January Home Maintenance Checkup: 10 Tips To A Healthy Home

Out with the old, ring in the new you know the theme of every New Year but hold on a second. Take this thought seriously. Your biggest investment is most likely your home so start the New Year right and take a few minutes to see if your home is in good condition. You can do this check up easily yourself and it won’t take very long to see how healthy your home really is.

Tip 1: Declutter your home by walking room to room while Christmas decor is still in place. Take a large basket and fill it with Christmas decor you don’t absolutely love and anything that resembles clutter. Empty your basket into two piles one for donating and one for throwing away.
Tip 2: Walk room to room again with a notebook and make a list of repairs that need to be made. Schedule a couple of days this month to take care of minor repairs by having a couple of fix it days.
Tip 3: Change batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
Tip 4: Manage snow removal from around your home. Check for icicles and remove them when they form. Immediately after it snows, sweep off your outside front and back porch and stairs. This will help snow to melt faster from these strategic areas.
Tip 5: Time to change the HVAC filters in your home heating system. This will make your home more energy efficient.
Tip 6: Examine areas around your doors and windows. Add weatherstripping to cracks in those areas if needed.
Tip 7: Consider installing new shower heads or cleaning your existing shower heads for conserving water consumption.
Tip 8:Vacuum your heat vents. Clean them well.
Tip 9: Clean your range hood in your kitchen and change the filter. Wipe down cabinet fronts.
Tip 10: Add some cozy touches to your home. Add lamp and fairy lighting, extra pillows, and throws to areas in your home to promote relaxation.

With the arrival of a new year, it seems only fitting you tidy up your spaces and get your home in shape for a new season. You can assess your home needs in a matter of minutes and then work on getting it healthy over the next several months. There are some things you can do now to make sure your home is in tip top health making it efficient and cozy ready to be enjoyed for the winter.

Tip 1 Turn Over A New Leaf- No Clutter

I know you hear this a lot about how bad clutter is and all. I am usually very aware and try to get rid of clutter. We enjoyed having some of our cherished kiddos and their kids stay with us over the Christmas holidays. It was surprising how fast all of the organized spaces became untamed with clutter. It really can sneak up on you. Try this solution.

Go room to room with a large laundry basket. Put unwanted clutter in your basket including Christmas decor.
Go back to home base maybe your living or family room where you can spread things out.
Make two piles. Take the clutter out of your basket and put it away or stick in one of your two piles. One pile being to donate to a local thrift store. One pile to throw out.
Move on to the next room.
Keep in mind that over the years you accumulate Christmas decor to add to your collection each year. If you don’t absolutely love a piece of your decor, don’t keep it. It is just taking up space that you need for other things. It’s ok. Give things away and make your home feel more serene by giving your self more areas of space. Clean out the clutter.
Also include outside entryways into your home and keep them free from clutter.

Schedule a couple of fix it days to take care of needed minor repairs in your home. Invite your family to participate.

Tip 2-Take Note & Plan To Repair On A Fix It Day

Go room by room again and make note of what needs to be repaired in that room. Is the flooring in good repair? Is there chipped molding or missing molding? Do you need to paint in some spots in the room? Light bulbs burned out? Schedule a couple of days this month that you can make minor repairs to the rooms in your home that have things that need to be replaced or repaired. January each year is just a really good time to give back to your home and to take extra good care of a home that deserves your love and attention. Get the whole family involved in fix it days. It can be a fun activity, if you have things everyone can help with.

Tip 3-New Batteries in Home Alarms

Smoke detectors and Carbon Monoxide Alarms require batteries. Both can affect your life and your health. Now is a good time to install new batteries and clean detectors inside and out so they will perform to their top ability to keep you and your loved ones safe. Fairly simple to do just takes a few minutes. Maybe a bit longer if you have a lot of these installed in your home. So well worth the peace of mind!

Clear front and back porch walkways and driveways of snow.

Tip 4– Let It Snow & Manage It Outside Your Home

Make a plan for removing snow safely from around travel areas of your home like the driveway and the front and back walks to your doors.

Sweep the snow off your front and back porches and stairs and keep them clear of snow. If you will sweep shortly after snowfall, the snow will melt quicker off of these areas and it will be easier to keep them free from ice.
Shovel or snow blow off your driveway and the walk to your front door and your back door after the snow stops falling or slows down.
Watch for icicles that might form on your roof. If you can carefully remove them, do so. It may be a sign you have an ice dam. Ice dams form when heat from your attic melts snow on your roof and causes it to run down to the edge of your roof where the cold edge of your roof refreezes that snow into icicles forming an ice dam. Icicles are trapped water which can work its way up under your roof and cause water to leak into your home. Just keep an eye out for this. If you need to call a professional to take a look at the icicles forming because your roof is too steep for you to check for this, don’t hesitate to get a professional opinion to avoid any leaking water into your home from the outside.

Tip 5-Change HVAC Filters

Check your furnace. This is the epi center of heating your home. You want to take extra good care of it by changing the filters in your heating system on a regular basis. This will help keep you and your family warm throughout the winter months. A new filter helps keep your HVAC system more energy efficient. This check list tip is important to your comfort and to your pocketbook. Anything to save a dollar these days is much appreciated. This is one easy way to save.

Check for unwanted cracks or drafts around windows and doors. Keeping them air tight will save you money.

Tip 6-Examine Windows And Doors

You get an opportunity to make the rounds in your home several times for several different reasons to judge the health of your home this month. This time check around your windows and doors. Take your hand and feel around it. Do you feel a draft? Better take care of this if you want an energy efficient and warm home. Purchase weatherstripping if you don’t already have some and apply it to windows and doors where you need to. This could be done on one of your designated fix it days when you are tackling projects to keep your home in tip top shape.

Tip 7-Does Your Shower Head Pass?

Now is a good time to scrub off hard water from your shower heads. You may want to go even further and install water and money saving low flow shower heads in each of your home showers. I have a shower that I love downstairs in our guest bathroom but recently while having holiday guests found that it used up way to much hot water. When I mentioned it to my hubby, he said we needed to change the shower head to a water saving one. It stands to reason as you can save up to 2700 gallons of water a year just by switching to a low flow shower head. Shower heads come in many styles and options to fit the design of your bathroom shower. If your existing shower heads are already low flow, scrub them clean with a soft toothbrush to get rid of any hard water deposits. Make sure they are as efficient as possible.

Tip 8-Clean Heating Vents

Heating vents can be pesky places where dust hides and slows down heating efficiency. Now is a good time to vacuum and clean your heating vents. My vents hide all kinds of dust bunnies. I vacuum but it doesn’t remove everything from the vent itself so try this. Remove each vent and vacuum out vent opening. Wash and scrub vent covers in a solution of soapy water with a drop of dawn and a bit of vinegar in the water. Then rinse well and air dry. Do this one room each day so this job doesn’t become overwhelming. This helps air flow freely and cleanly. If you have family members that suffer from breathing in too much dust and grime, this will definitely help manage that.

Tip 9-Kitchen Refined

Keep your kitchen in top notch condition by taking time to clean your range hood. Change the filter. This is generally a focal point of. your kitchen and can hide unwanted dust and grime. Then wipe down cabinet fronts with a mild dishwashing Dawn dish soap solution. Wipe dry with a dry cloth. A little maintenance goes a long ways in the hub of your home aka your kitchen!

Tip 10-Cozy Up Your Home In Simple Ways

Time to add some cozy to your home base. Try adding some fairy lights to gathering places in your home. They look magical and inspire all kinds of coziness. Add lamps so you can enjoy warm lamp light to read by rather than cold overhead lighting. Add some extra throws for family members to wrap up in while reading or watching movies together. Have a basket of games nearby. Have a basket of books too for all different ages. You could actually start a new family reading time together and forgo some of the screen time. Wouldn’t hurt to have some extra hot chocolate and popcorn at the ready too. If you are like me once your daily work is done, you can find more and better reasons to relax during winter hours and recharge your mojo staying clear of colds, sickness, and just once again enjoying time with your family.

Once you put these 10 tips into action, you will feel like you are on the right foot headed soundly into the New Year. Happy New Year 2023! It’s bound to be the best year ever! This is up to you of course but I believe! How about you?