Some things in life are unavoidable, and bills are one of them. We would all love to be able to pay our rent and keep the rest of our money, but there are always things we need for our homes. However, just because you have to spend money on something, that doesn’t mean that you can’t strive to spend as little money as possible.
The simplest thing that you can do to reduce the cost of your home maintenance is to work towards a more energy-efficient lifestyle. Reducing the amount of energy that you use will lower your bills, as well as giving you the satisfaction that comes with doing the right thing. Living a greener lifestyle benefits your wallet as well as the planet. Here are some simple things you can do to lower your home maintenance costs.
Look for Free Ways of Controlling Temperature
Rather than being dependent upon air conditioning and central heating to keep you warm, look for other things that you can do to increase or reduce the amount of insulation in your home. If you live in an old house that isn’t particularly well sealed, you may well find it much harder to maintain a comfortable room temperature.
Sometimes you can put together a simple ad-hoc solution, like buying thermal lined curtains or adding rugs to a laminate floor. However, you can also reduce your energy bills by making sure that when you do use your heating and cooling systems, you use them efficiently and only as much as you need to.
Keep Your Filters Clean
Whether it’s the filter in your HVAC system or the coils in the back of your fridge, if you allow dirt and grime to build up until it is clogging up the filters, then your appliances will have to work harder in order to compensate. This means that they draw more power and you end up paying more. Simply clean your filters every now and then and give the coils at the back of your fridge the occasional hoover.
Seal Doors and Windows
Sealing up exterior doors and windows will make a huge difference to how well insulated a room is and doesn’t cost very much money at all. A thin strip of rubber around the doorframe is all that is needed to create an effective seal that will stop heat, air and sound from escaping your room.
Repair and Reuse
Wherever possible, you should have home equipment and infrastructure repaired rather than replaced. If you have an item that is now out of warranty, then you can find guides to repairing common household items online. If you feel confident taking on these projects yourself, it is an obvious way of saving money.
You should of course be careful about tinkering with appliances if you don’t know what you are doing. In some cases, you will want to get a qualified authorised repair professional to carry out the repairs for you. For example, serviceforce.co.uk are an authorised repair partner of Electrolux. If you don’t use an authorised repair professional, then this can often mean voiding your warranty.
If you take care to ensure that all your appliances remain in good working condition and you regularly clean out your filters, you can still make use of conventional heating and cooling systems for your home. The trick is to find other methods that enable you to minimise the amount of time that you need to run the air con or a heater.
If you do find yourself needing to buy new appliances for your home, make sure that you shop around. Always weigh the savings of a second-hand item against the potential cost of replacing it if it doesn’t have a warranty.
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