If you want to know some important tips for maintaining your first home, this post will tell you everything. In this post, we’ll discuss important tips, tricks, and hacks that’ll make you a pro homeowner in no time.
Maintaining a home is a lot. Especially if it’s your first home and you’ve never dealt with all of the things that could potentially happen. However, when you have inside information and insight, maintaining your home and preparing for obstacles is much easier.
7 Important Tips for Maintaining Your First Home
Follow these 7 tips below and we’re sure you’ll be prepared for anything that arises!
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TIP 1: Get Started With an Emergency Savings
When you have a home, anything can happen. And most of the time the things that happen are very unexpected.
For example, you might have a leak in your roof or your refrigerator might need to be repaired. Whatever the case, you will need to start saving and create an emergency account to prepare for issues as they arise.
As a general rule of thumb that many homeowners follow, you should set aside approximately 1% of your home’s value per year for emergency repairs.
For example, if your home costs $300,000, you will want to set aside $3k yearly so you can be safe if anything were to happen.
TIP 2: Keep Up With Cleaning
Tip #2 is a really important one people often neglect. When you have a home, there’s a bigger space to clean and often times weekly chores can be set aside for other things.
However, doing this is a big no-no and most long term homeowners will agree.
Keeping up with cleaning and chores is crucial as if you do not, clutter, germs, and debris will build up in the home. The result of this will be overall neglect of the home, mold, disgusting pests, odor, and more.
PRO TIP:
It is helpful to give out chores to different members of the family in order to make sure your home is maintained. If you have the budget, it also pays to hire professional cleaners to help with home maintenance.
TIP 3: Do Some Thorough Research During Your Home Inspection
One of the important tips you should not forget is to do some thorough peeking around during your home inspection. If something comes up that seems like a red flag, take a closer look and dig a little deeper.
There might be an underlying problem that is causing a smaller, superficial problem. If you tackle your home inspection that way, we’re sure you won’t have any surprises in the future.
TIP 4: Get Rid of Junk
Rather than bringing old stuff that you don’t really want into your new home, why not start fresh? Doing a thorough estate cleanout of your old house and determining what you want to take and what you want to get rid of or donate will make a huge difference.
Many times, when people move into a new home they bring clutter along with them. Go through your house and determine what to bring along and what to leave behind.
Leaving stuff or donating to charity is not only a good thing to do but it will save you money on your move!
TIP 5: Take Care of Your Lawn
Many people don’t realize the importance of lawn maintenance when moving into a new home. However, caring for your property is crucial for a bunch of different reasons.
If you neglect your property, not only will your neighbors be annoyed but you’ll also attract a lot of pests into your yard.
Grass and weeds will be overgrown and your shrubbery will look out of place. Caring for your yard is a cornerstone of general home maintenance and upkeep.
TIP 6: Check The Windows
Before buying a home, you will want to do a thorough inspection of everything inside and outside of the home. While it might sound silly, checking the windows is crucial to making a good home purchase.
Having windows that don’t have cracks or allow drafts into your home is very important. And if your windows are in bad shape, chances are they will need to be replaced right away for your safety and the safety of others in your home.
In addition to all of this, buying new windows is much more pricey than you might think. And if you’re replacing ten windows, you will end up having a big bill you didn’t plan for.
TIP 7: Utilize Space
Utilize space in your home as best as you can. If you are searching for a new home, you will likely check to be sure that there is a sufficient amount of closet space in your home. However, if you neglect to do so you could be in for some major problems.
The space you have in your home should be made to use. When holidays come and go, where will you put decorations and seasonal décor if you don’t have proper storage?
This is a tip that should be seriously considered prior to make any home purchase. If you do not, you could end up in a bit of a jam.
Creating more storage in closets can also be a lifesaver. Finding storage solutions and shelving to accommodate your needs and your family’s needs will be a big help as you adjust to living in your new home.
Final Thoughts
We hope you thoroughly enjoyed these 7 tips for maintaining your first home. Moving into a new home is a big adjustment and maintaining it is also huge.
Things can happen unexpectedly and it’s important to know what’s in store as well as being very well prepared.
These tips might seem a little far-fetched but they are things that most people don’t know upon moving into a new residence. If you follow these simple tips, we’re sure your transition will go smoothly and with a lot less stress.
