Small Tasks You Can Do All Year To Keep Your Home Clean and Organized

 

Little chores can add up to big results in your home, just taking one small task at a time can keep your house in check. Here is a great plan to follow that will help accomplish this. 

Weekly Home Maintenance

Here are some great tasks to tackle each week. Floors are a big area of your home. Vacuuming your carpet or dusting your hardwood floors each week can make a big effect. Taking about 30 minutes a week on small tasks in your yard can do wonders for your curb appeal. Pruning your shrubs or trees, blowing or raking leaves up, cleaning up debris from your sidewalk, and painting your mailbox are examples of a few of these tasks.  

Bathrooms are a big traffic area in your home and can be a breeding ground for bacteria. Along with cleaning your bathroom, take time to also make sure your drains are cleaned and not clogged. A good tool to use for this is a Zip-It tool. Along with cleaning your shower, renewing or repairing dingy or damaged tile grout can also help with your bathroom’s esthetic looks. Something that is not thought of is the build-up in your shower head. This can hinder your flow of water. Cleaning the mineral sediment out of the showerhead will help with water flow.

They say the heart of the home is the kitchen. This is another area that can use some weekly maintenance. Freshen up your garbage disposal each week to eliminate odors. A good way to do this is to take a tray of ice cubes, baking soda or lemon rinds and run them through the disposal. Cleaning the outside of your appliances can freshen up the kitchen. Take it a step further and clean the insides each week as well. Take one appliance a week in the kitchen. For instance, clean out your refrigerator one week and then your dishwasher the next and the following week could be the oven.

Monthly Home Maintenance

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Some projects can be done monthly and still keep a house clean and organized. The range hood in your kitchen can get really dirty. Every month check the filter and clean the hood. Grease and dirt can build up and cause a thick layer which is hard to clean but cleaning it monthly can help resolve this. A good way to help with utility bills and keep the air quality up is by changing your furnace’s filter each month. Dust collects overtime around the house. Dust is not healthy for you or pleasing to the eye. A quick fix is to polis wood furniture, dust light fixtures and wipe down your home’s baseboards each month.

Safety concerns can also be addressed each month. Check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to make sure the batteries are good and they function. Another thing that can be overlooked is your fire extinguisher. Check to make sure it is fully charged each month. Take some time each month to also inspect the outside of your home. Make sure there are no problems or issues that need to be resolved. Things to look for are loose shingles, damaged siding, insect nests or overgrown trees or shrubbery.

Yearly Home Maintenance

Bigger tasks that can be done once a year can be done in one or two days each year or during each change of season. Typical projects include cleaning and organizing your garage, basement or attic. Get rid of unwanted items and find some treasures that you had forgotten about at the same time.
Springtime is a great time to wash your windows and screens. This will let more light into your home. Clean your gutters and make sure it is clean under the eaves. Remove ways for pests to enter your home. Remove shrubs or trees that encroach your home. Also, make sure there are no holes to let litter critters in and if there are install wire grates over the holes.

Each season you can choose a room to freshen up. A great way to do this is to give it a “mini-makeover.” Do this by repainting a room, moving furniture around or adding new plants and knickknacks. In just a few years, your whole house will be done!

Remember that keeping it simple and smart is the way to go.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

CoreLogic Predicts A Drop in Home Price in 2021

CoreLogic, a company that provides consumer, financial and property data analytics and services to business and government, forecast a downturn in home prices in 2021. Even though COVID-19 has not affected the current housing market, the company suggests a dip this summer because of the negative impact the coronavirus has had on the economy as a whole.  

June 2020 saw a rise in home prices annually 4.9% and 1% month-over-month. According to CoreLogic’s Home Price Index, June 2020 saw the highest growth rate for the month of June since 2013. Part of this growth stemmed from the respective year-ago price growth rate of 3.6%. The Home Price Index has been on the up ever since bottoming out in March 2011.

Their prediction for June 2021 is a decrease by 1% in home prices. CoreLogic feels their prediction is relatively strong because of the housing market’s reliability on entertainment, tourism and hospitality. They forecast Las Vegas to have an 11.3% drop in home prices by June 2021.

“Home price appreciation continues at a solid pace reflecting fundamental strength in demand drivers and limited for-sale inventory,” Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in a press release. “As we move forward, we expect these price increases to moderate over the next twelve months. Given the economic outlook, housing remains a bright spot for the foreseeable future.”

So far, this has the housing market has not seen a dip in prices. The record-low mortgage rates and buyer demand has fueled the current market. Surprisingly, homes are very affordable even though there has been a steady price growth.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

Home Owners Focus on Home Improvement Over Travel and Entertainment

The recent pandemic has changed home owner’s points of view on many aspects of homeownership. HomeAdvisor’s latest survey “State of Home Spending”, showed the average spent on home-improvements in 2020 rose to $13,138 from 2019’s $9,081.    

Although the survey says higher cost in labor and materials contributes to the higher number, it still shows an increase in American home owner’s spending average on actual home improvements. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported that 85% of Americans are spending more time at home because of COVID-19. Their spending habits are shifting from travel and entertainment to home improvement projects.

The housing market is hot and the increase in home buying has also fueled home improvement spending. Millennials, (those closest to the median age of first-time homebuyers) have been reported to have increased in home buying.

“Homeownership rates for millennials have jumped significantly, especially as COVID-19 has reemphasized the importance of the home and many companies move to flexible work location options,” said Mischa Fisher, chief economist at HomeAdvisor, in a press release. “Millennials are not only rapidly becoming home owners, but they are also spending more on home improvement than any other generation when they do.”

Those projects that have been important in 2020 have changed from those in 2019. The top 2020 projects were interior painting, bathroom remodels and new flooring installations. The top project which has made the list the last several years did not even make it onto the 2020 list. Prior years those that were surveyed by HomeAdvisor said that room remodels were the most important project.

The home maintenance project that saw the biggest increase year-over-year was cleaning and landscaping. The more everyone was at home with the stay-at-home orders, the messier the home could get. Cleaning and landscaping saw an increase from $1,105 in 2019 to $3,192 in 2020.

According to the survey, “painting was one of the most popular projects across nearly all age groups, because it is relatively affordable and offers a lot of visual value in terms of the look and feel of a room.”

American’s perspective on their home has changed dramatically in the wake of COVID-19. In fact, seven in ten respondents said that the pandemic had increased their need for home cooking, 50% were working from home and 40% were incorporating more home entertaining. The “State of Home Spending” survey summed up that home owners are using their home more and more and it has definitely become an even greater factor in their quality of life.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.

 

St. Tammany Parish's Future Looks Bright Even Among the Pandemic

St. Tammany Parish Development District hired Chris Masingill in May 2018 to be the CEO of St. Tammany Corp. St. Tammany Corp. was developed to create partnerships and opportunities to help the parish prosper. The company is the lead economic development organization in St. Tammany Parish.    

When Masingill began his position as CEO, St. Tammany was on an uphill path with a great local economy, many prospects and partnerships in the works that could bring the parish additional jobs and the parish’s performance was well above standards. Today, the parish’s prosperity has taken a hit by the stay-at-home orders and social distancing guidelines the novel coronavirus has brought on.

Masingill is being proactive and has a plan in place to hopefully return to pre-pandemic levels of prosperity and keep on a positive track for the future. Masingill is focusing on what can be done in the future to best ensure the parish remains a place of choice to work, live and play for decades to come.

St. Tammany’s unemployment rate dramatically rose in 2020 because of COVID-19. During the height of COVID-19, 50,000 St. Tammany residents sought unemployment benefits. Many of the parish’s industry sectors were hit very hard. Those that were hit the hardest were hospitality, tourism and restaurants. The Ceo explains that the parish’s revenue has been reduced but some of it is slowly returning. The parish might not see as much motel/hotel sales tax nowadays but taxes from grocery stores and hardware stores have spiked.

Masingill reports that there are some companies that are busier than ever because of the change in spending habits due to the novel coronavirus. In St. Tammany, the logistics, transportation, warehousing and distribution sectors have boomed. The parish has thrived in this industry because of its geographic positioning and the talented workforce it has living among it. Masingill believes this shift is because the global supply chain has changed. “Even with the vaccine coming online and the economy getting energy behind it, there’s little doubt that some things about the way we do business have fundamentally changed forever,” he relays.

People are currently hiring and job postings for the month of November 2020 were at 7,000 unique postings. St. Tammany residents are still spending money and there is a rebound in consumer confidence but the recovery will be slow. We should understand that there will be ups and downs to the long-term recovery. “There is no quick fix. We’re talking several more months, and some people predict several years, before we see the same level of economic activity we saw in 2019,” Masingill states.

St. Tammany is very lucky that it is home of some of the most educated people in the area. It is reported that 40% of the residence in St. Tammany hold a college degree. Masingill wants to focus on keeping its residence local to work and not go out of the parish for employment.

It is in the perfect location and the parish has access to things people want. The parish is in the top 10% of the most populous counties/parishes in the United States. Masingill continues to keep the area in the top 10% and believes that quality of life is just as important as sustainable growth, job creation and business development. “You want a nimble and resilient community. If you have that, you can rebound that much more quickly when things like a pandemic happens, when a hurricane happens.”

Overall Masingill feels that balance will be the success of St. Tammany’s robust economy. “There’s a balance. (You have to be in the middle.) That’s the sustainable and smart approach. We want our kids and grandkids to either stay here or have a place to come back to where they can reap the benefits and enjoyment of a place where they can have access to the things they want. That’s educational opportunities, job growth and expansion, a place to enjoy all the things our community has to offer,” says Masingill.

Click Here For the Source of the Information.