Guest Author - Donna Coogan

Home improvement is all about doing everything you can to keep your home in excellent condition. If you want your home to look great and stay that way, you have to follow four very important maintenance steps: declutter, clean, repair and decorate.

We all have busy lives, so it’s easy to let the usual maintenance of a home fall to the wayside. The problem with that is if you stay on the wayside too long your home will become overgrown with clutter, and then the basic maintenance of cleaning and repairs can get ignored.

Clutter
Clutter is anything that just fills up space without a purpose. We’ve all heard it before - if you don’t use it, need it or love it – it’s clutter. There’s no way around the truth of that. Your home is either cluttered or it’s not.

Clutter makes your home look ugly, closed in and claustrophobic. The last thing all that junk brings to mind is a great home! Ultimately, clutter will make your home feel like you’re living in the world’s largest storage container or worse – a monumental trash can. How sad is that? So if you’re serious about having a great place to live you have to eliminate all the unnecessary, unused, unloved stuff.

Clean
A clean home is an absolute necessity and crucial part of home maintenance. If you don’t stay on top of cleaning, your home will eventually deteriorate.

Your floors must be vacuumed, swept and mopped so they aren’t ruined by ground in dirt, spills and stains. You shouldn’t need to replace your carpeting or vinyl every few years because of poor maintenance.

Take care of your appliances so they will last. Routinely clean your oven and fridge, defrost your freezer and wipe out your washer and dryer – including removing lint after each load.

Prevent excessive moisture from building up in your bathrooms. Mold and mildew breeds disaster in a home. Wipe down the shower, tub and sink after each use and keep the fan running when you’re having a steamy soak for better ventilation.

Wash fingerprints and smudges off your walls to eliminate frequent repainting. Dust your furnishings, windowsills, trim moulding, light fixtures, fan blades and bulbs. It will add so much sparkle and life to your rooms once the surface dirt is removed.

Take care of your entry areas. Sweep off front walks, patios, decks and porches. Get rid of spider webs and loose debris. These areas should always look inviting and be an indication of what lies within – your great home!

Repair
Once your home is picked up and cleaned up, it’s time to fix up. Every home eventually needs repair. Things happen from minor issues to major setbacks. Big problems usually have to be handled asap to avoid becoming truly detrimental to your home. But, also plan a time – say the first weekend every month – to knock out all the minor things that occur.

Also, set up a quarterly preventative maintenance schedule to ward off potential problems before they happen. The best way to do this is by scheduling time once per season to go over your whole home more indepth. This is when you would have your HVAC systems checked or your chimney flu cleaned or your siding stained.

The main point is stay on top of repairs. If you let problems pile up, then the list will become too overwhelming to tackle, and that’s when a house can really start to go downhill. You can always hire out the bigger tasks, but it only takes a few minutes to tighten a doorknob or nail down some loose trim. Be aware of what is going on with your house and make sure problems are solved. Your home will not only retain its status as a valuable asset, but also be more comfortable and functional for you.

Decorate
Your interior décor is the piece de resistance of the home. Always make sure you take time to decorate. Create beautiful rooms to live in and not only will your home look fantastic, but you’ll be inspired to follow-through on even the most basic of home improvement tasks to keep them looking that way.

Bottom line – to have a great home you have to take care of it. You’ll not only better enjoy it yourself, but you’ll be able to have friends over without embarrassment. Just follow 4 simple rules – declutter, clean, repair and decorate – and your home will be the wonderful place you always envisioned.