It’s a new month, a new year and a new decade.
Here are some ideas of things you should do to keep your house and your life in tip top shape!
For your wallet:
Check rates for your Homeowner’s insurance. This can help lower your monthly mortgage payment. Renting? Check your renter’s insurance rates.
Renting? For the love, stop paying someone else’s mortgage. Chances are a mortgage could be less than or right around what you’re paying in rent. And that builds YOUR net worth, not someone else’s. Phoenix had the highest appreciation in home values in 2018 in the nation, which means those who owned here in the Valley accrued equity without doing anything other than paying their payment every month.
Check rates for your auto insurance.
Evaluate your monthly recurring charges / bills. Do you need DirecTV? I recently switched to YouTube TV’s streaming service and ended up saving about $60/month from my DirecTV bill. Call your internet provider and see if they can offer any discounts or rate reductions to your monthly bill.
Check your APR on your current mortgage. If rates are lower today, it may be worth it to refinance and save on your monthly mortgage bill.
Check your credit card interest rates. Have a high APR on your credit card? Call the credit card company and see if they’ll lower your rate… especially if you’re carrying a balance!
Stop buying bottled water. Not only does this save money, it saves the planet. Get a Brita water filter pitcher or a reverse osmosis water filtration system and use a reusable bottle!
Purge, organize and sell items you no longer want or need. Seriously, this is so cathartic. You get rid of the clutter, you feel lighter, and after selling some things on OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace or a garage sale… you have some extra money in your pockets!
Inside your home:
Change your homes air filters - this not only extends the life of your air handling unit, it keeps the air in your home cleaner! Set an alarm or add it to the calendar to change your air filters monthly if you live in the desert, and every 3 months if you live anywhere else.
Change the batteries in your smoke detectors. This is important for safety, obviously… but you know they’ll always start chirping when you’re trying to sleep. So it saves your sanity and your sweet, sweet sleep too!
Check the expiration date of your fire extinguisher. These lose charge after a while, so you want to be sure it’ll get you through the year ahead. Don’t have one? Put that on your list, because it’s just smart to have one especially near gas powered appliances.
Schedule annual maintenance / tune up on your HVAC system. This is especially important in the desert, because the last thing you need is for the motor or blower to go out on the hottest day of the year!
Clean your dryer vent of any lint build up. These can get pretty nasty and can be a fire hazard if not maintained. They can also affect the efficiency of the appliance...which translates into increased wear and tear, and energy consumption… which in the end can either save or cost you money.
Clean your dishwasher. This will remove the grease and grime and keep the musty odors at bay.
Clean your washing machine. If you’ve kept up with my IG stories and blogs, you know I got a lesson in cleaning the machine that cleans your undies. Here’s a link with the how-to on how to clean your washing machine. But while you’re cleaning that, I think you should all clean your washing machine filters. Mine recently stopped draining, and after some YouTube videos, I found myself on the floor of my laundry room and recovered $26.
Get your roof inspected (or schedule it for when the snow leaves). Here in the Phoenix Valley, it’s important to get flat / foam roofs inspected and annually serviced to ensure there are no dips or holes (created by birds or critters). Got shingles? It’s also important to get those checked to make sure they haven’t lifted up from past monsoons and to ensure all of the vent stacks are sealed up.
If you have questions on any of my suggestions, reach out. Have additional suggestions? I’d love to hear them! In the meantime, here’s to bringing in prosperity, abundance and happy homes into each of your 2020s.