Time For Spring Home Maintenance?
Over winter houses are subjected to all types of bad weather and poor conditions during the cold dark months. There are many things that you as a homeowner might want to consider attending to once the warmer seasons come back around. Whilst there might be some tasks such as inspecting the roof or painting the exterior of your home, which could be done with possible assistance with tools potentially found on websites similar to platformsandladders.com/rolling-ladders/ or equipment that might be found in local handyman stores. Here is a list of places where you the homeowner can get started in preparing your house for the summer.
You may want to start with simple spring cleaning tasks:
- Change and/or service your furnace filters, HVAC, smoke, and CO detector batteries. If needed, hire professionals providing services in HVAC Greensboro, or elsewhere, to give your appliances and systems, the professional check or maintenance they need. Perhaps, now is also a good time to see whether you need to get more heating oil ordered from somewhere like https://www.bondedoil.com/ after the winter months
- Deep-clean your oven, dishwasher, coffee maker and outdoor grill, as well as drapes, upholstery, cabinets, floors, vents and baseboards
- Clean your mudroom, garage and outbuildings, and, in the process, inventory items that need replacing
- Look at any roofing or water related problems that you might have, and get it repaired by professionals similar to the professional Florida Southern Roofing services in Sarasota, FL (or wherever you might reside)
You can always fall back on the internet to provide you the right information in regards to this domain. Check out the Chubb Insurance brochures: How to Prepare your Home and Garden for Spring and Summer infographic or their Top 10 Spring Cleaning Tasks for more ideas and tips. Also, it’s important to remember there are common household cleaning products you should never mix, such as bleach and ammonia or bleach and rubbing alcohol. Learn more.
Then tackle more involved home maintenance inventory projects.
We can all use a little help keeping track of the home maintenance projects we need to do, and now there’s software and technology that can help.
With the HomeZada app, you can manage your home and projects, keep a digital inventory of your photos, receipts, and documents, create a home maintenance schedule program, and manage remodeling projects. HomeZada generally charges $60/year, but Chubb PRS clients are eligible for a rate of $45/year. Click here to get HomeZada now.
Stay safe in the process.
Cleary Insurance wants to make sure you and your family stay safe and healthy. Only handle projects yourself that you feel you’re truly qualified to do. You may be better off leaving projects with electrical components or those at heights, for example, to professionals who have the right equipment and skillset.
Simple Ways to Improve Your Health
Get Active:
- Get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (e.g., briskly walking) or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (e.g., running) every week.
- Incorporate muscle-strengthening exercises at least two days a week.
- Avoid injuries by doing the following three steps each workout:
- Warm up: Warming up allows your body time to adjust from rest to activity. Always remember to gradually increase the intensity of your warmup to reduce stress to your bones, muscles and heart.
- Cool down: As with warming up, cooling down should include movements similar to those in your workout, but at a gradually decreasing level of intensity.
- Stretch: After cooling down, stretching helps to build flexibility and range of motion. When stretching, remember to use gentle, fluid movements and to breathe normally.
After an active and aggressive workout, however, it is equally necessary to take shower in order to feel fresh again. You can also elevate your bathing experience and the relaxation it gives by including CBD based bath salt or soap (click here to by some) in your shower routine.
Getting a Good Night’s Sleep
- Maintain healthy habits, such as eating nutritiously, exercising regularly, managing your stress levels and not smoking-all of which will help you sleep better at night and give you more energy throughout the day.
- Create and stick to a sleep routine. Go to bed and wake up around the same time each day, including on weekends. Make sure your bedroom is at a comfortable temperature and is quiet. Engage in a relaxing activity prior to bedtime such as listening to soft music or smoking cannabis (head to mmj express or like websites to find some premium strains).
- Limit caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, large meals and rigorous exercise within a few hours of bedtime.
Eating 101
- Get a personalized eating plan. Speak with your doctor to develop a plan that will give you the amounts of each food group you need daily. Your doctor may recommend you seek out a registered dietician or nutritionist to create the best plan for you.
- Set realistic goals. You are more likely to succeed in reaching realistic goals when you make changes gradually. Start with small changes.
- Balance your plate with a variety of foods. Fifty percent of your plate should be filled with fruits and vegetables, 25 percent with lean meat, poultry or fish, and 25 percent with grains.
- Eat slowly. It takes between 15-20 minutes for your brain to get the message that your body is getting food. When your brain gets this message, you may stop feeling hungry.
- Practice portion control. A portion is the amount of food you choose to eat. Talk with your doctor or visit the United States Department of Agriculture’s website to learn more about proper portion sizes and daily food intake customized to your age, gender and activity level.
Financial Moves to Consider During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 outbreak has spurred an economic crisis as well as a health-related one. Millions of Americans are now unemployed, frightened, and wondering how they’ll pay their bills in the coming weeks or months. And while it’s a scary time to be living through, there are a few moves you can make to protect yourself financially.
- Boost Your Emergency Fund (if possible) – Having emergency savings is crucial at all times, but it’s especially important during periods like this, when unemployment is rampant and economic uncertainty abounds. A solid emergency fund is one with enough money to cover three to six months of essential living expenses, and right now, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to hit the higher end of that range. If you’re still working, use your paycheck to pad your savings — especially if you don’t have three months of expenses in the bank.
- Leave Your Stock Portfolio Alone – The stock market has been swinging lately, and while it may be tempting to cash out investments to avoid further losses, doing so will only lock in any losses you’re already looking at. Rather than go that route, remind yourself that if you sit back and ride things out, the stock market is likely to recover in time. That said, you don’t have to leave your stock portfolio alone if what you’re doing is buying more stocks. Now’s a great time to invest in quality companies whose stock is on sale, so if you’re good on the emergency savings front, you can use your spare cash to add to or diversify your portfolio.
- Keep Putting Money Away For Retirement – When the prospect of unemployment looms over you, you may not give a hoot about what your finances will look like 20, 30, or 40 years from now. But just as now’s a good time to add to your stock portfolio, so too is it a good time to keep funding your 401(k) or IRA, provided you’re financially able to do so. The money you invest in that account now can be used to score discounted investments that could grow exponentially over time.
- Apply For a Home Equity Line of Credit – Even if you’re still working today, you never know whether the ongoing crisis will force you out of a job. And if you’re already unemployed, it could take quite a long time to secure a paycheck again. As such, having access to extra money is crucial, so if you’re low on emergency savings but own a home, it could pay to apply for a home equity line of credit. That way, you’re not borrowing money you immediately accrue interest on, as would be the case with a home equity loan. Rather, you’re giving yourself the option to borrow as you need to.
A final thought: The most important thing to do now is take a deep breath and resist the urge to panic. Panic leads to irrational thinking, which leads to poor financial decisions. The COVID-19 pandemic is a terrible and frightening situation. There’s uncertainty surrounding how long the outbreak will last, how bad it will get, and many other variables. But we will get through it. So make some smart and rational financial decisions and focus on what’s really important — your health and the health of the people you care about.
Works Cited
Backman, Maurie. “5 Smart Financial Moves to Make During the COVID-19 Outbreak.” The Motley Fool, 7 Apr. 2020, www.fool.com/retirement/2020/04/07/5-smart-financial-moves-to-make-during-the-covid-1.aspx. Accessed 7 May 2020.
“Coronavirus and Your Finances: Here’s How to React.” The Ascent, 13 Mar. 2020, www.fool.com/the-ascent/banks/articles/coronavirus-finances-how-to-react/.