It is unlikely most of us will want to spend time climbing the ladder and unclog the gutters on a Sunday morning. However, if you’ve invested tons of money in your home, as is the case with most people, taking out some time to maintain it is a must! Home maintenance can feel like an extremely daunting task, especially for those who have never been up close and personal with a boiler, let alone having it serviced. But, this doesn’t have to be the case at all.
A home should be aesthetically pleasing and functional at the same time. It should serve its purpose throughout all the seasons, providing you warmth during winters and coolness during the
summers. To prevent home maintenance from being the dreaded monstrosity that it sounds like, you might want to create a to-do list to simplify the job. Yes, you read that right! Checklists are always a good starting point, and we have made one for you. Read this comprehensive checklist and follow it to the T to save time and some money on maintenance costs.
Create a list that contains all tasks that need to be done
To know where to start your home maintenance project, you need to create a list of all the things that require maintenance, however big or small they are. This list should contain chores you need to do that will allow you to keep your home organized, clean, and running smoothly throughout the coming year. Include tasks such as annual bills and payments, membership renewal dates, celebrations, paint jobs, wood repair, decluttering and declogging, and what not!
Determine the frequency
Are the tasks you’ve identified in the first part monthly, quarterly, or annual? Focus on maintenance-related chores that you do seasonally. For example, how often will you run a decluttering campaign and visit your self storage unit to put away things you don't currently need. Or, you might have to clean air filters multiple times throughout the year, but won’t be doing numerous paint jobs, would you? Furthermore, it would be good to create multiple to-do lists for monthly, quarterly, and yearly tasks to avoid confusion.
Plan 2021
On your checklist, note down each task according to the month it needs to be completed before. For example, the month you need to check if your insulation and heating system are working fine before next winter. Chores such as repairing broken parts of your home, washing the porch, or cleaning the windows from outside are a little more flexible, and you can do them whenever you want. However, you need to balance out the number of chores between each month and avoid overloading yourself with too much to do at one time. Overburdening yourself can cause exhaustion, and you might end up not completing any tasks at all. Bonus tip: if you plan on traveling this year, add those dates to your annual list and plan your home maintenance accordingly.
Plan a monthly checklist
Once you have your yearly to-do list in your hand, you are now ready to complete all your home maintenance tasks month by month. Start by creating a list of all the things that need to get done in the current month. When a new month begins, create a new list accordingly. Come up with a plan to complete monthly tasks within 30 days. For example, ask yourself if you can paint your shed or redo the flooring inside a room the coming Sunday, or if you can paint the lounge walls the coming Monday. Note down these tasks in your daily routine and prioritize them just like you would prioritize a business meeting or an appointment with the doctor. But whatever you do, DO NOT reschedule or cancel! Make it your life mission to not have any pending tasks for the current month before the next month starts.
Don’t make excuses – get tasks done
Planning for something is always going to be easy. The challenging part is actually getting things done! Don’t get overwhelmed by your checklist. Just dive in and get your hands dirty right away. Once you start meeting daily and weekly goals for each month, you’ll realise that everything is quite doable and does not require much effort at all. For example, suppose you decide to clean the insides of your microwave after every two months. In that case, you will not have to employ an arsenal of cleaning equipment to get rid of the stubborn grime at the end of the year!
Conclusion
Once you start completing your tasks one at a time and day by day, month by month, you will realise that the intimidating chore of home maintenance is actually easier than you predicted. In the end, it is all about being consistent with your efforts and getting things done on time. If you do not skip a single day’s work, your home will remain clean, safe, and well-maintained for you and your family to enjoy, whatever season it may be. So come on, 2021 has just begun. Get started NOW!
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