Adulting is tough. Between feeling like you are always working too hard, for not enough money, and having many plates to spin all of the time, it’s easy to forget about the small ways to look after your home to make sure that it stays safe and in great condition. That’s why I’ve made a promise to myself to set aside time every week to do some form of home maintenance, on top of my usual tasks. I’ve put together a list of maintenance jobs that we all tend to forget about, and I thought it would be useful to share my list so that others can look after their homes too. Here are five home maintenance tips for the New Year.
Clean your extractor fan
While we might be used to cleaning our kitchens from top to bottom on a regular basis (admittedly, some more regularly than others!), most people tend to forget about their extractor fans, and this can be a really dangerous mistake to make. Not only do they naturally build up dust, but the grease in the air in your kitchen can cause clogs within your extractor fan, which can cause it to stop working and even create a fire hazard. Take the time to maintain your extractor fan so that your home stays safe. Another place that is heavily ignored are skirting boards. It’s so important to make sure you have clean skirting boards, not only will the room feel fresher but they also look nicer clean too. Pull out the wardrobe and get all those skirting boards clean!
Check your boiler
Many people fall victim to broken boilers, particularly during the Winter time and it’s so important to keep your home warm this winter. This can happen for all sorts of reasons, such as pipes freezing and bursting, and the cost of boiler repairs can add up pretty quickly. Taking the time to organise boiler maintenance can be very useful and save you a lot of money. Maintenance can be a wide range of things, such as cleaning the area around your boiler to make sure it is not dusty or overcrowded, or even seeking out a new boiler installation so that you know you have the best boiler for your home as you head into the colder months.
Spend time on your shower grouting
One of the first places that starts to look a little bit grotty in any home can be the grouting in your bathroom. It makes sense – it’s a high traffic area within the home, and if you have young children in particular it can be easy for grouting to be chipped and pulled. This can lead to big problems within your home, so it’s important to repair any gaps in your grouting as soon as they occur. No damage to your grouting? No problem! Instead, spend a day cleaning your grouting to get rid of any discolouration and leave your bathroom looking sparkling clean.
Start tracking your spending
It might not seem like a direct way to maintain your home, but home maintenance can include the structure itself or anybody living inside of it. Tracking your spending is the first step in looking after your finances, so that you can see where you need to focus more of your attention in case there are any emergencies. Once you start to see where you can free up cash, you can start to create sinking funds in which you can build up the finances to be able to handle any emergency within your home.
Look after your gutters
If you are a homeowner, one of the easiest things to overlook is your gutters and drains – but they are definitely going to cause you some of the biggest problems if they’re neglected for too long! Taking the time to remove leaves and other debris from your gutters can stop them getting clogged, which could lead to damaged pipes or build up which causes water damage. This is something that you can do yourself for free if you have a ladder and somebody to hold it for you, or if you’re not able to do it yourself for any reason then it is much more affordable to hire somebody to take a look at it for you, than to repair any damage caused by not looking after it.
There are so many home maintenance tips that we don’t know until it’s too late, because we’ve learned them through bad experiences. What is a home maintenance tip you wish you hadn’t had to learn the hard way?
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