Simone Spotlight | Routine Maintenance & Home Checklist
Simone Spotlight | Routine Home Maintenance Checklist
May 22nd
Routine Maintenance & Home Checklist
Last week’s blog spoke about why home maintenance is necessary and important for your family. This week’s blog speaks to how you stay on top of home maintenance with everything else going on in your life.
There are a variety of ways to do it and it is going to depend on your style. Are you a paper and pencil kind of person, a spreadsheet kind of person or would you rather use an app?
There is a method for each style that will help you keep up with your routine home maintenance efficiently.
The paper and pencil method requires you to write out your home maintenance schedule. The goal is to set up the yearly, quarterly, and monthly calendars.
Make a list of all the home maintenance you have done and all the needs to get done. Using a calendar, set dates for each one and write them on the calendar and in your agenda.
To go one step further, you can schedule with local vendors to come out at the allotted times.
*Make sure to update your checklist accordingly. Do not throw out your list, keep it in a folder for future use. You can always photocopy the list and use it for the following year.
I suggest you keep looking at your list throughout the year and use it the following year for that year’s home maintenance list.
The spreadsheet sheet method requires you to list all of your home maintenance items as you would with the paper and pencil method and track them with the spreadsheet.
The nice thing about using a spreadsheet is that you can keep every year in one document, but you always have to make sure you back it up. If you lose the spreadsheet all of your data, racking, expenses, etc. will be lost.
The spreadsheet method allows you to share your spreadsheet with others. It can be very convenient, but you have to remember to check your spreadsheet and keep track of it.
The app method can be the most convenient of all of these methods, with this method the app creates the maintenance plan for you and tracks it.
You can track, schedule and set up the maintenance of your home.
A great app to use is www.homezada.com. This app allows you to see costs, maintenance, create remodel projects, and so much more!
The important thing to note is that you would still benefit from sitting down and listing your yearly home maintenance and creating a plan and not just doing home maintenance as it comes up. If you don't have a plan, it could cost you more money in the long run.
The city of Oakland understands the importance of home maintenance and they offer monies to help homeowners who may not have the funds to keep up their homes.
Below are some links to different Oakland programs.
Program for homeowners if they need to repair, update or maintain their home. www.hmipoakland.com
Program and grants to modify their properties. www.homeownerservicesoakland.com
The Oakland Planning and Development Corporation also offers a variety of grants and programs to help homeowners repair their homes. https://www.opdc.org/homerepairs