Your usual household to-do list most likely consists of daily chores like vacuuming, washing dishes, and clearing the kitchen table. But what about chores that have to do with maintaining your home, like changing air filters or flushing the hot water heater?
You’re not alone if you’re the type who avoids these types of tasks and forgets about keeping up with them. After all, they don’t give the same immediate sense of satisfaction like clearing out a living room. However, putting off maintenance-type chores can do more harm than good.
Maintenance chores are tasks that ensure your home stays in working order, but alas, you typically don’t get a pat on the back for a job well done and you may not even see their effect all that much. That’s what makes it hard to do chores like cleaning your gutters or prepping your heating and cooling system. However, staying on top of maintenance tasks helps to avoid costly repair issues down the road.
Even when you understand the benefits of completing the home maintenance tasks, there’s still another hurdle to overcome: remembering the frequency of the maintenance tasks.
Here are three organization tips to help you to stay on top of a long-term to-do list.
Decide the Essential Maintenance Tasks for Your Home
Your maintenance tasks depend on your housing situation, but being a renter doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for maintenance tasks. Changing air and furnace filters and cleaning the baseboards are among the essential maintenance tasks that extend the service life of appliances and the condition of the home. Completing these tasks can help you cultivate a good relationship with your landlord.
If you’re a renter, make sure you clarify the maintenance tasks that you’re expected to do. Other routine home maintenance chores include washing windows, cleaning or sealing the outdoor deck, checking dryer events, and aerating the lawn. If your house is on Airbnb, vacation rental cleaning is essential, as we are talking about a place that needs to be on point all the time.
Classify Maintenance Tasks by Frequency
After selecting the essential home maintenance tasks, find out the recommended schedule for each task. For example, inspecting your heating and cooling unit is often recommended in the spring or fall, which are both seasons before peak usage. Repairs made during the peak of the season—the dog days of summer or dead of winter—are known to make a sizable dent in your budget because that’s when people use their heating and cooling the most, which often translates to more service calls for HVAC repair companies.
Other routine home maintenance tasks have a shorter frequency: change air filters every one to two months or inspect and caulk tile every three months. And while you’re changing your filter, make sure to wipe down the air vent grill as well.
Set Maintenance Reminders
Probably the most important step is setting a reminder for the task. After all, you only reap the benefit of routine maintenance chore when you actually remember them and complete them. You can set up reminders in your annual calendar: set aside one day to complete maintenance chores scheduled for that month. Another way to make it easier to remember and complete maintenance tasks to enroll in service contract. For example, many HVAC companies offer tune-up maintenance services where a technician inspects the unit at a scheduled time—that technician remembers your maintenance schedule so you don’t have to!
Home maintenance tasks are not always the most glamorous, but in the end, they extend the life of your home and save you from costly repairs down the road.
