Owning and caring for a home is a big responsibility but knowing great maintenance tips can allow for easy living. Smoothly navigate your home’s monthly upkeep with our home maintenance checklist. Like a regular health check-up, a home maintenance schedule is important for every house’s upkeep. Continuing to check on your, appliances, heating and cooling, and plumbing will help prevent breakdowns, save money, and keep your home looking its best. Inspecting your home and completing monthly home improvement will keep your maintenance schedule on track and easier to manage. Follow this comprehensive home maintenance checklist each month to help save time and money:

Monthly Check List

• Clean the furnace filter to remove dust build-ups, make it easier to regulate your home’s temperature, and ultimately decrease energy bills.
• Clean faucet aerators and showerheads to remove mineral deposits.
• Inspect tub, shower, and sink drains for debris; unclog if necessary.
• Test smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers to ensure that they are all in working order. This is a great time to put new batteries in.
• Vacuum heat registers and heat vents.
• Check that indoor air vents are not blocked.
• Flush out hot water from the water heater to remove accumulated sediment.
• Clean out and vacuum lint traps from your dryer to ensure proper air flow and reduce any fire hazard.
• During cold months with freezing temperatures be sure to let your faucets drip to avoid your pipes freezing.
• Change the direction of your ceiling fan, twice a year change the rotation of your ceiling fan. Doing so can increase energy efficiency and provide less stress on your heating and cooling systems. During the summer rotate your ceiling fan counterclockwise and during the winter rotate it clockwise.
• Wash your washing machine, this can prevent your clothes from smelling like mildew and other foul odors.

Now you are ready to get to work. Home maintenance can seem like an avalanche of to-dos at first, but remember, you do not have to do this all in a day. The key is not waiting until there is an issue to do something. A little prevention will go a long way when it comes to your home maintenance.