Home & Garden
5 New Year's Resolutions for Your Home
Complete this checklist in January to ensure your home is safe, secure and streamlined in 2017. [SPONSORED]
As you're setting goals to make life great in 2017, don't forget the place you spend the most time: your home. Check off these five to-dos around the house to ensure the loved ones living under your roof are safe, happy and healthy in the year to come.
1. Test your home's indoor air quality
As frightening as it sounds, the air you're breathing indoors could be more dangerous than the air outdoors. To keep your family safe, use January as a time to test your home’s air quality for invisible threats and general pollutants that can cause breathing problems, allergies and other dangerous conditions.
One way to go about testing is to hire a professional to check for specific allergens or chemicals, like radon, asbestos, or mold and other toxic materials. Pros who specialize in a certain type of testing will take a sample and diagnose any problems fairly quickly. Another option for testing is to check for anything and everything in one swoop. The cost to test for a wider range of pollutants is higher, but you’ll check a lot of potential problems off the list before anything becomes an issue.
2. Be sure your home is insulated properly
According to Energy.gov, unless your home was specially constructed for energy efficiency, you can probably reduce your energy bills by adding more insulation. Insulation provides resistance to heat flow, and the more heat flow resistance your insulation provides, the lower your heating and cooling costs.
To determine if you could be saving, bring in a qualified home energy auditor to assess your home's insulation. A whole-house energy assessment, also known as a home energy audit, will identify the location and amount of insulation in your home and pinpoint areas in need of air sealing—sealing those spots will also cut costs in the long run.
Once you've determined the condition of your existing insulation, you can find the right contractor to add insulation to your home. Remember: Even if you go for more expensive materials and pay a hefty price up front, you're almost sure to recoup that money thanks to lower energy bills over time.
Find the Right Local Insulation Contractor
To start 2017 off uncluttered, organize your home from top to bottom. It's a big job, so break it up by area: organizing bills, closets, kitchen, attic and garage. Then, get to donating old and unused items.
Organizationally challenged? Reduce stress and consider hiring a professional organizer. These experts handle everything from storage for valuable papers to day-to-day clutter, and their services could be cheaper than you think. Most charge per hour so start by consulting with three or four pros about their rates. (Be sure to let them know what you need help with and see how many hours they think it might take to complete the job; this will help you make the most budget-friendly decision.)
Find a Local Professional Organizer
4. Check your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms
If you can’t remember the last time you checked the functionality of your smoke detectors, it’s time. Over 60 percent of all fire-related deaths happen in homes with no smoke detectors, and relying on non-working devices is the same as having none at all. Same goes for your carbon monoxide (CO) alarms. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), U.S. fire departments responded to over 80,000 acute CO incidents 2010. Of course, it's also possible for a person to be poisoned by exposure to smaller amounts of CO over time. Get a full list of sources and effects of CO in your indoor air on the EPA website.
A fire prevention professional can ensure that all of the detection devices in your home are working properly, and he or she can also install additional safety devices, such as heat sensors, that detect not only smoke but also a rise in temperature.
Find a Local Fire Protection Service
5. Set up a weekly cleaning system
After you spend the time getting your home organized, guarantee it stays that way by putting a weekly cleaning system in place. If you want to do it yourself, carve out a set time every week that is dedicated to specific cleaning tasks. Alternate the larger jobs, like washing linens and windows, on a bi-weekly basis; perform smaller tasks, like dusting and cleaning counters, weekly.
Rather not stress about the mess? Set up a reoccurring cleaning session with a local professional service. Costs for a maid service average around $158, or about $25 to $45 per hour — and, depending on what you need their help with, costs can be very manageable. Here are some ways to save on a pro cleaning service so you can cut costs and save time while keeping your home spic and span.
Photo credit: Jinkazamah via Flickr
