We all have to deal with them. The dreaded household finances. It seems like most of us have problems keeping any money left over after we’ve paid off all the essentials. But the truth is that your essentials don’t have to be as expensive as you might believe. Below, we’re going to look at three ways to start spending a lot less on ‘upkeep’. Meaning you have a lot more to put towards your savings and financial planning.
household maintenance
If you are a homeowner, there are going to be occasions when you’ll need to have some repair work done inside of your house. You might need maintenance done to your HVAC unit. Or you might need some plumbing or electrical work done. Or, you might even need some shingles added to your roof. Whatever the case may be, in order for your repairs to be done the right way, it’s usually going to require having some money.
If you’re like us, we’re pretty sure that when it comes to home repairs, you want to do all that you can to save as much money as possible. That’s why we wanted to provide you with five of our favorite tips for how you can get what you need done around the house without paying someone else to do the work. Check these out below:
Fall is a great time to get around to those home maintenance tasks you’ve been meaning to complete. Not only are these tasks essential to keeping your house in top shape, but they can also save you money by preventing serious damage or problems. Here are 5 money-saving home maintenance tasks for fall.
Clean out your gutters. It is important to take time in the fall months to get up on your ladder and remove the gunk and build up that may be sitting in your gutters. Very often things like leaves, debris, dirt and other items will get stuck in the gutters causing seemingly minute problems that can actually lead to some serious and expensive issues with time. When it rains, buildup in can overflow your gutters, causing water to accumulate in areas where it can cause damage to your foundation or other parts of your home. These types of damage can end up being extremely costly, and so keeping your gutters clean and intact is an excellent way to prevent problems and reduce the need to repair leaks or foundation dilemmas.
If you have noticed any issues in relation to your gutters, e.g. water pooling inside your home due to a backlog that’s broken through, then you will have to ensure that this is dealt with right away. Clean the gutters and get someone around to repair the leak. You may notice a moldy smell if it has been left a while. This can indicate mold spores growing, which is why it is essential to speak with professionals who provide mold testing in Stamford, CT, for instance, so you can have this problem dealt with as soon as possible.
When you buy your first residence and become a proud homeowner, you no doubt have a lot of ideas whirling through your head about how you can fix the place up. But beyond the repairs needed to make your home livable and the upgrades that will ensure the height of functionality while allowing you to put your personal stamp on the space, you’ll find that there are myriad home maintenance tasks that you’ll have to perform annually or semi-annually in order to keep your home in ship shape. And some go well beyond the demands of simple spring cleaning. Although you can always hire service providers to take care of these tasks for you (and some of them may require professional attention), there are also many home maintenance activities you can learn to do on your own in order to save some money. Here are a few you’ll definitely want to put on your list.
Watch where water is going. You might think that inspecting the roof and cleaning the gutters is all you need to do in order to make sure that water doesn’t damage your home. And while this is a good start, the truth of the matter is that you also need to pay attention to water levels around your home if you want to make sure it won’t seep in. In some cases, the downspouts on your gutters could be improperly aligned, causing water to pool rather than flow away from your foundations. Or your property could be improperly graded, bringing water towards the house instead of away from it (you might be surprised how often this occurs). Drains could get blocked during heavy rain. But by keeping an eye on the conditions around the outside of your home you can quickly spot problems and address them in order to avoid water damage. If an unfortunate event, such as flooding in your basement, occurs, you could reach out to the experts at somewhere like Protegrity Restoration to help you get things back in order once again.