluttering will make your home look better and can motivate you to clean.
5. Invest in quality repairs.
There’s an old adage for homeowners that says, “you can buy it cheap or you can buy it once.” This means that low-budget fixes are more likely to break, causing you frustration and making you spend more in the long-run.
If you need to repair something in your home, make sure you are fully addressing the problem instead of going with a temporary solution. You can enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing that the issue is fully resolved and move on to other activities.
Keeping your home well-maintained will give you a sense of pride in where you live. It will also help you save money because the problems you catch won’t get out of hand.
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