Cutting Down Your Home Maintenance Schedule

Now that it's 2022, it's time to get going on all of your new year’s resolutions! For many, this means discarding old habits that no longer serve you and developing healthy and sustainable practices.

As we’ve discovered during our work-from-home time, your home environment is crucial to your productivity, and keeping it clean and running properly is a constant challenge. To help keep you on track this year, we’ve assembled a home maintenance checklist with five recommendations that will cut down on time spent on house maintenance.

1. Install New Floors

Ashmore Natural from BelleLuxe Collection by Karastan

Now bear with us here —we know installing new floors may sound like a lot of work (not to mention the price tag), but you might be surprised to know that old flooring can cause even more work. Run-down carpets and old hardwood floors make for difficult upkeep, require constant care, and can cost you more in the long run.

Think about how much time you’re spending now trying to keep your floors looking clean and consider the benefits of installing new floors. New flooring will increase your real estate value and give you functional updates that will save time maintaining your floors. Plus, thanks to updated flooring technology, many new flooring products are better insulators and can save you money on heating and cooling your home.

2. Regularly Inspect to Catch Issues Early 

Regular inspection can save you trouble in the long run by catching issues early on while they’re still minor. Cut back on the number of improvement projects you need to do by regularly inspecting the:

• Heating system

• Central air conditioning system

• Interior plumbing

• Electrical system

• Roof

• Attic

• Visible insulation 

• Foundation

• Basement

•  

3. Downsize Your Stuff

Perhaps one of the biggest time-savers in home maintenance is downsizing. It’s as simple as when you have less stuff, there is less to go wrong! The first step in downsizing is taking inventory of your belongings by sorting through items room-by-room. Donate old clothes you don’t wear, give away kitchen appliances you never use, and get rid of books or electronics that you’ve outgrown. Creating a plan to discard your unwanted items is perhaps the biggest piece to this puzzle, as it’s easy to separate things into piles and then forget about them. Whether this means planning a trip to the consignment store or scheduling a donation pick-up, downsizing your items is worth the lessened maintenance load in the end. 

4. Stick to a Routine

When thinking about how to maintain a house, it's important to establish a routine. You’ll want to have basic home maintenance items on hand such as a broom, vacuum, mop, hammer, screwdriver, wrench, and tape measure. Set up a weekly schedule with necessary tasks such as sweeping and mopping the floors, dusting, wiping down counters, and cleaning out vents. Then, keep a monthly or yearly schedule with less frequent maintenance items like the yearly carpet cleaning service or replacing the A/C filters. Routine checklists broken down like this often work to keep yourself on track and are less overwhelming than one giant list of home maintenance projects.

5. Adjust to Each Season

Design by SARA BEDERMAN  Photography by STEPHANI BUCHMAN

Adjusting to each season is crucial to keeping your house maintenance low. For instance, the springtime tends to bring about more rainy weather and muddy shoes, so laying out extra welcome mats in the entryway can help eliminate the amount of water and mud tracked in. This saves time cleaning the rest of your house and protects your floors. Simple things like oiling your door hinges and locks before winter strikes or checking the batteries in your smoke detector before fire season can help prevent issues down the line.

Inspecting for exterior damage like cracks in your concrete driveway or roof damage is best done in spring and summer as it’s harder to make exterior repairs when the cold weather hits. Winter, on the other hand, is a great time to check your carbon monoxide detectors and the home’s insulation to ensure a warm and safe environment.