New Year's Resolutions for Your Home

Courtesy: Royal LePage Binder Blog

Showing your home some much-needed love this year can make running your new home easier, or selling your home happen more quickly.

Every year when January rolls around, you vow to create resolutions; healthy eating, saving money, and spending more time with family and friends. As you create your resolution list, why not make a list for your house too?!

Keeping up with Seasonal Maintenance Checklists will ensure your home stays safe year-round with a smaller possibility of issues down the road. This year, do your best to keep up with things like;

• Changing your furnace filters
  
• Checking your bathroom and kitchen exhaust fans for blockages, and make sure they’re removing moisture
  
• Looking for cracks or holes in your home’s exterior walls and foundation
  
• Cleaning out the gutters and checking if they’ve corroded or disconnected
  

Cleaning Your Home can reduce your stress and keep your environment less chaotic. Doing small tasks such as ensuring the dirty dishes are in the dishwasher or putting on a load of laundry, can help make tasks seem less daunting.

• Ask others in your home if they can help. Divide the jobs: One of you can do the dusting/vacuuming and changing beds, the other can do the bathroom cleanup, leaving the kitchen and trash emptying for you to handle.
  

Lower your Energy Usage, Increase Efficiency. When people think of going green, they often think it takes solar panels or a hybrid car to make a difference, but that's not entirely true at all. Here are some ways you can lower your energy useage around the house:

• Switch off the lights when you leave a room.
  
• Turn off your air conditioner when you leave the house and dial your heater down to 55 degrees at night.
  
• Install LED bulbs and low-flow showerheads.
  
• Try drying some of your clothes on the line and wait for the dishwasher or washing machine to be full before you run them.
  
• Give composting a try. Your garden will thank you.
  
• Check windows and doors for any drafts that you can put a stop to.
  

Complete an Upgrade - Improving and finishing the outdated and incomplete projects that you've been thinking about doing? Maybe this is your year! It doesn't have to be a major upgrade, it can be something like:

• Painting your front door
  
• Boosting curb appeal with a no-dig fence
  
• Creating a new outdoor space with a floating deck
  
• Restoring your existing deck 
  
• Replacing appliances nearing the end of their life cycles
  

Declutter - This year resolve to go room-by-room periodically clearing anything that you don't use, wear or love and donate it to charity. After that, think twice about what you bring in.

Make 2023 your year and create new, lasting good habits to ensure your home is safe, well-kept, and maybe even ready for its listing photoshoot!