Home Maintenance Tricks To Save You Money
Home Maintenance Tricks: Just like you go for regular health checkups of your body, your home also needs a proper maintenance schedule for keeping it in the best condition. If you regularly check your home appliances, security, exterior, electrical systems, plumbing, as well as heating and cooling systems, it’s easier to prevent breakdowns and save a lot of money in repairs and replacements.
You can use the following home maintenance tricks checklist for seasonal and monthly repairs, cleaning, and updates. Going through this list every month and at the start of each season, you can easily keep your house in the best working condition. In case any of the work is beyond your knowledge or skill, it’s best to consult professionals for help.
Kitchen Maintenance Tips
* You must microwave the sponges used in the kitchen – Since dirty sponges stink and may spread bacteria on the surface you’re cleaning, it’s best to do your bit for cleaning them. You can put a wet sponge in a microwave for up to two minutes for cleansing and letting it cool. Don’t put your dry sponge in the microwave to prevent fire hazards.
* Polish stainless steel appliances, counters, and utensils with WD40 to prevent them from unpleasant streaks.
* Polish silver using ketchup to get rid of tarnish from silver utensils.
Bedroom Maintenance Tips
* Disinfect mattress – It is important to disinfect your mattress. For that, you can spritz vodka onto your mattress and let it dry completely before putting linens back.
* Cover mattress – You must invest in mattress covers to protect your bedding from damage. Moreover, it makes the cleaning process much easier.
Bathroom Maintenance Tips
* Get rid of water spots from chrome – You can remove water spots from chrome hardware using lemon juice. Even use baby oil for polishing chrome after the cleaning process is complete.
* Clean the exhaust fan – It’s important to keep your exhaust fan free from dirt, dust, pet hair, and other pollutants that might get stuck to it.
* Clean shower curtains – Do clean your short curtains and curtain liners. You can simply put them in a washing machine for easy cleaning.
* Unclog drains – It’s best to call a professional plumber to clear out a clogged drain. But for less serious issues, you can remove hair clumps regularly from the pipes using a drain snake. Keeping drains clean is an easy way to avoid unwanted clogs and other issues.
* Get rid of buildup from faucets and showerheads – To remove crusty, tough buildup, it’s essential to place a vinegar bag over a showerhead. You may even use paper towels dipped in vinegar for cleaning faucets. Let the vinegar sit for sometime before cleaning it with paper towels or bags.
* Make use of painter’s tape for caulking: It’s best to use painter’s tape for getting caulk within the straight line.
Floor Maintenance Tips
* Clean with a vacuum cleaner – Use an automated vacuum cleaner for cleaning the floor with dirt, debris, and pet hair. It is best to schedule weekly vacuum cleaning to keep floors neat and clean.
* Use a shoe tray – Put your shoes in a shoe tray by entrances to ensure that your family members and guests don’t bring any dirt or debris inside your house.
* Clean grout – You can use bleach gel or a bleach pen for cleaning grout from the flooring.
* Stop floor creaking – It’s best to use baby powder for preventing creaks from your floorboards. This way you can easily stop noise from floorboard cracks.
* Repair scratches from wooden flooring – Fix scratches from hardwood flooring by rubbing a walnut on the given area. It’s best to ensure you use the nut, NOT the shell, for rubbing.
* Repair dents on wooden flooring – Put wet cloth atop hardwood flooring and further run hot iron on the cloth to repair dents on your hardwood flooring.
Wall and Window Home Maintenance Tricks
* Repair window glass chips – If there are any small chips in your window glass, there’s no need to replace the window. You can use clear nail polish for filling glass chips temporarily. Further, coat the area with very thin layers unless you are satisfied with the final result.
* Clean dust from baseboards – You can further clean the baseboards by cleaning dust and rust by rubbing them with a dry sheet of paper or a clean cloth.
* Keep curtains off the floor – If your curtains are touching the floor, they are likely to collect more and more dust. This will make them dirty fast and you need to clean them quite often.
* Keep drapes off the floor. If your drapes touch the floor, they will collect more dust and other debris, making them require cleaning more often. That’s why you need to make sure that the drapes are off the floor and not collecting dust too often.
* Clean the walls clean – You must spot clean the wall in case of spillage on them. You must also wipe down your walls annually to reduce grime build-up, which is hard to remove later on. Spot cleaning is easier than repainting the entire wall.
* Clean the blinds – For cleaning your blinds, one easy trick is to wrap tongs with socks and remove dust from the blinds.
* Use condensed air – You can use condensed air for cleaning certain hard-to-reach places around your window, including certain mechanisms that are more likely to collect dirt and dust.
* Wash windows from inside and then outside – You can clean your window glass on the inside first and later on the outside. This way you’d ensure that you are not bringing dirty supplies inside for cleaning.
Air Quality Maintenance Tips
* Keep your house interior clean – The very important step to improve the air quality of your home is to regularly get rid of dirt, dust, food spills, pet hair, and other debris. This will automatically keep the air quality of your home in check.
* Open windows – You must open the windows of your house often to bring in the fresh air and getting rid of any odor from your home.
* Switch on AC while cleaning – when removing dirt and dust from a room, you can turn on the air conditioner so that all the dust gets accumulated into the filter of your AC. This way it’s easier to remove dust from a room.
* Bring in plants – Another simple way to bring fresh air into your room is by adding more plants. Plants are natural air purifiers and great for absorbing chemicals and odours from the given area. Some good indoor plants are bamboo palm, peace lilies, ficus, English ivy, and chrysanthemum.
* Natural air fresheners – Instead of chemical loaded candles and sprays, you can use natural air fresheners to improve indoor air quality. These air fresheners, like beeswax candles, don’t have any side effects.
Insulation Maintenance Tips
* Insulate outlets – To prevent drafts from coming through, you can consider adding foam insulated padding to all electrical outlets. Since handling electrical outlets is dangerous, you can make sure to get professionals to do the job.
* Insulate doors of your garage – But insulating your garage doors, you can keep your home temperature normal while reducing outside noise.
* Insulate windows and doors – you can make use of weatherstripping and caulk on your doors and windows to minimize drafts that come through the sides.
* Quick door fix – if drafts come out from beneath your door, you can try a simple door fix. You can stuff a rolled-up towel for preventing cold air from getting into your house. Another great option is to cut a pool noodle in half and further attach it to the bottom of your door.
* Insulate the attic – You need to make sure that the attic is fully insulated to prevent unwanted airflow into your home.
Exterior Maintenance Tips
* Add gutter protection – You can consider installing gutter protection for preventing leaves and other unwanted particles from clogging the system.
* Add automatic watering system for plants – if you are planning to go out of town for a long time, you can install the automatic watering system for plants. This way your plants will get enough water supply even when you’re not home.
* Touch up paint – Painting the exterior of your house is important to protect walls from damage caused by mold, water, or insects. Therefore, you need to touch up the paint if you see any chipped areas on the exterior walls.
So, these were some crucial home maintenance tricks and tips to focus on to ensure your house is always in good condition.