With the new year comes new goals. A lot of the time, we think about resolutions for self-improvement, or when home improvement is one on our minds, we tend to focus on grand goals that many people drop once February hits. The best way to combat this is to set easily attainable goals with favorable incentives to encourage continued commitment. Here are some great homeowner New Year’s resolutions to consider:
- Cut down on energy use. This involves everything from turning off the lights when you aren’t using a room or shutting off water while brushing your teeth. Seal and insulate your ductwork to increase heating and cooling efficiency. You can also do this by making an effort to efficiently recycle plastics, paper, and other materials.
- Improve indoor air quality. Improve yourself this year by improving the air quality in your home. Maintain your HVAC system and change furnace filters regularly. Get rid of dust regularly so it doesn’t float through the air.
- Incorporate low maintenance, long-lasting, and durable materials and décor. From lightbulbs to foliage, look for and invest in low-maintenance and durable materials for use in your home. This will work toward improving energy efficiency as well, and create less upkeep for your household to care for.
- Prep for emergencies. Apart from checking your alarms and replacing batteries, it’s a good idea to check and prepare emergency exits. Create easy-access emergency packs should anything happen.
- Create a home cleaning routine. Devise daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance routines for yourself and your household to keep your home clean, creating less work in the future. Ensure all cleaning supplies are somewhere you can easily find them and that won’t be a hassle to retrieve.
- Make a note of how to clean your stuff. It’s a good idea to learn the ins and outs of how different things in your home should be properly cleaned—sometimes things are complex, or just don’t need to be cleaned very often and can be forgotten. Walk through your house and make a list of anything you don’t know how to clean, then look everything up. After reading up on how to clean things those things, put the notes with your cleaning supplies so they’re always close for reference.
- Clean out your cupboards. Even though a lot of canned foods are nonperishable, check your cupboards for anything that might have expired or you don’t plan to use. This makes space for newer food that you can more actively plan to use in the future.
- Empty out your products before replacing or repurchasing. Before filling cabinets and covering counters with brand new things you already have, finish out the products you already have in your home. This reduces clutter and the chance of things expiring on you. If you find something you’re not interested in finishing, you know to dispose of it.
- Give your new things a proper home. When you do stock up or get new things, be sure to put them in a place they belong, rather than letting them stack up and create clutter. If you’re a very busy person, you can always have a space designated for these things to be until there’s time for them to be sorted.
- Get rid of stuff you don’t need or want. Whether you have a garage sale or donate, get rid of the things in your home that you don’t have a use for anymore.
- Keep a donation box handy. Along with getting rid of things that you don’t have use for anymore, have a designated box for things you’d like to donate or sell so that whenever you come across them, you can put them away for later. They’ll be handy for delivery or pickup, or organizing in your garage later on.
- Rearrange furniture for efficiency and comfort. To optimize your heating and cooling, be aware of how your furniture is arranged and move it accordingly. In summer months, shift the focus of your great room away from the fireplace. During winter, shift everything back to face the warmth.
- Prep your home for guests. If you plan to do any entertaining, you can prepare your home for guests by giving key areas of your home an update. Add new or repurposed décor in an accent color to the living room. Place plants on your tables or shelves. If you have guest bedrooms, make them more welcoming by adding warmer furniture that will make them feel cozier. Streamline connective areas like hallways to create a feeling of closeness.
Do you have any new year’s resolutions for your home? Let us know in the comments section!
