Today I'm completing a lot of home-repair, organization, and clean-up jobs. Anyone who owns a home, whether it be small or large, knows that a home requires constant attention. If you set aside the needed funds, time, and attention, you can create a warm and welcoming home.
Since I retired and my sons graduated from college, I've paid more attention to my home and yard. Fortunately I've found a number of wonderfully skilled, dedicated, and reliable home repair companies and individuals who have helped us to make needed repairs that we could not do ourselves and remake parts of the house that needed repair or renovation. Finding these wonderful individuals has been a trial and basis situation since we've lost some money and time int he process with individuals who could not perform the tasks we hired them to do. Fortunately that has not happened that often.
In the process of home upkeep, I've been trying to get rid of as many unnecessary items as possible with the theme, less things, more time, as my motto.
Now that I've found good, skilled people who can help us keep up our home, and we've completed many needed jobs. I want to instill a more regular routine of upkeep and house care with the following tasks.
Making the master plan
Having a master plan for your home which outlines your desired home needs and a timeline to get there is very helpful. I imagine we will live in this home for another ten years, and during this time, I want to make sure that our house is neat, clean, and up to date without any major problems. This means that we'll engage in regular upkeep as well as a few possible big jobs including updating our kitchen, securing a few areas of the garage where water enters, perhaps a driveway repaving, and painting many rooms.
Regular upkeep
A number of individuals and companies come to the house regularly to help us keep our home clean and secure. Those individuals and companies represent pest management (our house sits near a river and has a ground floor family room and garage--these factors provide easy access for pests so we hire a company to help us counter that.), mulch deliveries to keep gardens looking good, and plumbers and electricians for needed repairs. For the most part, we complete most jobs ourselves.
What to keep and what to get rid of
Purging is one of the big, regular jobs we do. Over time we collected many items, and now we are in the process of getting rid of all unnecessary items. As we do that, I am thoughtful about what I want to hold on to including significant art and photos, needed clothes and shoes, helpful kitchen, repair, and yard tools, games we enjoy playing, art/communication/business supplies, garden supplies, and sports/camping equipment. I want to get rid of everything we haven't used in a year unless it's very special.
Less shopping and shopping for second-hand items
I admit that I love to shop, but honestly at this stage of life, I don't need much, so it's time to replace much of my love of shopping with other, healthy, positive activities.
