New Year’s resolutions are a great way to give yourself that extra motivation to start making positive changes in your life. Why not do the same for your home?
As we enter 2018, take a moment and reflect on your home. There’s a good chance that it has some problems, especially if it’s more than 10 years old. It can be all too easy to ignore home issues and let them get out of hand.
Use your New Year energy to kick home improvement into gear. You might even be surprised to find that you and your home have a strikingly similar list of resolutions.
1. Lose Weight
One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is losing weight. While it’s one of the toughest for a person to stick to, for a home, it’s surprisingly easy. Homes tend to collect clutter around the holidays, filling up with gifts, decorations, and new purchases. Don’t wait until spring rolls around to de-clutter. Use the first couple weeks in January to throw away, donate, or re-sell home goods that you no longer need. Your home will feel so much lighter and more spacious once you do.
2. Be More Organized
As you work your way through de-cluttering your home, roll with that momentum and take it as an opportunity to get organized. Maybe your home office has become a wasteland of papers, books, and gadgets in the past year. Go through it all. Get rid of things you never use, and recycle all the papers you don’t need anymore. You’ll start the New Year feeling more productive in your clean, de-cluttered workspace.
3. Take Up a New Hobby
DIY projects are the perfect way to update your home for the New Year. Not only do they make your home a little more functional and beautiful on a tight budget, but they can give you a great sense of personal accomplishment. Replacing light fixtures, painting walls, and switching out hardware are DIY projects that almost anyone can do. There are, however, certain projects that are best left to the professionals. Before you pick up a sledgehammer, start ripping up floors, or removing cabinets, consult with a remodeler who can provide some professional guidance.
4. Eat Better and Drink Less
Between parties, family dinners, and seasonal treats, it’s all too easy to overindulge during the holidays. Even your home might be feeling gluttonous - consuming more water and electricity as the weather turns colder. Luckily, there are countless new products - some of which can be installed fairly easily - to improve your home’s energy efficiency. From low-flow water fixtures, smart-home thermostats, and motion-sensing automated lights to Energy Star appliances and double-pane windows, the options are endless. Ask a building professional which features are best suited for your home and budget. Put in the time now, and when next winter rolls around your home will be equipped and ready.
5. Get Out of Debt
A top New Year priority for many is getting out of debt and finding better ways to manage finances, especially after holiday spending. You can start by identifying wasteful spending. Try to minimize or even eliminate it wherever possible, but remember that you can’t cut all the fun out of your budget. You probably have several improvements you want to tackle in your home, but starting on them all at once would be a logistical and financial nightmare. Work with a contractor you trust, and let them help you prioritize your needs and wants. Create a plan to address them over time and factor that into your New Year budget. You might also want to check in with a remodeler. They can help you determine which items on your list will give you the best return on investment, making the improvements well worth the time and money.
It’s no surprise that your list of New Year’s resolutions might look very similar to your home’s. After all, your home is a reflection of you. With these tips, you can spend 2018 in a more comfortable, beautiful, and peaceful home.
Learn more about which improvements are best suited for your home by visiting HBAGC at www.hbagc.net, 423-624-9992 or info@hbagc.net.