Houses need a lot of upkeep to stay in top condition. When you don’t put in the time and effort to take care of it, you’re going to find yourself paying for lots of upgrades and repairs. Here is how you can avoid those expenses all year long.
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Dealing with Household Repairs
Every homeowner should have an emergency fund to help them cover small household repairs and replacements. It will come in handy when you need to take care of problems with your plumbing, heating, appliances and more, but you don’t have enough in your budget to make the costs. All you have to do is dip into those savings and fix the problem immediately.
If you don’t have enough in your emergency fund — or if you don’t have one at all — you can take out a personal line of credit online to help you take care of the household repairs. A line of credit is a good safety net that will make it easier to handle emergency expenses. You don’t have to have perfect credit to apply. See how you can apply for a line of credit through CreditFresh and get approved for it in a short amount of time.
Another way that homeowners should protect themselves from expensive household problems is to practice regular maintenance. Take a look at some of these simple tips to see how you can save yourself from spending a lot of money:
Clean Out Your Drains
A stubborn drain clog can cost you hundreds in repairs. To keep your drains nice and clear, you should do these chores:
- Do a natural drain rinse in the kitchen sink to clear up any grime and build-up. Don’t use harsh store-bought cleaners — these often contain caustic materials that can damage your fixtures and plumbing or simply look for drain service King City by Plumbing Authority.
- Use a handheld drain snake to clear clogs in bathtub and shower drains.
- Buy drain catchers to stop food scraps, hair strands and more from collecting in the drains.
Change Your Furnace Filter
Letting the filter get clogged full of debris is bad for your furnace. It can cause overheating and operating problems. Sometimes, it can cause fires. For the sake of your furnace and your safety, you should replace the filter. Ideally, you should swap out the filter every few months. You can also look out for these signs that you should change your furnace filter to see if you need to do it more frequently.
This maintenance tip will save you from expensive repairs, maintenance fees and heating costs. A clean filter makes your furnace more energy-efficient, which means those energy bills will drop when the weather gets colder.
Winterize Your A/C Unit
If you live somewhere that has harsh winters, you’re going to want to winterize your AC unit so that it can handle the upcoming months of frigid weather. Leaving it unprepared and unprotected in the elements will make it deteriorate quickly, which will raise your chances of paying for repairs when the summertime finally arrives. Or worse, a whole new unit.
Regular maintenance isn’t just a good idea to keep things in your house running smoothly. It’s a good idea to save money. Follow these tips and pocket all of the money that you would spend on repairs.