We hope you had a fantastic time celebrating with your friends and family over the festivities. If like me, your home experienced a lot of traffic during the holiday season, the thought of undergoing any labor intensive ‘re-vamps’ is the last thing on your mind, but New Year does pose the perfect opportunity to make some simple New Year’s Resolutions to your home. Here’s a few ideas we’ve put together to help!
GET ORGANIZED
I know… If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times, but de-cluttering is the perfect place to start your home improvement venture, and it’s amazing the visual difference it can make to any room. There’s also a therapeutic element to downsizing and becoming more organized within your home. It can be hard letting things go that have some kind of meaning or memory attached to them, but try to be ruthless; ask yourself, do I use this? Am I likely to use this in the future? If the answer is no, in the words of Frozen.. ‘Let it go! Let it go!’… One man’s junk is another mans treasure, so use resources like Goodwill or the Salvation Army to donate your goods.
BECOME MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT
Make a commitment to be more energy efficient within your home, you don’t need to invest in expensive solar panels, but being more cautious about the little things can mean substantial savings. You can cut usage in your home by switching off your lights, turning off your air con when you leave the house or dial your heating down in the evenings. Try things like installing compact energy saving light bulbs or low-flow shower heads. This may seem a little old school, but avoid using your dryer on sunny days, take a few minutes to line dry them instead. These are just a few small ideas, for more inspiration on improving energy efficiency click here.
WEEKLY CLEANING REGIME
Get in the habit of setting time aside on a weekly basis to give your home a quick tidy-up, this will help you stay on top of things, you just need to be disciplined about it. Keep a sectional cleaning supply bucket stocked with all your cleaning necessities (dusters/sprays/furniture polish) so everything is in one place and easy to move from one room to the next. Try tackling one section at a time; a quick zip around with the vacuum and duster will avoid ending up with a giant mess to deal with on the weekends. If you have family at home (kids especially), get them involved! Have someone tackle the bathroom, or help change linens. Keeping on top of a clean house, especially with children is a difficult task (yes… I have refrained from pulling my hair out on multiple occasions!) but young kids naturally like to ‘help‘ with things (.. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for teenagers!), so try giving your younger children a small task and reward them with a treat. I swear by this! Never underestimate the power of ice cream!
MAKE A COMMITMENT TO BUDGET FOR IMPROVEMENTS
Think about ways you can budget for home improvements or anticipate that something may need replaced throughout the year. Creating a yearly budget can really prevent last minute over-spending and encourages you to put aside money for major replacements (doors/roofing/kitchen remodels) and so on. When making such updates, think of using low maintenance materials such as ceramic tiles or LED lighting.
HOME SAFETY
The New Year is a great time to remember to follow up on all those small home maintenance issues that help keep you and your belongings safe and in good condition. Change out the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors – don’t wait for them to start beeping to indicate a problem. Next, take the time to get your flue cleaned to avoid a chimney fire, particularly during these cold months when you’re likely to be burning oil or wood. A buildup of creosote in your flue only needs a spark to ignite it, so have it cleaned yearly.
These are just a few New Year’s Resolution’s for your home, you will be able to determine what needs attention and prioritize from there. Don’t just commit to making yourself a better person this year, but also your home a better place both visually and financially.
If you have any ideas of your own, leave us a comment!
Wishing you all the best for 2017, from everyone here at Panoramic Doors!
