House tips:) (General House/Tips and Hints)

Member Name: Claribella

Product:	General House/Tips and Hints
Date:	17/03/09 (85 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: if you stay on top of stuff it won't get overwhelming

Disadvantages: Can become too much

My husband and I rent our home and we love it. We have absolutely no desire to buy a house of our own in the near future and before anyone comments on this, we have decided that its more worth while to save for our retirement rather than buy a house.
The great thing about renting is that if something goes wrong then it's not your responsibility to sort it out. For example a few months ago our boiler started playing up. We called our landlord and he sent someone around to fix it. This could have cost us a lot of money, money that we didn't have but as it was, he paid for it. Obviously there are things around the home that are our responsibility and it's important that we stay ont op of them so that the house stays in tip top condition in the long term. Here are some tips to make life around the home a little easier.

1) House work.
I absolutely hate it but it needs to be done. It's hard sometimes because I have two little children but I make time to do it. I have a routine where I do a bit of something each day so it doesn't become overwhelming. I tend to do the hoovering on a mon, ironing on a tues etc. I have a list on my fridge which helps me to remember what I'm doing.

2) Bills.
We don't pay our bills by direct debit because we tend to pay them to suit us. I have a drawer where I keep my documents concerning my bills and write in my diary when they need to be paid.

3) The garden.
We have a big back garden so we try to stay on top of it. My hubby and I aren't keen gardeners so when we moved in we didn't do anything. Eventually the garden got so over grown that we had to do something (the landlords were also coming to check that we weren't trashing the house). It was such a big job to get it looking nice again so from that day on we vowed to pick away at it. Since then we have done little bits here and there and managed to stay on top of it. It's a great opportunity to get outside too and my little Noah loves helping too.

4) Dishes.
Unfortunately when we moved into the house we are living in now, they had no room for a dishwasher. At first my hubby was washing up the dishes but that soon went out the window and it was left to me. I would suggest that you make a point of doing the dishes once a day. I usually do mine in the evening while I'm cooking tea. It's surprising how quickly the dishes build up. Some days it looks like we haven't got many so I don't do them then by the next day they are taking over the kitchen.
I would also suggest that you empty all food off the plates a rinse them or else it just gets ingrained into the plate and the dishes takes twice as long.
I usually put tin foil on the bottom of the grill pan so it catches any grease and this saves me having to wash it every time as I chuck the foil straight into the bin.

5) Drains and sinks.
Make sure that you don't let food go down the kitchen sink because it starts to smell and blocks it up. Another thing that I nearly killed my hubby for doing the other day was pouring grease down the sink. This blocks it up really bad. I would suggest that you leave it to dry and then scrape it out with kitchen roll.
Every now and again I pour a sink unblocker down my sink, drain and bath to keep it in top condition.

Hopefully this helps somebody somewhere:)

Summary: Follow these five tips to stay on top of the up keep of your home.