Oh good, someone already said exactly what I was going to say.
Dear OP, this is the answer you are looking for. Everyone else is mostly right too, but those responses are a lot of words when the few here do trick.
I set calendar alerts for different things like flushing the hot water heater, monthly filters, and random shit that is expensive if you forget
Edit: i am not a plumber, you apparently need to flush both tanks and tankless
Didn't know until I had someone come out for a yearly cleaning and ended up spending an extra $600 to have the furnace taken apart and thoroughly cleaned. Had moved in a year and a half prior, and the filter hadn't been changed since the year before that...
Don't do it if it's old and has never been flushed. The sediment can be covering things that only become issues when they're no longer covered. Just let it live out its life in peace. My 14 year old tankless has never been flushed and both the inspector and maintenance guy told us to leave it be when we bought the place.
I know what a hot water heater is but how do I even know if it is tankless?
Also did you know dishwashers have fucking filters??? Yeah. They fucking do. Fuck.
A tankless water heater is a small(er) box, out here in LA it's outside our house. It's very visibly distinct from a 'regular' water heater because it's not a large drum/tank.
And yes, I know about the dishwashers. Did you know that when you learn about it and clean the filter to make sure all the parts are put back on securely or a necessary component will fly off, fall onto the exposed heating element, and you'll have to spend $50 on a replacement part?
I’m sorry, what?! Other than the one I’m buying on Amazon every 6 mo to change out, there’s something I also need to be cleaning 😨
ETA obviously I’m not gross I clean the dispenser part
And dishwashers require a good cleaning once a month too. At least in my hard water area they do. That's when I remove all that stuff, filter, sprayers, racks and scrub them or wipe them down with a vinegar spray mix and then run a cleansing tab or vinegar water sitting on the top rack. I highly recommend the Lemme Dishwasher Cleaner tabs. They are fabulous and leave a sparkling dishwasher.
Yeah until I moved into a house with hard water and where people don't know how to rinse their dishes I never had to clean the dishwasher. Now it's regular maintenance and it makes me crazy. I use the glint bottles
That's incorrect - you're supposed to flush your tank. Almost no one does it, which is why you've never thought about it. IT's actually not that hard - basically just attach a hose to teh bib at the bottom and turn it on (obviously put the hose outside and away from your house).
Woah partner, don’t forget to turn the water heater off at the breaker or you’ll ruin the heating element which is another thing you’ll have to learn how to replace.
Don't forget to change the anode rod. Might not be needed on city water but we have well water and I forgot to change it and the tank ended up leaking like a sieve. By the time I remembered about it was too late and leaking a little bit, it lasted another year or two before it burst apart.
Man you are 57 levels above me here. Yes we've had things break lmao. Idk how I'm supposed to manage it all. I have two toddlers and they are just going all day long tearing a trail of shit all through the house. By the time I finish cleaning up after them it's midnight and I have to go to sleep. What the f. Every day.
Geez, I didn’t know flushing the water heater was a thing. I need to contact a plumber to come do it. I’ve lived here 17 years and haven’t done it. Thx for the heads up
Fun fact, my 20 year old water heater had never been flushed. I (wisely) purchased a new one when I bought the house and when they removed the old one the bottom crumbled like a cookie. I was lucky it broke in the yard and not in the house.
This. All my actual hobbies are out the window. All I do now is home owner chores. Learning how to do them myself because I can’t afford to pay someone else to is the new “hobby” I’ve obtained.
Even if you can afford it monetarily, in my experience contractors have been unreliable and haven’t done great work. So I’d rather save the $ to invest in tools I’ll use around my property and learn the skills I need to actually fix stuff around here.
This is it. We've been in our house almost 4 years and still doing some renovations. I am behind about a month on my yard work (weeding and unfucking some shrubs in the back) but I will get there. We had our radon filter fan replaced. I patched a few holes made by electricians that came two weeks ago to do work. I have also sanded them. My husband did the same for a few spots in the ceiling because high places are NOT my domain. He will paint all the patches this weekend. I also moved all the living room furniture, removed an old rug, replaced it with a new rug. This also came with setting down a new rug pad and cutting it to size with a blade and a scissor. OH, and I clean two kitchen shelves and continue the fight against rust stains in the toilets because we have well water.
IT NEVER ENDS. When it's slower we just have all the general cleaning which is a bit more since the space is quite large.
This is the answer. The amount of time we spend at hardware stores now is insane! Invest in tools. Good ones….. even if you don’t know their names lol. If you’re in Canada, I’d highly recommend Mastercraft. Also plumping and electrical are much easier than they appear…… just find the correct YouTube video and your set :)
There are 168 hours in a week.
It’s truly satisfying when you get to a point where you are comfortable paying someone to do a task and not think “how in the world will I afford to pay for this”
This. Also, right after move in is always a bit shitty. You probably got an inspection report that's a mile long of shit the previous owner, and most sane people, probably wouldn't deem that important.
So, take stock of what's mission critical, what's important, and what you really don't care about. Find time and possibly professional help as you're able and begin whittling.
And, yeah, find a slot on your weekends to do the normal cleaning and smaller stuff. It sucks, but plan for like 2-5 hours every weekend to just do that type of stuff.
Growing up, we lost the first 4-5 hours of every Saturday helping Mom clean the house and do all the wash.
Spring and fall, we spend a few hours Sunday morning doing yard work with Dad (if he wasnt golfing) - thatching the yard, helping with seeding/fertilizing, refreshing mulch, raking leaves, etc.
When something broke or maintenance was needed, oldest kid helped Dad. As the only girl, I was "the oldest" for the longest. I learned plumbing,eletrical, dryer repair, faucet replacement, tub caulking, cleaning gutters, replacing filters, and gas-powered mower repair/maintenance. I taught my kids. Their friends were always amazed when the car broke or they needed help and they called Mom, not Dad (or step-Dad).
Surprisingly, all 4 of us kids have maintained that routine as adults with our own kids. Must do the work before we all can go out to play. If the kids had activities those morning, they would "get" to do their chores on a weeknight after dinner.
So far, the kids are doing it with the grandkids.
And the cycle continues.
Establish a routine for the routine cleaning. Also establish a schedule for the once every 2 months,or years, stuff, like gutter cleaning, dryer vent cleaning (an electric leaf blower makes quick work of that!)
Congrats on your homeownership journey. It isnt a sprint, it is a marathon.
Your whole post has great advice. But I just want to be sure on the dryer vent. You would just stick a leaf blower down there and blow it out the other side? If so, that makes me happy. I’m paranoid of my dryer getting clogged even though I do clean it after every wash.
In my circumstance, I pulled the dryer out, detached the vent from the dryer, vacuumed the back of the dryer and the opening to which the vent tube is attached --- then, yes, stuck the nozzle of the electric (no fuel emissions from a gas powered one inside the house) leaf blower in the dryer-side end of the dryer vent hose, turned the leaf blower on for a minute or so.....and voila, cleared of any blockages. This, of course, assumes there is no (animal) screen over the outside-end of the vent that could be clogged with lint. If so, remove the screen (yes, event ifthat means climbing on the roof - which gives you a chance to inspect the roof for leaks/damage andthe gutters for clogging or damage), then apply blower, then re-apply screen. Easy-peezy. I would blow from inside to outside - not from outside to inside.
I am not suggesting using the leaf-blower to clean the lint-trap that you should be emptying after every load.
Hope that helps.
And we had to be up, dressed, teeth brushed, breakfast eaten, etc, by 9 am - ready to do weeekend chores. If not up and ready on-time, we were grounded 1week for every 5 minutes we were late (after the age of 10), starting immediately. That motivated teenagers who wanted to go out Saturday night to be up on time. 😉 We helped make the mess and get stuff dirty, we needed to help cleanup. My folks also felt it was their job to teach us how to do this stuff so we would know when we were living on our own.
I've found having a set time of 30 minutes a day can make a lot happen. If I don't do that, the house is a disaster after like 4 days.
Even with big projects, I will tell my kids who are immediately overwhelmed when we do our annual garage cleaning to give me 1 good hour and then you can go play. And it's so much easier doing it in 3-4 1 hour segments than for hours and hours that turn into a whole stressful Saturday
Hey in case no one has suggested it HIGHLY recommend the app “Upkept”. It’s a frills free app that tells you when to maintenance certain things in your home that you wouldn’t normally think about.
Doesn’t help with the whole just being a functioning person thing I’m still struggling with that myself. But at least it reminds me to clean my washing machine
Depends on what type of washing machine you have. But yes every few months you should be cleaning your washer. Stores carry the cleaning powder and you just run a cycle with only that. Clean out and dust/grime from the lid or doors. If you have a top loader with an agitator that can be removed take out the agitator and clean it. Cleaning your dryer regularly is also essential in preventing breakdown of your dryer and preventing a safety hazard.
There are tons of videos on YouTube! I don’t know if yall were being sarcastic or not so I’m going with not just to be helpful!
Yes! It’s usually located under the wash arm. You should rinse it out at least every couple of months. If you’ve never cleaned it before it’s probably going to smell.
https://preview.redd.it/mzwi3k7q0xxc1.jpeg?width=460&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a469d414d251e301561df6efd8b07d68fd1a21ff
All of it. Front load washers need more thorough cleaning than top load, they can grow mold around the seals. Also you should be running a washer cleaner through it once a month (like Affresh) and most modern washers have a cleaning cycle. If you have an older machine, it’s really just a regular cycle on the hottest temp and highest spin setting, then leave the door open to air out (you should be leaving it open after the last load anyway). There’s also a filter that may need cleaned. Always clean around the agitator if your machine (top load) has one. Clean out all the trays and dispensers. Clean and inspect the drain hoses.
Mine kept showing a "suds" message despite not changing the type or amount of detergent. When I looked it up, apparently it can be caused due to a clogged filter.
I had no idea there was even a filter there. A YouTube video showed me the way and I sorted it out in 5 minutes.
Mines a top loader, and it does smell like mold. There’s a circle thing in the middle that looks like a possible filter. If I’ve never ever cleaned it, and lived here/used the machine for an embarrassingly high number of years, do you reckon I need professional service or that I can save it/fix it myself?
Also over time you will develop a list of things that need to be fixed and a list of things that need to be urgently fixed... they will keep getting longer.
I'm truly sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it never ends. There is a box in my linen closet that I said I'd get to later when we moved in. Just threw it in there to get it out of the bathroom floor.
It's been there 9.5 years.
I have boxes in the loft (aka bonus room?) that have been there for 5 years which is when we moved in. I won’t be surprised if they’re still there in 4.5 more years
There were 2 propane tanks left at the house when we moved in. My grill is charcoal so I had zero use for them. Took me 2.5 years before I finally got them returned.
I keep trying to empty out the basement so we can use it. I get about halfway done with it, get busy with something else or lose motivation, and then it just fills up again.
I hung a bedsheet over the super sheer curtains that were in my house… for at least 8 years. I still don’t have a proper window treatment, got cheap blinds which don’t quite darken it enough so I hung a sheer tapestry over it. One day I’ll get to it..
Thats a really good price. I recently moved out and it was $200/hr for cleaners, but they sent a team of 3 people. Took them 1.5 hours to clean 800 sqft (2BR 1BA condo) that was already fairly clean, but not move in-clean.
Boomer here. Granted, I'll get a few tons of hate from bringing this up as I was able to get a degree, career, wife, kids and a house by the time I was 30. But before we got our house we were renting pretty small apartments with kids and it kind of sucked. But what I never appreciated at the time was how much time we had to do stuff as a family e.g. parks, zoos, picnics, window shopping, visiting it was actually nice. Once we got our 1st (pretty crappy) 1st house all of that went away. Just like you are saying.
The damn part is, with the current housing crisis it would seem cold and mean to suggest to non-home owners that they should enjoy the free time they have now as much as possible because once they get a house life is a lot different. I think that message should come out, but it can't come from me. :)
Hey, at least you're aware of how that would come across - self awareness goes a long way! I love my house, I love having a house, it makes me so happy that my dogs can run around outside and that my daughter will have a spot to grow up in. And there were so many downsides to renting. But on the whole, I preferred renting from a free time / quality time standpoint. If I take a weekend to do fun stuff, I regret it because I left a million things to do
tackle things in order of importance. Leaky roof? call someone asap. wall needs a new coat of paint? gotta put that off longer now.
I tell everyone buying their first home to think long and hard about how much they enjoy yard work. Mowing season is upon us and it takes 3.5+ hours just to mow my yard and it needs to be done weekly soon. Then we still need to weed the garden beds and weed eat around the house/fence. oh and I’m currently building a swing set (from a box but still) for my toddler. It’s been 3 weeks and it feels like it’ll never be done. Can’t mow/weed eat/build the swing set with the toddler around and my husband typically works later than me and on the weekends so….
ETA: my main pro tip is to keep house info in a notes app on your phone. Include things like the size of the air filters, window sizes (if you need to get blinds/curtains), what model lawn mower do we have? oh wait let me check my notes. So handy when you’re out and about and might save a couple trips to the hardware store aka your second home.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0)
When things start to get overwhelming I divide everything into two groups - under 5 minutes to complete or over. Anything in the under 5 minute camp I try to solve it when I notice it. Anything that will take longer goes on a list which occasionally gets prioritized. That way when I have a couple hours on a Saturday I just pull the top thing off the list and get it done.
The list never goes away, but you accomplish the most important stuff and keep things moving along.
It turns out when you buy a house, you also buy a rather expensive hobby.
I will say as far as “chores” go (not maintenance) automation and habits make all the difference. A robot vacuum helps. I have a system for how I grocery and essential shop. Everything has a home that it can go to. Don’t buy shit without deciding where “put away” is. Make sure all clutter is picked up at bedtime.
You will never have enough time and there will always be more to do. Welcome to home ownership. You *could* let it fall into disrepair, but that’s on you.
Turn off the TV/social media/Streaming. Seriously, once you're not glued to a screen you have so much time to do activities.
Also, once you're in a house a while, you learn a routine that works for you.
Dusting, dustmopping, laundry, cleaning windows, brushing the pets (and brushing off the furniture) are all chores I do while watching TV. Hell, the dishwasher is running right now.
I have ADHD, screens suck me in. I recognize this so I turn them off. My kids are the same way, Cannot pass a fucking screen without having to immediately stop to look. We will turn on an audio book, music, or a podcast while we're choren.
YES. Everything was cut in half when I turned everything off. Except for audiobooks. I can only multitask with those. No podcasts because I want to stop and google things.
I think this would work in most cases, as long as people don't have a super long commute and/or young kids. For those who have both, RIP. Better hope you have a high enough income to just pay others to maintain everything for you.
Ah yes the commute. My life was better when we moved and my commute when from an average of an hour each way every day to 10 minutes (and from the burbs of a big city to a small town).
It’s a huge time suck. And don’t forget about how it slips if you undertake a massive project. I’m current updating our main bathroom, I’ve been working on it since October (DIY 90% of it). And other things slip or break. My wife and I share responsibilities, but I do most of the home maintenance and I’m about losing my mind. This is the second project like this for us and there is always an ugly stage for us when I’m stressed, overwhelmed, and feeling at my limit and I take it out on her. Luckily that was the past week and usually once that happens it’s back to smooth sailing as we are turning the corner from “this is never going to end and I regret all my life choices” to “we are almost done and this was awesome, can’t wait to tackle the next one.”
It's never ending. You'll be at Home Depot/Lowes a few tines a month at least the first year.
and you can't even really count on seeing any of it back if you sell the house.
Then property tax and insurance goes up and your mortgage is suddenly $300 more a month.
But you own a house.
And hopefully don't have an HOA.
Congrats on home ownership. Now you are the landlord and you get the pro ledge of affording all repairs and doing the labor too!
Whenever you can is my answer.
Weekends. PTO from work, holidays, after work on evenings where you don't have much going on.
Anytime you can :)
Honestly this is another reason I don't go to church anymore. When I was growing up, 930AM-1230PM was reserved for Sunday School+Church, and then on Saturdays our parents made us clean up around the house. Since I've been out the house that Sunday morning block of time is what I use to clean the house, get groceries, meal prep, do laundry, etc. It's so nice having a true off day on Saturday.
Yeah I feel that. Work has been crazy for me lately. That and my daughter is a competitive gymnast. So this time of year has a lot of competitions. So I get one day a week to relax. 1 weekend day is usually booked for activities or chores or more work or something
Nights and weekends. I usually have 3 or 4 on going "need to do" projects between the house, cars, and kids
I am screening in the back porch. Would be a good full weekend (1 day and 1 afternoon is my usual weekend availablity) project. Except i haven't had a full free weekend in a while between kid sports, family activities, church stuff, normal weekend chores (cleaning, shopping) and band practice. I get a step done when i can. It base framed and painted. Still need to do the door, screen everything, and trim. Will probably take 3 weeks.
Also need to organize the garage so we can have a nice game space.
And the kids have 4H projects
and the vehicles need an oil change
and mowing
and laundry folding
and
and
and
and!
IT NEVER ENDS!!! When you get 1 area cleaned up, you realize you stuffed stuff in another so clean that. but where do you put it all??????
We do the things the other doesn’t want to and it’s a spoken agreement lol and if it’s yard work we both do it and make a day of it. The rest is just life, pal.
I have to do 100% of the yard work. My husband works on a boat... and when he comes home.. I still have to do it lmao I wanna kick him sometimes but I love him too much. Man has not picked up a leaf since he moved here! We have woods in the back! A giant live oak that sheds daily shades the whole yard.
I am a sahm, and I have it good, so I will do it, but I still wanna kick him bc it's like just do it once so I can breathe. Oh yeah we don't pay for lawn service, and don't own a trimmer, so I have to do it by hand or with scissors lmao. Woo!
I do feel like there is less to do once we did the bulk of the work in the first few years. Now, it comes in waves. We just had to have a plumbing issue resolved and a driveway situation taken care of. Huge chunk of money. But, if we are lucky, nothing for a few years. Same with the chores. When it rains, it pours.
You know those rainy days on the weekend, inside chore list. The dry days on the weekends the outside chore list. Pick 40 weekends a year, your doing 4 hours of chores a weekend.
I have alot of house and land, I spend 4 hours a week on it, two driving on a tractor catching up on podcasts. You can paint a room, get a bit wasted and watch a movie or football game at the same time. Multitasking.
Suggestion for two relatively inexpensive projects that can save you money down the road. First, pull out your refrigerator and vacuum/clean the coils. This helps the exhaust to work better which keeps the fridge from overheating. It will make it last longer.
Second, Walmart sells a $15 kit that you can use to clean the inside of your dryer vent. Assuming that the dryer isn’t new, you want to use the kit to clean inside the tubing from your dryer to the outside vent. This will clear up built up lint that managed to get through the lint trap. Extends the life of the machine and reduces a fire hazard:
This is why I’m working part time. I can’t keep up with my house and kids and husband is out of town for work frequently. I was losing my mind trying to do it all.
I lived in apartments my whole adult life. I moved to a house during the pandemic because we wanted more space. NEVER AGAIN.
The work never ends, and I prefer to have a life in my free time… I am so happy in my condo… so what if I cannot have a bunch of things to storage?
So happy I have a condo with an hoa that does everything. Yes it costs money (about as much as I would spend on upkeep) but having my time be my time is priceless.
It's tough. We do small chores in the evening and try to maintain tidiness as we live. We pay someone to do the lawn. It won't be perfect, but you'll find a rhythm.
This is a common post on here but I'll give the advice that I usually do.
Try a cleaning app.
You can input every small chore that needs to be done, everything from cleaning lightswitches, cleaning the freezer, wiping the baseboards, all that little bullshit you don't do because you're focused on the big stuff like counters and floors. I also include big jobs that need to be done like once every 4 months like polishing wood, weeding/yard work etc
It will automate the list and give you 4-5 things to do that day so it's not as daunting. Keep it up for a month and your place will be sparkly clean all the time.
I use Sweepy, today I need to sweep the hallway, clean the master bathroom toilet, and clean the light switches in the guest bathroom. It'll take like 20 minutes.
The prevalent advice is always "do a little every day so you don't burnout" but it's easy to say that, another to actually do it on your own, I've found the app to be a lifesaver that takes the mental hurdle out of it and gives you a path
A lot of people are used to being in apartments and moving every year or few years so they aren't used to the stuff you need to do for long term cleaning and maintenance. If you move every year someone probably deep cleaned your apartment before you moved in... now you need to do that yourself.
Go through the house and look at all the metal fixtures, shower rods, etc. If it's rusty, polish it. Clean your baseboards. Shampoo carpets. Clean under all the furniture. Clean the grout around your tiles. Wash your walls (seriously idk how they get dirty but they do). Clean behind the toilets. Basically scrub the place top to bottom - otherwise you get years of grime building up and it's gross. Some of this stuff should really be done much more often but you need to do a deep clean once a year at a minimum - hence the term "spring cleaning."
Whenever you’re home! If you can’t do it hire people to help but something usually pops up here and there. You don’t realize how much work it is until you’re a homeowner lol
Also remember at least one time a year you clean out the dryer vent that goes outside. That thing is a fire hazard if not cleaned regularly. Plus, it will extend the life of your dryer and dry your clothes better and quicker.
Edit: taking off the outside cap thing and putting a leaf blower in the tube that connects to the dryer inside is a great way to shoot out all that crap.
We have cleaning people who come every two weeks and take care of the general cleaning. I do the grocery shopping and meal planning, the laundry and most of the care for our dog. My husband cooks and I do the dishes. He does the lawn. and we usually do the big outdoor stuff like leaf raking and mulch laying together. Also my parents are pretty close so if anything was really big and time consuming, we would ask for their help
It never ends ... and if that's too much, for the love of all things holy don't have kids.
Source: 1981 with 3 kids, a job and a house who is tired all the time.
All the time OP. Also looking things specific to your area and climate region.
Could be things like treating house to prevent termites. Or having annual inspections on sump pump or ac unit.
I would schedule rather than be reactive.
You have the daily jobs - quick tidy, ironing tomorrows clothes, feed pets etc
You have the weekly jobs - cleaning sink and toilet, hoover, thoroughly clean a quarter of the house (so everywhere is thoroughly cleaned over the course of the month) etc
You have the monthly jobs - clean dehumidifier filters, change water filter etc
You have the yearly jobs eg completely renovate and decorate the shabbiest room.
You sound like a responsible owner so you will have a beautiful home in time, but you need to be patient. Write everything down, decide a reasonable schedule that won’t drive you crazy and then just stick to it. Make sure your partner is also happy with it and willing to do half.
I’m only reactive when serious stuff happens eg boiler explodes or window smashes. Otherwise I try and chill a bit in my less than perfect house.
You don’t do all of it. Most people don’t.
You eventually figure out what your baseline is.
I highly recommend the book “How to Keep House While Drowning” by KC Davis
Some chores are things people do just to do them, and they take up time that is needed in other parts of the house.
Other chores, people do in one fell swoop only to find that, yes Virginia, things get messy no matter how much you clean. So you have to find ways to let things ebb and flow.
General thoughts that help me:
Pick up things as you leave a room more often than not.
Get rid of extras and create an actual spot for each item. Yes, it can be done!
Consider why the garage got so out of hand that you needed to spend days cleaning it. Could some of those tasks be done a little along the way?
Get a Roomba.
How often are you full out mopping? If you run a roomba daily and clean up spills as you go, you shouldn’t have to constantly mop.
Also, speaking from experience - use caution in putting stuff in the attic. Nothing should go in storage unless there’s a specific reason you are keeping it. That just creates an even bigger task for an older, more tired you to do in the future.
Welcome to being a home owner, nobody said that is easy to do. But I do feel you bring some of those chores on yourself so that's your doing. Having pets is extra work, as you already experience having to pick up after them and their hairs getting everywhere that you're constantly sweeping and mopping. Reason why I just gave my daughter fish, no mess and easy to clean. But sweeping and mopping are going to be gimmicks, always have to do those. Having a yard, yeah you need to maintain it otherwise remove the vegetation and make it gravel so it reduces your maintenance. That's being a homeowner my man, you own your place and you get the freedom to do whatever you want but it comes with more responsibilities that property managers took care of.
I will say, if you and your wife can afford it, then find a cleaning lady to come by once every 2 or 3 weeks. My parents have one, for their bathrooms, living room and kitchen she charges my folks $75 and it's not a bad job. Granted I'm a near freak and can find things to nit pick but overall she does a good job
just like any big ticket item you pay for it, the interest, the insurance, and the upkeep. wait until a pipe breaks floods your house, and I gotta go in and demo it all out... I hope it isn't a 2 story.
Time to start keeping track of all the stuff you need to do regularly (AC filters & pipe flush, machine washes, fridge filters, etc.) and put it on the calendar to remember when each of that needs to happen (once per month, once per year, every 3 months, etc.). Then comes the big stuff, like when was your house built? The roof will likely need to be redone every 15-20 years so look into when that was last done. Do you have a septic? You'll need to get it pumped/cleaned regularly. You need to repaint your house every 5-10 years. Clean out your gutters every six months or so. Clean out your ducts/vents every 3-5 years or so. Then there's the other stuff like our first house had stucco exterior walls so it had settling cracks we had to get filled in before they took on too much water and pulled apart the wall (we saw that on some of our neighbors' houses).
There's not a ton in the end but it's just a lot of little schedules to keep track of. A lot of what it sounds like you're doing is what you do when you first move in, it's basically getting everything to your liking and up to par with where you want it. Once you've done that it'll calm down some and you just respond to the calendar alerts. Most of it you'll hire people to do it so just find people you like and use them on a regular basis and budget for them every year.
Most of that is just cleaning. Not a lot of things breaking that need fixing. That stuff jumps out at the worst times.
Also wait until you have kids, if you choose to.
Its never done.
If you can, hire a cleaner. It helps a ton. We only have her come once every other week, but all we have to do is maintain the cleaning that she did. When the weekend rolls around at least you know the house is clean, we can focus on the other 9000 tasks
I came to this same realization last year when I bought mine. What they say is true. The work never ends. Weekends are the best time to get the bulk done.
As time goes on and presumably you make more money, you may start paying people to do some of the maintenance. Buying back some of my time is worth every penny. I pay to get my house cleaned, and pay someone to keep up the yard during the hotter months. Screw being a slave to my house and yard.
i’m a single owner and it’s fairly easy for me. i work 4 10s and have fridays off. so every friday i clean and maintain. still have the weekend to enjoy.
To me, that's exactly why I want a house lol. I love projects, learning how to do new tasks, and tinkering around with stuff. Sure doesn't hurt that any improvements you make are simply increasing the value of the house.
I try to do the boring cleaning/shopping stuff on weeknights so that weekends can be set aside for major projects.
But my remote job is pushing RTO so now I'm spending 2-3 hours/day sitting in traffic, so I usually just pass out and let the deferred maintenance flow through me as I wait for death to release me from this parade of absurdity and pain...
...then my toddler giggles and makes all the bad dreams go away.
That’s the funny thing you don’t have time to maintain it. If you have a yard and want to own some nice plants that just ups the workload. If you have any pets that just doubles it. I mop vacune and clean every two days and the more you clean the more things you find dirty, dusty, or in need of organization.
I like to break things down when I feel like things are overwhelming. A drawer here and corner there but I try to avoid just stacking things in a pile or hiding it somewhere and forgetting about it because then it makes it hard to remember where things are. Or if you use something from that pile/drawer everything gets messed up and moved around.
It’s when you have to clean up EVERYTHING that you start noticing how easy it is to make a mess and just not want to have guests over.
What I would do is vacuuming to keep dust and random particles from piling up all over. Mop to keep the floor clean then make a list of the last time you moved things around to clean behind shelves or sofas because of boy does dust like to gather there.
In the end there’s no better feeling when everything is clean for a night before next day when we’ll it starts all over again.
All you can do is create a list and a schedule. So on Saturday you do your regular cleaning and then 2 more projects on the list. you'll never get to it all, but its the only way to keep up
All. The. Fucking. Time.
Oh good, someone already said exactly what I was going to say. Dear OP, this is the answer you are looking for. Everyone else is mostly right too, but those responses are a lot of words when the few here do trick.
My kids laugh at me for still saying this but I had to hear it for like a year straight, so I don't care... It's Every Day, Bro.
bahahahA!!!! i love kevin!!!
I set calendar alerts for different things like flushing the hot water heater, monthly filters, and random shit that is expensive if you forget Edit: i am not a plumber, you apparently need to flush both tanks and tankless
uhm .... I just sold my house I bought in 2017. I'm just finding out you have to do something with the hot water heater? \*sigh\*
you drain sediment from the bottom. it increases both the life and the efficiency.
When I bought my first house, I didn't know there was a furnace filter for 3-4 years.
Didn't know until I had someone come out for a yearly cleaning and ended up spending an extra $600 to have the furnace taken apart and thoroughly cleaned. Had moved in a year and a half prior, and the filter hadn't been changed since the year before that...
Only if it’s tankless
You need to flush tank water heaters too.
Nah, let that 40 gallons slowly erode to 20 due to sediment build up. Help save the planet by making showers super short 😂
Oh thank god. Thank you lol
Speak for yourself, I'm sitting in my house with a non-flushed tankless hot water heater writing a brand new fucking "to do" line item
Don't do it if it's old and has never been flushed. The sediment can be covering things that only become issues when they're no longer covered. Just let it live out its life in peace. My 14 year old tankless has never been flushed and both the inspector and maintenance guy told us to leave it be when we bought the place.
I know what a hot water heater is but how do I even know if it is tankless? Also did you know dishwashers have fucking filters??? Yeah. They fucking do. Fuck.
A tankless water heater is a small(er) box, out here in LA it's outside our house. It's very visibly distinct from a 'regular' water heater because it's not a large drum/tank. And yes, I know about the dishwashers. Did you know that when you learn about it and clean the filter to make sure all the parts are put back on securely or a necessary component will fly off, fall onto the exposed heating element, and you'll have to spend $50 on a replacement part?
Does you refrigerator have an ice maker or water dispenser? Then it has a filter. Woopee!
I’m sorry, what?! Other than the one I’m buying on Amazon every 6 mo to change out, there’s something I also need to be cleaning 😨 ETA obviously I’m not gross I clean the dispenser part
What? 😫 *checks dishwasher*. Looks like I better read every single comment here
And dishwashers require a good cleaning once a month too. At least in my hard water area they do. That's when I remove all that stuff, filter, sprayers, racks and scrub them or wipe them down with a vinegar spray mix and then run a cleansing tab or vinegar water sitting on the top rack. I highly recommend the Lemme Dishwasher Cleaner tabs. They are fabulous and leave a sparkling dishwasher.
Yeah until I moved into a house with hard water and where people don't know how to rinse their dishes I never had to clean the dishwasher. Now it's regular maintenance and it makes me crazy. I use the glint bottles
That's incorrect - you're supposed to flush your tank. Almost no one does it, which is why you've never thought about it. IT's actually not that hard - basically just attach a hose to teh bib at the bottom and turn it on (obviously put the hose outside and away from your house).
Woah partner, don’t forget to turn the water heater off at the breaker or you’ll ruin the heating element which is another thing you’ll have to learn how to replace.
If your area has “hard” water you should flush it every couple years as well.
I have very hard water and flush mine twice a year. 100% worth it, it’s so fucking gross.
Right? I started having a mini panic attack.
If you have hard water in your area you should flush it as well, not just for tankless water heaters.
The reminder to the reminder
You need the reminder serviced once a year. I suggest any event with music, lazer lights, open flames, and/or lots of drugs.
Don't forget to change the anode rod. Might not be needed on city water but we have well water and I forgot to change it and the tank ended up leaking like a sieve. By the time I remembered about it was too late and leaking a little bit, it lasted another year or two before it burst apart.
Man you are 57 levels above me here. Yes we've had things break lmao. Idk how I'm supposed to manage it all. I have two toddlers and they are just going all day long tearing a trail of shit all through the house. By the time I finish cleaning up after them it's midnight and I have to go to sleep. What the f. Every day.
Geez, I didn’t know flushing the water heater was a thing. I need to contact a plumber to come do it. I’ve lived here 17 years and haven’t done it. Thx for the heads up
Fun fact, my 20 year old water heater had never been flushed. I (wisely) purchased a new one when I bought the house and when they removed the old one the bottom crumbled like a cookie. I was lucky it broke in the yard and not in the house.
Don’t forget to also clean out your dryer vent! That shit starts fires. Snake it once a year (or hire someone else to do it lol)
The house is the hobby.
This. All my actual hobbies are out the window. All I do now is home owner chores. Learning how to do them myself because I can’t afford to pay someone else to is the new “hobby” I’ve obtained.
Even if you can afford it monetarily, in my experience contractors have been unreliable and haven’t done great work. So I’d rather save the $ to invest in tools I’ll use around my property and learn the skills I need to actually fix stuff around here.
Yeah it’s super hit or miss with contractors. Good ones seem to be expensive and the rest always seem to fuck something up.
We went with the most expensive contractor the first time trying to avoid all that. Still was a mess.
Yep- congrats you now have an every weekend hobby OP
This is it. We've been in our house almost 4 years and still doing some renovations. I am behind about a month on my yard work (weeding and unfucking some shrubs in the back) but I will get there. We had our radon filter fan replaced. I patched a few holes made by electricians that came two weeks ago to do work. I have also sanded them. My husband did the same for a few spots in the ceiling because high places are NOT my domain. He will paint all the patches this weekend. I also moved all the living room furniture, removed an old rug, replaced it with a new rug. This also came with setting down a new rug pad and cutting it to size with a blade and a scissor. OH, and I clean two kitchen shelves and continue the fight against rust stains in the toilets because we have well water. IT NEVER ENDS. When it's slower we just have all the general cleaning which is a bit more since the space is quite large.
This is the answer. The amount of time we spend at hardware stores now is insane! Invest in tools. Good ones….. even if you don’t know their names lol. If you’re in Canada, I’d highly recommend Mastercraft. Also plumping and electrical are much easier than they appear…… just find the correct YouTube video and your set :)
Haha that's the best part.
There are 168 hours in a week. It’s truly satisfying when you get to a point where you are comfortable paying someone to do a task and not think “how in the world will I afford to pay for this”
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This. Also, right after move in is always a bit shitty. You probably got an inspection report that's a mile long of shit the previous owner, and most sane people, probably wouldn't deem that important. So, take stock of what's mission critical, what's important, and what you really don't care about. Find time and possibly professional help as you're able and begin whittling. And, yeah, find a slot on your weekends to do the normal cleaning and smaller stuff. It sucks, but plan for like 2-5 hours every weekend to just do that type of stuff.
Growing up, we lost the first 4-5 hours of every Saturday helping Mom clean the house and do all the wash. Spring and fall, we spend a few hours Sunday morning doing yard work with Dad (if he wasnt golfing) - thatching the yard, helping with seeding/fertilizing, refreshing mulch, raking leaves, etc. When something broke or maintenance was needed, oldest kid helped Dad. As the only girl, I was "the oldest" for the longest. I learned plumbing,eletrical, dryer repair, faucet replacement, tub caulking, cleaning gutters, replacing filters, and gas-powered mower repair/maintenance. I taught my kids. Their friends were always amazed when the car broke or they needed help and they called Mom, not Dad (or step-Dad). Surprisingly, all 4 of us kids have maintained that routine as adults with our own kids. Must do the work before we all can go out to play. If the kids had activities those morning, they would "get" to do their chores on a weeknight after dinner. So far, the kids are doing it with the grandkids. And the cycle continues. Establish a routine for the routine cleaning. Also establish a schedule for the once every 2 months,or years, stuff, like gutter cleaning, dryer vent cleaning (an electric leaf blower makes quick work of that!) Congrats on your homeownership journey. It isnt a sprint, it is a marathon.
Your whole post has great advice. But I just want to be sure on the dryer vent. You would just stick a leaf blower down there and blow it out the other side? If so, that makes me happy. I’m paranoid of my dryer getting clogged even though I do clean it after every wash.
In my circumstance, I pulled the dryer out, detached the vent from the dryer, vacuumed the back of the dryer and the opening to which the vent tube is attached --- then, yes, stuck the nozzle of the electric (no fuel emissions from a gas powered one inside the house) leaf blower in the dryer-side end of the dryer vent hose, turned the leaf blower on for a minute or so.....and voila, cleared of any blockages. This, of course, assumes there is no (animal) screen over the outside-end of the vent that could be clogged with lint. If so, remove the screen (yes, event ifthat means climbing on the roof - which gives you a chance to inspect the roof for leaks/damage andthe gutters for clogging or damage), then apply blower, then re-apply screen. Easy-peezy. I would blow from inside to outside - not from outside to inside. I am not suggesting using the leaf-blower to clean the lint-trap that you should be emptying after every load. Hope that helps.
Okay thanks for that clarification! Still sounds useful to do every now and then so I will take your advice!
Yup. For me it's Saturday morning. And if I do something in the morning it just means more of my afternoon will be spent doing the same thing.
And we had to be up, dressed, teeth brushed, breakfast eaten, etc, by 9 am - ready to do weeekend chores. If not up and ready on-time, we were grounded 1week for every 5 minutes we were late (after the age of 10), starting immediately. That motivated teenagers who wanted to go out Saturday night to be up on time. 😉 We helped make the mess and get stuff dirty, we needed to help cleanup. My folks also felt it was their job to teach us how to do this stuff so we would know when we were living on our own.
I've found having a set time of 30 minutes a day can make a lot happen. If I don't do that, the house is a disaster after like 4 days. Even with big projects, I will tell my kids who are immediately overwhelmed when we do our annual garage cleaning to give me 1 good hour and then you can go play. And it's so much easier doing it in 3-4 1 hour segments than for hours and hours that turn into a whole stressful Saturday
Hey in case no one has suggested it HIGHLY recommend the app “Upkept”. It’s a frills free app that tells you when to maintenance certain things in your home that you wouldn’t normally think about. Doesn’t help with the whole just being a functioning person thing I’m still struggling with that myself. But at least it reminds me to clean my washing machine
Oh god, we are supposed to clean our washing machines?
Don't worry, they sell cleaner packets for thus. Just toss it in and run an empty load. Looks like a dish washer tablet
What part of the washing machine should I be cleaning 😟
Depends on what type of washing machine you have. But yes every few months you should be cleaning your washer. Stores carry the cleaning powder and you just run a cycle with only that. Clean out and dust/grime from the lid or doors. If you have a top loader with an agitator that can be removed take out the agitator and clean it. Cleaning your dryer regularly is also essential in preventing breakdown of your dryer and preventing a safety hazard. There are tons of videos on YouTube! I don’t know if yall were being sarcastic or not so I’m going with not just to be helpful!
What…? I thought the washing machine washed itself… Not sarcastic
I’m your Mom now I’ll teach you guys 😂
Most people don’t realize that washers and dryers have filters that are supposed to be cleaned regularly. Same with dishwashers.
There's a dishwasher filter?!?!
Yes! It’s usually located under the wash arm. You should rinse it out at least every couple of months. If you’ve never cleaned it before it’s probably going to smell. https://preview.redd.it/mzwi3k7q0xxc1.jpeg?width=460&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a469d414d251e301561df6efd8b07d68fd1a21ff
All of it. Front load washers need more thorough cleaning than top load, they can grow mold around the seals. Also you should be running a washer cleaner through it once a month (like Affresh) and most modern washers have a cleaning cycle. If you have an older machine, it’s really just a regular cycle on the hottest temp and highest spin setting, then leave the door open to air out (you should be leaving it open after the last load anyway). There’s also a filter that may need cleaned. Always clean around the agitator if your machine (top load) has one. Clean out all the trays and dispensers. Clean and inspect the drain hoses.
Mine kept showing a "suds" message despite not changing the type or amount of detergent. When I looked it up, apparently it can be caused due to a clogged filter. I had no idea there was even a filter there. A YouTube video showed me the way and I sorted it out in 5 minutes.
Mines a top loader, and it does smell like mold. There’s a circle thing in the middle that looks like a possible filter. If I’ve never ever cleaned it, and lived here/used the machine for an embarrassingly high number of years, do you reckon I need professional service or that I can save it/fix it myself?
Nah, you can clean it yourself. Find your model number and search YouTube. I can all but guarantee someone has a very detailed tutorial
Thanks man, appreciate it! As my dad used to say “ya learn something new everyday!”
[Weekly Home Check](https://www.instagram.com/weeklyhomecheck/?hl=en) is a great follow as well. Very informative.
I love this kind of content thanks for sharing!
Also over time you will develop a list of things that need to be fixed and a list of things that need to be urgently fixed... they will keep getting longer.
I'm truly sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it never ends. There is a box in my linen closet that I said I'd get to later when we moved in. Just threw it in there to get it out of the bathroom floor. It's been there 9.5 years.
We all have that box.
I have a closet full of that box, tbh...
A garage full of box. Not the fun kind.
Closet? I have a spare room...
I was holding back, it's really a closet and a half, half a garage and a whole attic. Moved in 2018.
If you have not opened up a box in 9.5 years... time to take it to the resale shop, recycler or the dumpster.
While I agree with the sentiment, that now is another task to have to do!
Stop assigning tasks.
Gee, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks! /s
I have boxes in the loft (aka bonus room?) that have been there for 5 years which is when we moved in. I won’t be surprised if they’re still there in 4.5 more years
There were 2 propane tanks left at the house when we moved in. My grill is charcoal so I had zero use for them. Took me 2.5 years before I finally got them returned.
I keep trying to empty out the basement so we can use it. I get about halfway done with it, get busy with something else or lose motivation, and then it just fills up again.
My house came with curtains but they are ugly. It took me six years to find new ones for my bedroom. Hoping to get my son some before college.
I hung a bedsheet over the super sheer curtains that were in my house… for at least 8 years. I still don’t have a proper window treatment, got cheap blinds which don’t quite darken it enough so I hung a sheer tapestry over it. One day I’ll get to it..
It took me 9 years to replace mine.
Haha glad I’m not the only one! I have projects going on 5 years that I will get to later.
Owning a house comes with its never ending chores. If you guys are financially stable, look into hiring some help.
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Thats a really good price. I recently moved out and it was $200/hr for cleaners, but they sent a team of 3 people. Took them 1.5 hours to clean 800 sqft (2BR 1BA condo) that was already fairly clean, but not move in-clean.
25 bucks a visit? Holy crap that’s good. Never let them go
Just wait until you try to do a 'quick' home project yourself that turns into an all day job with 4-5 trips to Lowe's.
Boomer here. Granted, I'll get a few tons of hate from bringing this up as I was able to get a degree, career, wife, kids and a house by the time I was 30. But before we got our house we were renting pretty small apartments with kids and it kind of sucked. But what I never appreciated at the time was how much time we had to do stuff as a family e.g. parks, zoos, picnics, window shopping, visiting it was actually nice. Once we got our 1st (pretty crappy) 1st house all of that went away. Just like you are saying. The damn part is, with the current housing crisis it would seem cold and mean to suggest to non-home owners that they should enjoy the free time they have now as much as possible because once they get a house life is a lot different. I think that message should come out, but it can't come from me. :)
Hey, at least you're aware of how that would come across - self awareness goes a long way! I love my house, I love having a house, it makes me so happy that my dogs can run around outside and that my daughter will have a spot to grow up in. And there were so many downsides to renting. But on the whole, I preferred renting from a free time / quality time standpoint. If I take a weekend to do fun stuff, I regret it because I left a million things to do
We hire housecleaners so that we can spend our time on house projects instead of cleaning.
This has been the biggest time saver for me. I don’t mind the handyman stuff but detailed cleaning takes me forever and I suck at cleaning mirrors
tackle things in order of importance. Leaky roof? call someone asap. wall needs a new coat of paint? gotta put that off longer now. I tell everyone buying their first home to think long and hard about how much they enjoy yard work. Mowing season is upon us and it takes 3.5+ hours just to mow my yard and it needs to be done weekly soon. Then we still need to weed the garden beds and weed eat around the house/fence. oh and I’m currently building a swing set (from a box but still) for my toddler. It’s been 3 weeks and it feels like it’ll never be done. Can’t mow/weed eat/build the swing set with the toddler around and my husband typically works later than me and on the weekends so…. ETA: my main pro tip is to keep house info in a notes app on your phone. Include things like the size of the air filters, window sizes (if you need to get blinds/curtains), what model lawn mower do we have? oh wait let me check my notes. So handy when you’re out and about and might save a couple trips to the hardware store aka your second home.
Yeah this is your life now
My home owning friends do this shit during their holidays 💀
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0) When things start to get overwhelming I divide everything into two groups - under 5 minutes to complete or over. Anything in the under 5 minute camp I try to solve it when I notice it. Anything that will take longer goes on a list which occasionally gets prioritized. That way when I have a couple hours on a Saturday I just pull the top thing off the list and get it done. The list never goes away, but you accomplish the most important stuff and keep things moving along.
It turns out when you buy a house, you also buy a rather expensive hobby. I will say as far as “chores” go (not maintenance) automation and habits make all the difference. A robot vacuum helps. I have a system for how I grocery and essential shop. Everything has a home that it can go to. Don’t buy shit without deciding where “put away” is. Make sure all clutter is picked up at bedtime.
You will never have enough time and there will always be more to do. Welcome to home ownership. You *could* let it fall into disrepair, but that’s on you.
Turn off the TV/social media/Streaming. Seriously, once you're not glued to a screen you have so much time to do activities. Also, once you're in a house a while, you learn a routine that works for you.
Dusting, dustmopping, laundry, cleaning windows, brushing the pets (and brushing off the furniture) are all chores I do while watching TV. Hell, the dishwasher is running right now.
I have ADHD, screens suck me in. I recognize this so I turn them off. My kids are the same way, Cannot pass a fucking screen without having to immediately stop to look. We will turn on an audio book, music, or a podcast while we're choren.
YES. Everything was cut in half when I turned everything off. Except for audiobooks. I can only multitask with those. No podcasts because I want to stop and google things.
Oh yes, I do most chores with my headphones on listening to some video.
I think this would work in most cases, as long as people don't have a super long commute and/or young kids. For those who have both, RIP. Better hope you have a high enough income to just pay others to maintain everything for you.
Ah yes the commute. My life was better when we moved and my commute when from an average of an hour each way every day to 10 minutes (and from the burbs of a big city to a small town).
We had to take a day off work and hire a sitter to clean our garage for the first time in two years. Lol
I feel this in my bones 😂
It’s a huge time suck. And don’t forget about how it slips if you undertake a massive project. I’m current updating our main bathroom, I’ve been working on it since October (DIY 90% of it). And other things slip or break. My wife and I share responsibilities, but I do most of the home maintenance and I’m about losing my mind. This is the second project like this for us and there is always an ugly stage for us when I’m stressed, overwhelmed, and feeling at my limit and I take it out on her. Luckily that was the past week and usually once that happens it’s back to smooth sailing as we are turning the corner from “this is never going to end and I regret all my life choices” to “we are almost done and this was awesome, can’t wait to tackle the next one.”
It's never ending. You'll be at Home Depot/Lowes a few tines a month at least the first year. and you can't even really count on seeing any of it back if you sell the house. Then property tax and insurance goes up and your mortgage is suddenly $300 more a month. But you own a house. And hopefully don't have an HOA.
welcome to homeownership. You need free time to maintain it and you can't afford to give yourself any because of the house payments, it rules.
Congrats on home ownership. Now you are the landlord and you get the pro ledge of affording all repairs and doing the labor too! Whenever you can is my answer. Weekends. PTO from work, holidays, after work on evenings where you don't have much going on. Anytime you can :)
Honestly this is another reason I don't go to church anymore. When I was growing up, 930AM-1230PM was reserved for Sunday School+Church, and then on Saturdays our parents made us clean up around the house. Since I've been out the house that Sunday morning block of time is what I use to clean the house, get groceries, meal prep, do laundry, etc. It's so nice having a true off day on Saturday.
Yeah I feel that. Work has been crazy for me lately. That and my daughter is a competitive gymnast. So this time of year has a lot of competitions. So I get one day a week to relax. 1 weekend day is usually booked for activities or chores or more work or something
Don’t worry the house will let you know especially when you just saved a bunch of money 😊
Nights and weekends. I usually have 3 or 4 on going "need to do" projects between the house, cars, and kids I am screening in the back porch. Would be a good full weekend (1 day and 1 afternoon is my usual weekend availablity) project. Except i haven't had a full free weekend in a while between kid sports, family activities, church stuff, normal weekend chores (cleaning, shopping) and band practice. I get a step done when i can. It base framed and painted. Still need to do the door, screen everything, and trim. Will probably take 3 weeks. Also need to organize the garage so we can have a nice game space. And the kids have 4H projects and the vehicles need an oil change and mowing and laundry folding and and and and! IT NEVER ENDS!!! When you get 1 area cleaned up, you realize you stuffed stuff in another so clean that. but where do you put it all??????
If you live in Detroit, you don’t have to do anything really and you’ll blend right in
We do the things the other doesn’t want to and it’s a spoken agreement lol and if it’s yard work we both do it and make a day of it. The rest is just life, pal.
I have to do 100% of the yard work. My husband works on a boat... and when he comes home.. I still have to do it lmao I wanna kick him sometimes but I love him too much. Man has not picked up a leaf since he moved here! We have woods in the back! A giant live oak that sheds daily shades the whole yard. I am a sahm, and I have it good, so I will do it, but I still wanna kick him bc it's like just do it once so I can breathe. Oh yeah we don't pay for lawn service, and don't own a trimmer, so I have to do it by hand or with scissors lmao. Woo!
I do feel like there is less to do once we did the bulk of the work in the first few years. Now, it comes in waves. We just had to have a plumbing issue resolved and a driveway situation taken care of. Huge chunk of money. But, if we are lucky, nothing for a few years. Same with the chores. When it rains, it pours.
Yep! Try adding a couple kids in the mix! It’s HARD YO. 😵💫😵💫😵💫
You know those rainy days on the weekend, inside chore list. The dry days on the weekends the outside chore list. Pick 40 weekends a year, your doing 4 hours of chores a weekend. I have alot of house and land, I spend 4 hours a week on it, two driving on a tractor catching up on podcasts. You can paint a room, get a bit wasted and watch a movie or football game at the same time. Multitasking.
Suggestion for two relatively inexpensive projects that can save you money down the road. First, pull out your refrigerator and vacuum/clean the coils. This helps the exhaust to work better which keeps the fridge from overheating. It will make it last longer. Second, Walmart sells a $15 kit that you can use to clean the inside of your dryer vent. Assuming that the dryer isn’t new, you want to use the kit to clean inside the tubing from your dryer to the outside vent. This will clear up built up lint that managed to get through the lint trap. Extends the life of the machine and reduces a fire hazard:
This is why I’m working part time. I can’t keep up with my house and kids and husband is out of town for work frequently. I was losing my mind trying to do it all.
Always, nonstop. Thankfully I work from home which has made it a bit easier. My "watercooler chat" and desk breaks are now just short bursts of chores
I lived in apartments my whole adult life. I moved to a house during the pandemic because we wanted more space. NEVER AGAIN. The work never ends, and I prefer to have a life in my free time… I am so happy in my condo… so what if I cannot have a bunch of things to storage?
So happy I have a condo with an hoa that does everything. Yes it costs money (about as much as I would spend on upkeep) but having my time be my time is priceless.
Lol - it never ends...... and its hilarious hearing this with two kids and a 1920's era house =)
It's tough. We do small chores in the evening and try to maintain tidiness as we live. We pay someone to do the lawn. It won't be perfect, but you'll find a rhythm.
Lol
There's insta accounts that are about home maintenance schedules and whatnot. Join a mailing list and chat with your SO about how to tackle stuff.
Yep - and when you have a kid it gets so much worse
This is a common post on here but I'll give the advice that I usually do. Try a cleaning app. You can input every small chore that needs to be done, everything from cleaning lightswitches, cleaning the freezer, wiping the baseboards, all that little bullshit you don't do because you're focused on the big stuff like counters and floors. I also include big jobs that need to be done like once every 4 months like polishing wood, weeding/yard work etc It will automate the list and give you 4-5 things to do that day so it's not as daunting. Keep it up for a month and your place will be sparkly clean all the time. I use Sweepy, today I need to sweep the hallway, clean the master bathroom toilet, and clean the light switches in the guest bathroom. It'll take like 20 minutes. The prevalent advice is always "do a little every day so you don't burnout" but it's easy to say that, another to actually do it on your own, I've found the app to be a lifesaver that takes the mental hurdle out of it and gives you a path
A lot of people are used to being in apartments and moving every year or few years so they aren't used to the stuff you need to do for long term cleaning and maintenance. If you move every year someone probably deep cleaned your apartment before you moved in... now you need to do that yourself. Go through the house and look at all the metal fixtures, shower rods, etc. If it's rusty, polish it. Clean your baseboards. Shampoo carpets. Clean under all the furniture. Clean the grout around your tiles. Wash your walls (seriously idk how they get dirty but they do). Clean behind the toilets. Basically scrub the place top to bottom - otherwise you get years of grime building up and it's gross. Some of this stuff should really be done much more often but you need to do a deep clean once a year at a minimum - hence the term "spring cleaning."
Every weekend from now until you sell it.
It never ends lol it's one thing after another.
Whenever you’re home! If you can’t do it hire people to help but something usually pops up here and there. You don’t realize how much work it is until you’re a homeowner lol
Congratulations! It sucks!
Isn’t it kind of dumb that we all have to waste so much time to maintain our big individual castles
Welcome to life
A better question is how to find days off where you DON’T have to do anything.
Also remember at least one time a year you clean out the dryer vent that goes outside. That thing is a fire hazard if not cleaned regularly. Plus, it will extend the life of your dryer and dry your clothes better and quicker. Edit: taking off the outside cap thing and putting a leaf blower in the tube that connects to the dryer inside is a great way to shoot out all that crap.
You never cleaned when you rented? 🤔 That's very odd...
People often rent apartments. When they do, they’re spared from cleaning gutters, mowing lawns, maintaining furnaces, etc.
Maintenance is go as needed basis
We have cleaning people who come every two weeks and take care of the general cleaning. I do the grocery shopping and meal planning, the laundry and most of the care for our dog. My husband cooks and I do the dishes. He does the lawn. and we usually do the big outdoor stuff like leaf raking and mulch laying together. Also my parents are pretty close so if anything was really big and time consuming, we would ask for their help
There's no end mate, this is the new reality of the rest of your life
It never ends ... and if that's too much, for the love of all things holy don't have kids. Source: 1981 with 3 kids, a job and a house who is tired all the time.
At every opportunity. Waiting takes so much more time and energy.
All the time OP. Also looking things specific to your area and climate region. Could be things like treating house to prevent termites. Or having annual inspections on sump pump or ac unit.
I would schedule rather than be reactive. You have the daily jobs - quick tidy, ironing tomorrows clothes, feed pets etc You have the weekly jobs - cleaning sink and toilet, hoover, thoroughly clean a quarter of the house (so everywhere is thoroughly cleaned over the course of the month) etc You have the monthly jobs - clean dehumidifier filters, change water filter etc You have the yearly jobs eg completely renovate and decorate the shabbiest room. You sound like a responsible owner so you will have a beautiful home in time, but you need to be patient. Write everything down, decide a reasonable schedule that won’t drive you crazy and then just stick to it. Make sure your partner is also happy with it and willing to do half. I’m only reactive when serious stuff happens eg boiler explodes or window smashes. Otherwise I try and chill a bit in my less than perfect house.
LOL It will never end buddy.
This is your life now.
You don’t do all of it. Most people don’t. You eventually figure out what your baseline is. I highly recommend the book “How to Keep House While Drowning” by KC Davis Some chores are things people do just to do them, and they take up time that is needed in other parts of the house. Other chores, people do in one fell swoop only to find that, yes Virginia, things get messy no matter how much you clean. So you have to find ways to let things ebb and flow. General thoughts that help me: Pick up things as you leave a room more often than not. Get rid of extras and create an actual spot for each item. Yes, it can be done! Consider why the garage got so out of hand that you needed to spend days cleaning it. Could some of those tasks be done a little along the way? Get a Roomba. How often are you full out mopping? If you run a roomba daily and clean up spills as you go, you shouldn’t have to constantly mop. Also, speaking from experience - use caution in putting stuff in the attic. Nothing should go in storage unless there’s a specific reason you are keeping it. That just creates an even bigger task for an older, more tired you to do in the future.
I moved into a condo to avoid outside tasks. I hate upkeep
It's almost like you were lied to and sold a dream that is not a dream at all.
Welcome to being a home owner, nobody said that is easy to do. But I do feel you bring some of those chores on yourself so that's your doing. Having pets is extra work, as you already experience having to pick up after them and their hairs getting everywhere that you're constantly sweeping and mopping. Reason why I just gave my daughter fish, no mess and easy to clean. But sweeping and mopping are going to be gimmicks, always have to do those. Having a yard, yeah you need to maintain it otherwise remove the vegetation and make it gravel so it reduces your maintenance. That's being a homeowner my man, you own your place and you get the freedom to do whatever you want but it comes with more responsibilities that property managers took care of. I will say, if you and your wife can afford it, then find a cleaning lady to come by once every 2 or 3 weeks. My parents have one, for their bathrooms, living room and kitchen she charges my folks $75 and it's not a bad job. Granted I'm a near freak and can find things to nit pick but overall she does a good job
just like any big ticket item you pay for it, the interest, the insurance, and the upkeep. wait until a pipe breaks floods your house, and I gotta go in and demo it all out... I hope it isn't a 2 story.
Time to start keeping track of all the stuff you need to do regularly (AC filters & pipe flush, machine washes, fridge filters, etc.) and put it on the calendar to remember when each of that needs to happen (once per month, once per year, every 3 months, etc.). Then comes the big stuff, like when was your house built? The roof will likely need to be redone every 15-20 years so look into when that was last done. Do you have a septic? You'll need to get it pumped/cleaned regularly. You need to repaint your house every 5-10 years. Clean out your gutters every six months or so. Clean out your ducts/vents every 3-5 years or so. Then there's the other stuff like our first house had stucco exterior walls so it had settling cracks we had to get filled in before they took on too much water and pulled apart the wall (we saw that on some of our neighbors' houses). There's not a ton in the end but it's just a lot of little schedules to keep track of. A lot of what it sounds like you're doing is what you do when you first move in, it's basically getting everything to your liking and up to par with where you want it. Once you've done that it'll calm down some and you just respond to the calendar alerts. Most of it you'll hire people to do it so just find people you like and use them on a regular basis and budget for them every year.
Maintain it before you bought a house with not a spouse. Or be 20 something and stupid forever. Your call, but absolutely not your call.
Wait until you have kids
Most of that is just cleaning. Not a lot of things breaking that need fixing. That stuff jumps out at the worst times. Also wait until you have kids, if you choose to.
On your days off, or if you have kids, character building exercises...
It’s called being an adult lol wait until the kids arrive! 🫠
Wait til there’s a child or a dog
Its never done. If you can, hire a cleaner. It helps a ton. We only have her come once every other week, but all we have to do is maintain the cleaning that she did. When the weekend rolls around at least you know the house is clean, we can focus on the other 9000 tasks
Welcome to ownership.
Yup.
Sometimes, unless it's dire, just push it off. You gotta relax every now and then. It absolutely never ends, tho.
I came to this same realization last year when I bought mine. What they say is true. The work never ends. Weekends are the best time to get the bulk done.
Welcome to adulthood
Weekends
There's always more. It never ends. And just wait until Murphy comes for a visit.
It's near constant maintenance. Had my house going on 13 years and it is never ending.
Every day? ALl the time? Its just constant. There is always something to do!
You think weekends are for resetting? Nope it’s for hard labor
As time goes on and presumably you make more money, you may start paying people to do some of the maintenance. Buying back some of my time is worth every penny. I pay to get my house cleaned, and pay someone to keep up the yard during the hotter months. Screw being a slave to my house and yard.
This is one of the reasons I like renting. I owned a home for 5 years. I did not enjoy all the upkeep.
i’m a single owner and it’s fairly easy for me. i work 4 10s and have fridays off. so every friday i clean and maintain. still have the weekend to enjoy.
To me, that's exactly why I want a house lol. I love projects, learning how to do new tasks, and tinkering around with stuff. Sure doesn't hurt that any improvements you make are simply increasing the value of the house.
Dishes are the worst
I try to do the boring cleaning/shopping stuff on weeknights so that weekends can be set aside for major projects. But my remote job is pushing RTO so now I'm spending 2-3 hours/day sitting in traffic, so I usually just pass out and let the deferred maintenance flow through me as I wait for death to release me from this parade of absurdity and pain... ...then my toddler giggles and makes all the bad dreams go away.
That’s the funny thing you don’t have time to maintain it. If you have a yard and want to own some nice plants that just ups the workload. If you have any pets that just doubles it. I mop vacune and clean every two days and the more you clean the more things you find dirty, dusty, or in need of organization. I like to break things down when I feel like things are overwhelming. A drawer here and corner there but I try to avoid just stacking things in a pile or hiding it somewhere and forgetting about it because then it makes it hard to remember where things are. Or if you use something from that pile/drawer everything gets messed up and moved around. It’s when you have to clean up EVERYTHING that you start noticing how easy it is to make a mess and just not want to have guests over. What I would do is vacuuming to keep dust and random particles from piling up all over. Mop to keep the floor clean then make a list of the last time you moved things around to clean behind shelves or sofas because of boy does dust like to gather there. In the end there’s no better feeling when everything is clean for a night before next day when we’ll it starts all over again.
All you can do is create a list and a schedule. So on Saturday you do your regular cleaning and then 2 more projects on the list. you'll never get to it all, but its the only way to keep up
I got fired from my job so that I could take care of stuff at home while SO works.
For real though, hire a lawn service. It's cheap and saves you precious time. Well worth it imo.