Top Tips For Keeping Your Home Running Smoothly

Home maintenance, while time-consuming, is one of the easiest ways to keep your home running smoothly all year round. Furthermore, when ignored, minor maintenance issues can quickly become major problems – which require much more time, energy, and money to resolve.

As a result, it’s important that you make home maintenance a priority in 2023. This will help you to keep your home in good working order. Here are some top tips you can use to do exactly that!

Declutter once a month. 

Regardless of whether or not you’re trying to create a minimalist home, regular decluttering is a great way to stay on top of home maintenance – which means it should not be a task you only carry out during your annual spring cleaning session. Fortunately, decluttering does not need to be complicated or time-consuming. Instead, you should spend around 10 minutes each evening putting things away as opposed to leaving them on the side. Once a month, go through each of your things and throw away things you no longer need or use. 

Inspect your appliances. 

Home appliances, such as air conditioning systems, play an integral role in your daily life. As a result, they cause a lot of interruption when broken or damaged. As such, you should carry out some research ahead of time so that you are able to inspect your appliances for signs of damage and repair them when necessary. For example, you should learn how to maintain your air conditioning system in 2023.

Weather-proof your home. 

Over the course of the year, your home will face a variety of weather conditions – from sun-filled skies to periods of heavy rainfall and even snow. As a result, it’s important that you weather-proof your home to ensure it is ready for these changes. For example, you should ensure that your roof is in good condition, without any cracks or missing tiles. This means it’s less likely to sustain serious damage during a storm, which could otherwise expose your home to the elements. 

Seal gaps in window frames. 

The older your property is, the more likely you are to experience maintenance issues that are caused by the passage of time. For example, gaps in window (and door) frames are caused by the fact that some materials erode quicker than others, leaving gaps in the surface of your frame as a consequence. While a small gap may not seem to be a pressing issue, it allows hot air to escape your home, which means the money you are spending on keeping your home heated is going to waste. As a result, you should ensure that you fill and seal gaps around your window frames. 

Carry out regular property inspections. 

As mentioned previously, if they go unnoticed or unattended, minor maintenance issues can quickly become major maintenance issues. One way to counter this is by carrying out regular inspections of both the interior and exterior of your property, keeping a keen eye out for any signs of damage. This way, you can put a plan in place to repair them sooner rather than later – whether that be through DIY or hiring a tradesperson to do it for you. 

Invest in home insurance. 

According to a recent survey, 3.5 million Americans do not have home insurance. This is likely because we tend to opt on the side of optimism, believing that no damage will be incurred to our homes or that any damage that does present itself will be easy (and inexpensive) to fix, meaning that it’s not worth the extra cost of insurance. However, the truth is insurance can save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars when the worst does happen and your property sustains serious damage. As a result, it’s well worth the monthly investment when you consider the financial protection you receive as a result. 

Test your alarms. 

Smoke, fire and carbon monoxide exams are genuine life savers. However, they require regular testing in order to ensure they are in good working order. They are, for the most part, battery-powered, which means that you should replace the batteries regularly to avoid being caught in a bad situation. This is a particularly important task when you consider the fact that Smoke alarms fail in a third of house fires. Not only could the act of simply testing your smoke alarms regularly prevent damage occurring to your property, it could also save your life. As a result, this may be the most important home maintenance task on the list.