Six Easy New Year’s Resolutions for Your Home
As a new year approaches, many homeowners look forward to starting the new year by setting goals, making resolutions and taking on challenges. A great way to do this is to identify a few ways in which you can improve your living space and then set a timeline for carrying out these projects.
Here are a few simple yet effective New Year’s resolutions to enhance your home with minimal time and effort. These ideas can be carried out throughout the afternoon, across a couple of days or during the course of several weekends.
Get Organized in the New Year
The colder months mean more time being spent indoors, which can lead to disarray. Shared spaces such as the living room, dining room, entertainment area and kitchen can begin to accumulate items such as clothing, shoes, games and books. You can gather the whole family to tackle one area at a time as a team, returning all out-of-place items to their rightful closets and shelves. This approach makes short work of the project while providing a wholesome family interaction.
Clear Out the Clutter
While straightening things up, consider delving into those shelves and drawers that tend to collect junk. There is usually one of these in every kitchen and bedroom. Many items, such as used batteries and old mail pieces, can be discarded or recycled. Other useful things such as scissors, screwdrivers and other tools can be returned to their proper storage areas in the pantry or garage. In contrast, some items like outgrown clothing can be donated to a local charity thrift store.
Rearrange Some Things
If you have purchased a property from one of the premier Utah home builders, such as McArthur Homes, you’ll have plenty of dynamic spaces for the creative placement of furniture. Consider placing chairs or couches near southern-facing windows if you love sitting in the sun. These are also great places where indoor plants can receive their daily dose of natural light. Simply changing the angle of couches, coffee tables and dining room sets can give a room an entirely new feel. This is an excellent New Year’s resolution for your home, not only to change things up but also for practicality.
Give Your Home a Deep Clean
Even if you have recently purchased a clean new house, you will eventually need to do a bit of scrubbing – especially in a busy household. Mopping hardwood, laminate and tile, as well as vacuuming carpet and throw rugs, can extend the life of your walking surfaces while adding an extra level of cleanliness to your home. You can extend this initiative to the rest of the house by identifying other areas which get overlooked, such as doorknobs, refrigerator handles, toothbrush holders, TV remotes and floor spaces beneath beds.
Get Rid of Hidden Dust
As you dig deeper into cleaning overlooked areas, you might shift your focus to places that can’t be seen. You can vacuum out the inside of air intake and output vents to heating and cooling systems while you should replace the air filters within them yearly. Also, consider thoroughly cleaning off the coils on the back of your refrigerator, rinsing out your dryer lint traps and changing your vacuum cleaner filters.
Warm Things Up
If you enjoy frequent visits from family and friends, you can make their stay cozier by adding afghans, fleece blankets and plush throw pillows to guest bedrooms, couches and recliner chairs. Installing dimmer switches on interior lighting fixtures can help set a warm glow in each room while hanging heavier drapes can create a cozy setting while insulating windows can reduce utility bills.
As you consider your New Year’s resolutions, don’t forget about your home! By taking on a few simple projects, you can improve your living space and make this coming year the best one yet. At McArthur Homes, we specialize in helping homeowners love their homes even more. Contact us to learn more about new homes which you will love taking care of year after year.
Categorized in: Home Buying Tips, Home Maintenance Tips
This post was written by Paige Giles
