Every New Year we make resolutions for our happiness, health and fitness, but rarely do we make resolutions for our homes beyond “Paint the bathroom.”  Often our homes need a lot more care than we give them, so why not begin your year with a manageable to-do list of achievable house resolutions that will benefit you in other areas of your life?

1. Live a little greener: There are a lot of ways to go green in the home.  If it’s in your budget your resolution might be to add solar panels to your roof.  If you’ve got a smaller budget you could resolve to crack down on recycling and compost in your home.  Often we lazily toss a can or some paper in the garbage even though we know they could be recycled. Maybe you’ll get into the habit of turning off the lights when you leave a room.  You might even want to put a rain barrel under your downspout and use the collected water for your garden.  All of these steps help our environment and our living conditions.

2. Renovate Realistically: Choose 2 renovations you’ve wanted to complete and get them done.  If you’ve been planning to do several renovations to your home that list can quickly seem unmanageable.  If you choose just 2 projects to take on, plan and schedule them accordingly and get them finished.  Those are two projects you can cross off your list.  They might be as labor intensive as gutting the basement or as creative as redecorating the bedroom; once they’re done you’ll feel accomplished and motivated to tackle your other household projects.

3. De-Clutter: This is a popular resolution but can be one of the more difficult to accomplish.  The best way to tell if an item is worth keeping is asking yourself if you’ve used it in the last year.  If the answer is no then you’ll probably never use it.  Now decide whether to throw it out or sell it.  We often view our things as more valuable than they actually are and we want to try and sell it before we throw it out.  If you think an item of yours could make you some money ask at least 5 people if they would be interested in owning the item.  If all five of them say “no,” you’re probably over-valuing the object.  Another trick is to have a garage sale but when the garage sale is over, don’t take all of the stuff back into the house: load it into a truck and take it to the dump.

4. Keep up Regular Maintenance: Regular maintenance on your home is very important both financially and for your health.  Keeping your home’s roof, siding, foundation, windows, doors, chimney, and appliances in good condition can save you’re a fortune and by catching water before it can create mold and mildew.  You should be doing your own home inspections regularly to make sure that little problems aren’t popping up, and if they are you’ll have noticed and repaired them before they’ve had the chance to become big problems.  If you keep an eye on your home you might save a fortune on future renovations.