Maintaining a home regularly can often morph into an expensive task over time. It’s inescapable; there’s an absolute need for air conditioning systems in the hot summer months, heating facilities in the cold winter, and a continuous demand for water and electricity all year round.
We can’t get rid of all these, but how about optimizing them? You may have never thought about it, but there are actually ways for you to save big money on home repair and maintenance. And to do that you don’t necessarily need to spend money; minor tweaks can make a big difference!
But what could you do to save big money on maintenance?
We also wrote, 15 Excellent Tips: How To Keep The House Clean. In case you can check that out
Install Ceiling Fans in Your Rooms
A very basic way to save good money on cooling and heating is by installing ceiling fans in your rooms. In summer, ceiling fans could move the air around the room to keep it cooler. And in winter, they could push the heat accumulated near the ceiling down towards the floor.
You should get an energy-efficient ceiling fan, of course. Besides, you would need to think about getting the ceiling fans installed. It requires you to do some electrical work, so if you aren’t sure, you could just hire an electrician to install the fans.
Install a Programmable Thermostat
Installing a programmable thermostat is an excellent way to manage your home temperature. A thermostat would allow you to schedule automatic increases and decreases in the temperature. This would allow you to save money on heating in winter and on cooling in summer.
Installing a programmable thermostat isn’t a very difficult task, so you should be able to do it yourself. You could always hire a professional if you are unsure.
Insulate Exposed Water Pipes and Your Heater
The use of water heaters is usually accompanied by loss of heat, which can be quite significant. Insulating the water pipes of the heater would allow you to save money on heating during winter.
To tell whether or not you need to insulate the heater and its pipes, simply touch the heater and the pipes. If they feel warm, then you probably should insulate them.
Insulating a water heater is quite simple, you just need to get a fiberglass insulation jacket for your heater for about $20. Alternatively, you could go for cheaper foam insulators.
Clear Your Vents
Another way to make your heating and cooling work more efficiently is by keeping your vents clean. If the vents are covered or blocked by anything, they will not be able to ensure proper air circulation in the house. This will save calling someone for air conditioning repair.
So, peek into all the vents in your home and clean them if necessary.
Install LED or CFL Light Bulbs
Many people have switched to the more efficient LED or CFL light bulbs, but some households still have the old incandescent light bulbs installed. If you still have incandescent lights installed in your home, then you should think about switching to LED or CFL bulbs.
Up-front, these efficient light bulbs are considerably more expensive than old incandescent light bulbs. However, in the long run, they are much more cost-efficient.
For some people, the cost of LED or CFL light bulbs is the main factor preventing them from switching to those light bulbs. Besides, they may be underestimating the benefits that they could actually get with such bulbs.
To get started, you could just replace the bulbs in the rooms that you keep illuminated the most. If you are skeptical, you will quickly discover the money-saving benefits of LED and CFL light bulbs this way.
Choose Energy-Efficient Appliances
Just like with light bulbs, you should opt for energy-efficient appliances. Again, they can cost much more up-front, but the money you’ll save in the long run is worth it.
Switching to energy-efficient appliances is a pretty costly route to take though, energy-efficient appliances are more expensive, so you should probably begin with something simpler and less expensive. But when the time comes, you should probably just buy new, energy-efficient appliances.
Add Insulation to Your Home
There are quite a lot of tips on our list related to air circulation, right? Well, that’s quite expectable since we deal with cooling and heating equipment all year round, minimizing their use could save you a lot of money in the long run.
There is a whole lot of things you could do to keep your home insulated. Anything and everything in your house could and should be insulated, starting from cracks in the walls and ending with the windows and doors.
According to Insulation Advisor, to determine where precisely you should add insulation, you just need to do a bit of scouting in your home. Check the insulation of your attic, crawl space, the HVAC system, the walls, and what not to see if there are any air leaks. If you need help with the HVAC system, we typically recommend Colt Home Services.
You could do the insulation works yourself, but you should probably leave it to a pro. Insulation isn’t a very easy thing to do right, so don’t do it yourself unless you know how to.
Check Your Plumbing for Leaks
Water loss is another thing that could increase your home maintenance costs significantly. Even if you don’t pay that much fees for water, you should keep your plumbing spot-on to maintain the condition and safety of your floors.
The main things to keep in mind are your toilet, your faucets, and your washing machine. If the leaks are out in the open, then you won’t have any problems with spotting and fixing them.
However, if something isn’t right in the toilet tank or with the water lines inside the washing machine, you may spend a lot of time and effort trying to fix the problem. Those are things that you should do though, so make sure to keep an eye on your plumbing.
Clean Your Washing Machine
If you have a front-loading washing machine, then cleaning it is a bit more important. You should keep an eye on your washing machine even if it is a top-loaded unit.
In front-loading washing machines, water tends to gather in the door seal during the wash cycle. If you don’t dry the seal, it could get covered with mold and mildew. And the worst thing about these is that they are quite difficult to remove. If there is too much mildew, it could even prevent you from closing and opening the door.
So, make sure to clean and wipe the door seal every time after washing jobs.