Saving through Home Maintenance
Home maintenance and giving the proper care is a good way to save thousands of money. Your home is one of your big assets and deserves a regular check-up. It can avoid any issues if you give the proper supervision at the very beginning.
Maintaining your home must be done regularly, which can be fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, biannually or annually depending on the part of the house that needed to be repaired. Also, giving your home the proper maintenance will give you assurance to save money and protect your investment. And if you can do it on your own, meaning you don’t need to hire someone to do the task, the more you save.
Home maintenance and the saving bundle
- Smoke alarms. Checking if your home smoke alarm is working is the most simple but very essential home maintenance that you can do. It is a matter of life and death scenario, which can save your home and your family from any fire accident.
Smoke alarm checking must be done quarterly and yearly, and you must change its battery. The first thing you need to do is to check the test button. If it doesn’t work, try to change the battery which will only cost $2.99 and try again. If it doesn’t work the second time, maybe it is time for you to buy a new smoke alarm, which will only cost $9.98.
The amount that you can save from doing this maintenance is the whole value of your home and contents, plus the life of your family.
- Fridge coils. Hey, maybe it is time to vacuum your fridge coils. Did you know that your refrigerator consumes up to 15 percent of your overall power usage a year? Just a single appliance but too accountable. Dirt from the coils is also the reason why your electricity bill is high.
So for refrigerator maintenance, unplug the fridge and move it away from the wall it is located. Afterwards, by the means of a crevice attachment, vacuum the dirt or any dust from the coils. Do this process twice a year and you can save up to $60 on your electricity bill.
- Cleaning the AC. Surprisingly, an average of 40 percent of energy consumption at home goes to heating and cooling. Especially during the summer, aircon is very useful so energy consumption increases. When using the aircon so much, it reduces the airflow by up to 50 percent due to the clogged or dirty filters.
This is how it goes, gently remove the filter. Using dishwashing liquid, rinse it in the sink and brush it softly. Dry the filter naturally. If there are remaining mucks, use the vacuum to remove them. Do this cleaning in a monthly cycle, and when needed, change the filter seasonally. This process will help you save about $489 yearly, plus the installation fee.
- Gutter clearing. When raining, the gutter is blocked with different debris or any scattered greens. It is not freely flowing so it can cause damage to your roof. When dry, inspect the gutter and figure out any corrosion or cracks in the downpipe.
Using a gutter brush which you can buy from the nearest hardware store that only costs $13 clears any debris in the gutter by sweeping it through the bag. To make it clean, use a balanced solution of water and bleach then scrub and rinse. By doing this gutter maintenance, you can save up to $65 by avoiding repairs plus the cost of labour. Do this twice a year for a better result.
- Pests control. No Aussies are excused for unwelcome guests – termites, cockroaches, rodents, spiders, and ants. All of them are the cause of unwanted damage in every home.
So to have protection from all kinds of pests, brush all food particles and crumbs, and empty all larders and cupboards. Afterwards, disinfect and rinse. Also, do not forget to use a clean vacuum on your mattresses and pillows to prevent dust mites. Finally, inspect all the crack holes and sweep dead leaves from the outside. Do this cycle quarterly and save up to $30 yearly.
- Lubricate your locks. If needed, lubricate your locks for easy opening and closing. Roam around your house with a screwdriver and a dry lubricant, such as graphite powder, and check all the locks and make them tight and secured. Maintaining it annually by yourself can help you save up to $90.
Calling the home maintenance pros
There’s much maintenance that you can DIY to save up, but there are also things that you cannot do where you need to hire someone else. In fact, Aussies are known to be the country of improvers due to spending more than $12.3 billion on home renovations alone, this is according to the Australia Bureau of Statistics.
For those who are not comfortable climbing a ladder or doing some repair-related stuff, you can knock some help from a handyman in the Yellow Pages or online by visiting the following sites:
Understandable that there are lots of home maintenance that are really doable, but if you don’t have the right tools and skills, it is impossible. Home maintenance such as roof repairs, electrical works, plumbing, gas fitting or structural works needs to be maintained with the help of the pros. Do only the things that you can, and if you’re not confident about doing something, do not push through it.
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