Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions For You & Your Home
New Year’s is only a few days away and with the new year comes a new you. You’ve probably already created a couple of resolutions for yourself, but why not kill two birds with one stone this year (metaphorically speaking)? What if we told you that you could improve your home and yourself at the same time? It is possible, and we have created a list of the top 5 improvements for both you and your home!
Get fit
Routine home maintenance can work miracles for both you and your home. If you have created the goal to lose weight and/or get fit this year, partaking in DIY home maintenance could set you on the right path to achieving your goal. You’d be surprised at how many calories you could really burn by simply doing work around the house. Here is a short list from CalorieLab of home maintenance activities and the calories burned to complete them.
• Installing ceramic tile: 238 calories per hour
• Interior painting: 136 calories per hour
• Cleaning rain gutters: 272 calories per hour
• Building a fence: 340 calories per hour
• Caulking windows and doors: 280 calories per hour
• Mowing the lawn: 306 calories per hour
• Planting shrubs: 238 calories per hour
Spend time with family
Spending quality time with your family is priceless. There are a lot of home improvement activities that could easily become a group effort. Think of the things that need to be done around your house and find a way to get every member of the family involved. A couple of great family activities include painting and gardening. House work gets done faster with a team. Rally up your family team and get to work!
Volunteer
While you have set out to improve your home, why not also help others to improve theirs as well? If you know your neighbors are undertaking some big home improvement projects don’t be afraid to offer a helping hand. You could even get involved with organizations like Habitat for Humanity to help build or restore homes for those in need. Another great idea would be to start up a neighborhood garden. You could help bring neighbors together in an effort to eat healthier and save money on groceries. A neighborhood garden could be very beneficial. In fact, a 4’-by-16’ garden plot could provide anywhere from $200-$600 worth of food annually!
Get organized
There’s no excuse for a cluttered home, especially when organizing your home is so easy to do! There is more than likely a lot of storage space that is not being utilized in your home. You could store items under your stairs or create shelves in-between wall studs. There are plenty of places to pack things away. Make sure to organize things with bins, folders, trunks, and baskets when appropriate. There’s a pretty good chance you’ve accumulated a lot of unneeded junk over the past year as well. Your cabinets or drawers may be stuffed with expired coupons, old event tickets, charging cables for devices you no longer have, or toys that your children have long outgrown. If this is the case, take some time to sort through everything. Figure out what can be sold, or donated, and throw away what can’t. A clean home is a happy home. Create a goal to get your house organized.
Breathe better
You might have made the resolution to quit smoking this year. That will certainly help you breathe better, but what about the air you’re breathing in your home? Your home’s air quality can be a serious concern. The EPA lists indoor air quality as one of the top environmental health hazards. Indoor air can be full of potential contaminants, such as mold spores, dust, viruses, and pollen. Now that we are in the midst of the winter season, air quality is even more of a concern. Windows and doors are shut tight, which seals the air in your home. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to ensure that you are breathing only the highest quality air. Make sure to maintain your HVAC system, and change the furnace filters on a regular basis. When you replace your filters, make an effort to buy the best ones you can afford. You should use localized ventilation in your kitchen and bathrooms to remove unwanted fumes from cooking, smoke, and excess humidity. You could also invest in a portable air cleaner to cleanse the air one room at a time.
Use these resolutions to craft some of your own for the upcoming new year. While we’re at it, there is one area of home improvement that we haven’t mentioned yet. New windows would perfectly compliment a new you. New replacement fiberglass windows could mean added energy cost savings and additional sunlight. As you’re creating your New Year’s resolutions you might want to consider giving us a call for a free estimate. Majic Window will take care of your windows so that you can focus on yourself and the rest of your home.
