Every year, millions of people around the world make intentions to better their lives by improving their habits. These habits can include going to the gym or reading one book every month. However, how many of us include the health of our home on our list? In this article, we will explain the importance of having a healthy connection with your home and list 3 house resolutions you should be making in 2022.
Understanding the Importance of Home Health and Experience
Our homes serve as both our shelter and personal safe haven. In being a space in which we share and experience memories over the years, it’s important that this space emanates feelings of comfort and ease. The way we set goals and intentions to better ourselves in the new year, we should seek to improve the health of our home as well. Factors that complete the health of our home include its organization system and cleanliness. Factors that complete our experience with our home include its design and functionality. Below we will show 3 ways you can turn these factors into 3 resolutions for your home in the new year.
1. New Year Intention: Cleanliness
Cleanliness plays a huge role in mental well-being. With the hussle and bussle of everyday life, it’s easy to leave the cleanliness of our home on the backburner. Studies show that cleaning has the potential to alleviate some degree of depression. This may be so because our physical environment affects our internal environment. Creating a system in which you can keep your home tidy is key. It is essential that you find or develop a routine crafted specifically for you. This is so because it will allow you to clean at a rate that is doable for you. Seeing others on Youtube for example with elaborate cleaning routines may seem like a system you would like to adopt, but it’s important to keep in mind if their system will work for you the way it does for them. Make a list of areas of concern and write 3 cleaning tasks you would like to accomplish in that area.
Don’t know where to start? Check out our New Year New Home cleaning graphic! With this graphic, you will have a simple step-by-step outline of main areas around the home to keep tidy and an easy list of things to clean in each space. Check out our Facebook page to get your free resource!
2. New Year Intention: Organization & Functionality
Organization plays a huge role in the flow and functionality of our home. In an organized home, things are easily accessible and easily returned. This easy access keeps our stress at bay and allows our home to look and operate at its best. Take time to discover and implement the best structure for your home. You can find inspiration on Pinterest and YouTube, and try out various organization methods. Feel free to modify techniques and schedules you find to better fit your lifestyle and daily routine.
3. New Year Intention: Design
Allow your personality to show throughout your home through interior design. Research various styles to get a feel for the kind of designs out there and see what catches your eye. Popular interior designs include minimalislism, maximalism, terracotta, contemporary and many more. Great resources to use to look up designs are interior design magazines and Instagram accounts, and of course, Pinterest. Once you find your desired aesthetic, you can use what you have in the home to reset and redesign.
If you find yourself needing to buy a few new pieces, great places to shop for home decor include Home Goods and At Home. Both stores are priced affordably and are fairly large buildings so you have lots of options to choose from and ground to cover. You can even create an interior dream board, creating a collage of pieces to ultimately design the look and feel of your home.
We also recommend exploring YouTube to see what type of interior design channels are available. The channels that show your average everyday people making changes to various areas of their home often have more subtle content with great tips, tricks and resources compared to big company channels.
Seasonal cleaning is a great way to deep clean your home on a routine basis. This fall deep cleaning guide will serve as a fantastic resource in what cleaning products, areas and tools need to be catered to in giving your home its best clean of the season. This is an article clean freaks will not want to miss! Click on the name of the products to be directed towards a store link.
1. A Powerful Cleaning Duo: Removing Hard Water Stains in Toilet Bowl
In taking a view at the upper rim of your toilet bowl you notice dark stains coating the prerimter. After scrubbing with products that have successfully cleaned other areas of your bathroom you find your hard work to have been in vain as the stain persists. What can be done about this? Those dark stains that you’ve found in your toilet bowl are hard water stains and happen to most toilets. Even if you give your bowl a quick scrub every Sunday, it’s easy to miss the deeper and harder-to-reach crevices of the bowl and hard water can begin to build a film around the bowl that seems impossible to scrub away.
There are 2 products that do a seriously fantastic job in ridding bowls of these tough stains. The first is Zep Acidic Toilet Bowl Cleaner ($5.48 at Lowe’s). This product is a thick acidic gel that clings onto hard water and rusted covered surfaces in a toilet bowl. Apply a thick even layer of the product around the primator of the toilet bowl and wait 5 minutes for the cleaner to break down the soiled surface.
Once 5 mins is up, use a toilet pumice stone, yes a product like this exists and it’s amazing! Pumie Heavy-Duty Scouring Stick ($2.98 at Lowe’s) does a fantastic job at tackling heavy stains. These scouring sticks effectively break hard water stains from the toilet without damaging your toilet, as the are a of the stick that makes contact with the bowl dissolves with time as you scrub at the stain. You may have to repeat the process of applying a new layer of the cleaner, waiting 5 minutes, then scrubbing with the stone, but by the second time, it’s sure to have your toilet bowl free of hard water stains. You’ve seriously got to try this powerful cleaning duo out!
2. A New Mattress: Remove Stains from Mattress
No one likes seeing stains in the investment that are mattresses. When a stain comes along we find ourselves scrubbing for an eternity to revive our mattress back to the spotless gem it once was. These next 2 products are sure to bring the surface of your mattress back to life. The first product you’ll need is Biokleen Bac-Out Stain + Odor Remover ($7.99 at Target). This product is fantastic for the mattress and other upholstery because it is hypoallergenic, non-toxic, planet based, and free from artificial fragrance, colors and preservatives. It is also cruelty free. This powerful product destroys accidents from pets, wine, kids and more. It can also be used on various surfaces such as carpets and on clothing. Apply the product to your mattress and let it sit for 5 minutes. Once finished it’s time to break out the upholstery cleaner. The Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Cordless Upholstery & Carpet Cleaner is an affordable and powerful cleaning gadget to use in ridding surfaces of stains. It runs for $97.99 at Target, but is on the lower end of the upholstery cleaning tool spectrum.
Use this tool to vacuum out the Biokleen product from your mattress and watch the stains be sucked out with it. Below you will find a cleaner surface of your mattress exposed. You may have to give your mattress a bit of elbow grease and time, but it’s sure to come out stain free with this combo. After cleaning, allow your mattress to air dry properly, keeping any sheets, blankets or pillows away from the freshly cleansed areas. This mattress cleaning combo is simply amazing.
3. A Sparking New Sink: Removing Grout and Hard Water Stains
The sink can accumulate hard water stains on the counter and grout around the opening of the sink. We have another 2 amazing products to recommend to you, our beloved reader. The first product is 9 Elements Bath Spray ($4.99 at Target). This product is made from a powerful combination of lemon and vinegar (it's important to mention that the vinegar smells really strong). It cleans up soap scum, hard water build up and grime. It is plant based, free from synthetic fragrance, dye-free and can be used on a variety of surfaces.
Spray the product over your sink and wait 1 minute. After 60 seconds use a traditional scrub brush that is safe for your bathroom countertops to watch the stains be scrubbed away. It may take a second or third scrub to get the surface completely free of stains, but the end result is so worth it. To tackle the hard to reach grout, we recommend the Rubbermaid Power Scrubber ($19.99 at Target). This electronic cleaning brush has been given a big status on Tik Tok and various Youtube cleaning channels. Use this tool to clean up hard-to-reach grout. This tool can also be used in the shower to clean up grout and does a fantastic job in doing so.
With various end-of-summer events approaching and many countries returning back to their familiar lifestyles, studies are showing a rise in COVID cases. In this article we are bringing you 5 key methods to keep your home disinfected and safe during these times. Please be sure to practice proper safety guidelines such as proper social distancing, educating yourself on the importance of vaccines, wearing a mask and keeping your hands clean.
1. Disinfect High Touch Surfaces and Objects
It’s no secret that high touch surfaces harbor our daily weight of bacteria spread. High touch surfaces are surfaces or objects we come in contact with every day, multiple times a day. We touch these items and surfaces with uncleased hands and cough or sneeze near these areas frequently. Our reoccurring time with these areas unfortunately makes them easy targets for an overload of bacteria, germs and viral matter. A foundational solution to keeping a home disinfected is to disinfect these high touch surfaces. High touch surfaces include our car and house keys, the TV remote, handles, light switches, counters and tables, and our electronic devices (mobile phone, keyboard, etc). Keeping these surfaces free of germs will stop them in their tracks from spreading about the rest of the home. It will also be a great defense against spreading these germs to sensitive areas of our bodies such as our eyes, nose and mouth.
2. Limit Who and How Many People Enter Your Home
It is critical that you limit who and how many people are allowed into your space. During these times, we can’t be sure of the health status of everyone we confront. Even those who appear to be well in health can be asymptomatic or showing no signs of a current illness. After putting in so much effort to make the home a clean and safe space, the last thing we want to do is jeopardize our hard work by not being careful in who we allow into our home. It’s important you put your foot down to those who are unvaccinated and/or non-mask wearers by denying them access into your home. Regulating who enters your home keeps bacteria, germs and viral matter at bay and protects the health of you and your family members. Be sure to avoid maintenance appointments if possible, and tell your unvaccinated and/or non-mask wearing friends and family members to come back once they meet proper safety guidelines regarding their health.
3. Keep Your Hands Clean
In many households, having anyone, especially the children, touch the walls is a big no no. Why is this? It is so because when our hands meet the walls, we spread dirt onto the walls, ruining the flawless coat of paint that adorns the walls of our precious home. Even though we may not see what we are spreading, we spread germs to various areas of the home the same way, by touching them with unclean hands. To avoid contaminating our home with dirt and germs, it is vital to keep our hands clean. Find an effective antibacterial hand soap that will properly cleanse the hands without stripping them dry. Be sure to wash for 20 to 30 seconds, getting your palms, fingers, under the fingernails, backs of the hand and wash up to your wrist. This is also another powerfully effective way to avoid spreading germs to sensitive areas of the body such as our eyes, nose and mouth.
4. Keep Your Laundry in Check
As we spend the day outside our homes at the grocery store or at work, our clothes are caught up in a storm of dirt, germs and debris flying around the air. This matter can stick to our clothes and sneak their way into our homes. To further avoid spreading dirt, germs and debris, be sure to keep up with your laundry properly, especially during these times. The last thing we would want is to spread these things to sensitive areas of our bodies by, for example, rubbing our eyes with the sleeves of our shirt or jacket that was resting on a public table in which a possibly infected person was sneezing or coughing onto. During the pandemic, companies have come out with antibacterial spray for clothing to help to prevent these germs from clinging onto our clothes to help keep us safe. Be sure to also be extra mindful of your bedding and change your pillowcases regularly, especially if you rest at night with a partner.
5. Shower Before Roaming Your Home
Showering before you roam the halls of your home is a great way to knock two birds with one stone. Showering before exploring your home allows you to wash your hands, feet and to dispose of clothing worn outside in one go. This preps you to be squeaky clean for your home and further prevents the spreading of germs via the hands, feet or from bacteria or debris that may have clung to your clothes and snuck into your home without you knowing. You never want to relax on the couch or in your bed with an unclean body or clothes that have been exposed to the outdoors. Showering allows you to get comfortable and clean before you explore and relax around the precious space that is your home.
Are you considering selling your home? A good real estate agent or broker like realtor Dennis would be of help especially if you are not familiar about the tedious and meticulous process. A house that is up for sale for a long time tends to suffer from declining valuation. Thus, any seller should aim to sell the property as soon as possible after putting it up for sale.
Before aiming to make the property up for sale, make sure it is all spruced up. Doing so would not only help instantly attract possible buyers or investors. It could also possibly bolster valuation. Here are some tips from Indianapolis Realtor Dennis.
Improve curb appeal
First impressions last. To create a good and lasting first impression to potential buyers, there is a need to work on the property’s curb appeal. The house should look not just presentable but also spectacular and attractive from the outside. It would help if the paint and aesthetic appeal of the exterior would be maintained or bolstered.
The lawn should be properly mowed. A small garden with beautiful ornamental plants could definitely add appeal to the curb. Lastly, keeping the front of the house well maintained and clean at all times would surely make any prospective buyer instantly consider checking out the home for sale.
Don’t neglect smell factor
It is always advisable to give any potential buyer a good experience when inspecting the homes. Don’t just target the sense of sight. Many home sellers often miss taking care of the smell and lose the promising opportunity to close a deal with a good prospective buyer.
One effective strategy is to make the house smell homey and relaxing. Thus, it is ideal to light scented candles and simmering oils before and during a scheduled home inspection. Some sellers attest that baking cookies during a scheduled visit of a possible buyer helps because the enticing smell invokes a homey and delightful atmosphere.
But some potential buyers might also know these tricks. That is why they inspect the particular area of the house where smell could not be altered just to please the senses temporarily. That would have to be the bathroom. To eliminate bad odor, keeping it clean at all times would be effective.
Boost overall online appeal
When the house is all set for inspection from possible buyers, make sure to take good photographs of it. Do so more especially when the images have to be posted online at various real estate listings. This way, it would be easier to instantly attract prospective buyers and investors to come and check it out.
Indianapolis realtor Dennis would be most helpful in this regard. He would suggest and impose more pointers to take and publish enticing and really persuasive photographs of properties.
Selling a home surely takes a lot of time and effort on the part of the seller, to be able to successfully ink a deal with a potential buyer. In order to do this, the seller has to take into account a lot of areas in the home to significantly improve on. The following are some areas where you can enhance and beautify so as to make your home a cut above the rest .
Integrate a fresh new coat of paint inside and out of your house. Painting the entire house all over again would definitely jazz up and brighten the surroundings and would appear brand new. For starters, cover up any holes regardless of how small it is. Paint the ceilings using white color to pitch more light inside the room making it a bit larger. Semi-gloss paint would make the walls look brighter.
Vacuum the carpets using an industrial twin-motor machine then pre spray it with a foamy substance to help shake up the dirt rooted inside. Then spray at high pressure using a detergent and hot water, extract all the mixture including the dirt and other particles using the vacuum.
Make sure all the windows are cleaned up from inside and out. Take out and clean the screens, clean the window sills and tracks. Vacuum the draperies and wash the blinds. It would be best to replace your curtains to really make the room more modern and well kept.
Do some landscaping in the front and back yard. Mow the lawn, sweep all the leaves, branches or any debris in the yard. Water all the flower beds make it more alive and well taken care of. Add up a few colorful plants to boost up the setting.
Remove all unnecessary clutter in every area of your home. Get rid of old clothes in the closet to make it more spacious. Stash away all personal items in the living room as well as in the bedroom. Replace furniture that is somewhat old and beat-up with new ones. Change the interior design in a more classy and expansive environment. Clean the kitchen thoroughly and fix all leaks and electrical wirings.
These days, there are many home insurance products that are available in the market. Most homes in Indianapolis should have a comprehensive and ideal policy in place. That would serve as a protection in case something unlikely happens to the property and there would be a need for repair or renovation.
Home insurance products are effective in safeguarding houses. It would not prevent calamities and catastrophes from affecting the home, but homeowners could make sure that they would have the resources to initiate repair, renovation, or replacement at no cost. Here are some helpful guidelines for homeowners of Indianapolis who need to choose and buy the best home insurance policy.
It would be best if homeowner insurance policies would cover not just the home but also all liabilities and medical payments of others that could be hurt within the property. Replacement costs of properties should also be included. Such insurance policies could cover cost on rebuilding the home, replacing belongings, and clearing away debris.
However, not all home insurance products would have coverage for personal property damage. Owners of Indianapolis homes could opt to add additional coverage for items with high value that are not usually covered under standard policies. As always, it would help to carefully read the fine print when assessing and choosing home insurance products.
Flood insurance may not be a standard on most homeowner insurance products. However, such coverage could be added. Homes within the flood plain should have insurance that covers possible occurrence of flood. Choose a home insurance with flood coverage.
Another important additional coverage for insurance covering homes in Indianapolis is additional coverage for possible water backup. Damage from any sewage that could back up into a house could be a huge problem. This coverage is highly recommended for homeowners with finished or partly finished basement.
Are you aiming to improve the curve appeal of your Indianapolis home? You could be considering planting a tree or trees to make your yard look livelier and more interesting. In reality, having trees in the yard could surely make the exterior of the house look more beautiful. But should you really plant trees there?
Many trees could truly add privacy, beauty, and shade to any property as evidenced in many cases within the Indianapolis real estate market. However, you should also be aware that some trees only wreak havoc through their invasive root systems, messy fruits, prickly thorns, and weak branches. You should also prepare to constantly get rid of withered leaves, which could make the lawn look awful and could accumulate at the roof to spell future trouble.
Trees across Indianapolis real estate
If you have already decided to plant a tree within your yard, you should first do ample research. Begin by assessing what you intend the tree to do. Is it for shade, clocking the view, or adding color to the landscape? Do you still have enough space within the yard?
Be reminded that deciduous trees tend to lose leaves during fall season. They are usually bare all throughout winter. Do you want to have foliage all throughout the year? Then, you should choose to plant an evergreen like spruce, hemlock, or holly.
Choosing the right tree for Indianapolis homes
Are you having a hard time choosing a tree to plant within your urban lawn? You might select trees that don’t get too sturdy or those that don’t tend to have invasive and destructive roots. You might also choose one that doesn’t produce too much withering leaves or one that does not bear fruit, if you dislike the idea of falling fruits in your roof during unholy hours of the night.
There are specific trees you should not choose. Among those are weeping willow, cottonwood, Russian olive, Norway maple, and ash tree. These are trees that are not meant for urban lawns; they should instead be planted in the forests or in other non-residential vacant lots.
Check out trees planted in yards across the Indianapolis real estate market. The community might also be recommending specific trees for your Indianapolis home. Lastly, it may not be advisable to plant the same tree that your closest neighbors have. It is better to have diversity, not just for aesthetic appeal but also for practical and logical reasons.
Are you considering improving your real estate investment in Indianapolis? You might want to remodel your property to make it energy efficient. Doing so would not only help lower the bucks you pay for your energy bills. You would also contribute in helping save Mother Nature by reducing carbon footprints.
Ask most Indianapolis realtor and they would surely tell you that now is the best time to consider and adopt energy efficient remodeling. Lower interest rates serve as your go-signal to refinance existing mortgage or take a new one so you could shoulder any remodeling effort.
We hope now you have realized that within the market for real estate investment in Indianapolis, energy efficient remodeling is a necessary and ideal project to take. Why not adopt such an approach when you could reduce your water and energy bills, bolster health and home comfort, and lower pollution as well as greenhouse gas emissions? Here are several smart tips when remodeling your home to be energy efficient.
Remodel the kitchen
They say if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen. But you could always remodel the area so you could possibly recoup up to 90% of overall valuation. One effective way to upgrade the kitchen is through investing in energy efficient appliances and models.
Replace old doors and windows
You may need to replace old doors and windows in favor of double pane windows with low-emission coatings. Costs for heating and cooling could be lowered along with street noise and the sun’s typical hot and discoloring rays could be lowered by installing glass doors and windows or such fixtures made in more ideal materials.
Improve heating and cooling system
Most Realtors in Indianapolis would point out the importance of replacing heating and cooling systems with more energy-efficient ones. Needless to say, such systems usually account for up to 50% of energy costs in any home. The central air conditioning system must bear Seasonal Energy Efficiency ratio of at least 13. This way, you could lower electric consumption by up to 20%. What could be more energy efficient than that?
Insulate the home
Earn back as much as half of your Indianapolis real estate investment in by installing the right insulation in your home. So-called weather stripping could effectively lower air conditioning or heating costs. That is because doing so could help regulate indoor temperature to reach and maintain ideal hotness or coldness in your house.
Whether you like it or not, real estate selling usually requires extra work. Before listing the house up for sale, you should do your part in making sure the property is attractive enough to lure prospective buyers. Spend more time and effort in doing your part to make sure real estate selling would not be stressful for you in the long run.
Begin by setting an attractive price tag. You may have valuation from the experts so that you could be sure you are getting the actual and reasonable value. Possible buyers would also be easily turned off if they think the home valuation is a little off. Here are more tips.
Get it ready for ‘move in’
Most potential homebuyers prefer to buy homes that are already in ideal ‘move in’ condition. The house must create an instant impression that it is ready for occupancy of its new owner, who could be planning to move in right away. Most potential buyers would not like to spend more time and money to fix up and renovate the home.
Part of getting the house ready for moving in would be the assurance that every fixture and component is in working order. Doors should be secured and functional; appliances should be in good condition; and plumbing and electrical fixtures should comply with present building codes.
Boost curb appeal
Modern homebuyers are usually particular about the property’s curb appeal. When selling your home, work on the external appearance of the house before listing it up for Indiana Homes for sale. The exterior should be painted beautifully and the lawn should be well maintained. Remember that in real estate selling, the appearance makes a first impression and it means a lot.
The house should be presentable inside and out. If the exterior is appealing, make sure the interior is equally attractive. This task could be achieved by simply removing all the clutter prior to showing the property off to possible buyers. Pay particular attention to staging. If you are unfamiliar about the task, hire professionals and let them take care of the rest. This could be worth it as doing so would certainly boost the chances for the property to be sold quickly.
Sweeten the purchase deal
When selling your home, be prepared enough to close the deal in the shortest time possible. Many homebuyers get impressed if the home could be closed within just 30 days to 60 days. There are many other strategic ways to sweeten the deal. You may offer to shoulder the closing costs or take care of home valuation process.
A transferable home warranty could also do the trick. This is when an investment of about $400 for an annual policy could pay off. A prospective homebuyer would always welcome the idea that he is covered against common house problems like malfunctioning appliances and fixtures.
Winter weather, in many areas, always seems to signal the beginning of the seasonal struggle to keep your house free of stale, damp air. Sadly, this air quality issue isn’t just confined to old homes; many new homes are built so airtight that they develop air quality issues too. There are a few ways that you can improve the air in your home this winter.
One of the ways that air quality in a home can worsen is from volatile organic compounds, chemicals, and dust. These things can build up in your home and make it smell bad or affect your family members’ allergies. Opt for natural cleaners instead of harsh chemicals to cut down on the chemical stink. Baking soda and vinegar, alone or together, can clean up just about any mess as well or better than most chemical sprays. Painting in your home can be done with low VOC paint to help cut down on this issue too. If your home has carpets, make sure that you vacuum and clean out your vacuum’s filters regularly so that you don’t just keep blowing the same dust around. Also, use a damp cloth to dust surfaces in your home so that your air system doesn’t blow it around.
While it’s a good idea to circulate the air in your home all year round, you’ll want to make sure that any air filters that you have in your system have been cleaned or replaced recently to avoid putting extra strain on the system and blowing dust through your ducts. To keep particles out of your duct system, a good choice is to install a filter for the air that’s entering your home. To help keep the heat in your house while still allowing for proper ventilation, consider installing a heat recovery ventilator which transfers the warmth of outgoing air to the fresh incoming air, reducing the heat loss that can happen.
Excess moisture in your home can cause damage to your window frames and contribute to mold and mildew in your home. Too much moisture can not only cause damage to your home, but it can contribute to health problems for anyone living in the home as well as mold and mildew need moisture to grow.
Some ways to deal with an overabundance of moisture in your home include: using your kitchen and bathroom fans to push the moisture outside, avoiding hanging clothes to dry in any room that doesn’t have a fan, and installing humidity sensors for your bathroom fans. The great thing about your extractor fans having a sensor on them is that you can just set them to the proper level and let them run until the air hits the proper humidity. The colder the temperatures are outside, the lower the humidity should be inside your home.
Reducing the moisture and increasing the airflow in your home can make your home much more comfortable for you and your family.
8313 W. 10th St
Indianapolis IN 46234
dennis@indyhomepros.com
317-316-8224