Managing Home Maintenance Costs

Your about to go on vacation and wondering what you need to do about your home while you are away. We put together Vacant Home Management Checklists that you can use to decide what you need to do about your home depending on were you are going and how long you be away. the home in the picture is another example of a home that is vacant and has been boarded up. Someone needs to check on this home also to make sure that nothing is being damaged to leaking water etc.

This is a check list you should consider if you plan to leave your home unoccupied for any length of time. You should take into account both home maintenance issues, home monitoring and home security issues while you are absent

Home Maintenance

Home maintenance takes into account items that might need repair after storms, lawn care, snow clearing etc. Monitoring is really all about peace of mind. Knowing that someone is checking your home on a regular basis to make sure everything is ok and then advising you of their visit. Home security covers items to make sure that your home does not advertise that you are not home making it attractive to thieves.

Home security is very important to everyone. Not only do you risk losing your value able possessions, many people feel that their personal space has been violated if their home has been broken into. Protect your home by following a few common sense steps, increase your security and avoid leaving your home as an inviting place to visit by burglars.

While it it is not all inclusive, it is a good start and you can add your own personal items to this list or check with local companies for additional security items to be aware of to keep your home secure.

Vacant Home Management Checklists

• • Arrange for  summer maintenance services lawn, shrubs, garden
  • Turn off the main water intake to avoid frozen pipes in the winter if the furnace does not run
  • Shut off your water heater to save energy and to avoid it boiling dry if you turn off the water

• • Turn off all outside water taps
  • Shut off the main water valve in your home
  • Turn off all taps to things such as dishwashers and clothes washers
  • Run the water once a month, flush toilets to avoid toilets running dry from evaporation, run water in all sinks for the same reason
  • Disconnect all electronic items to reduce power requirements and protect devices from electrical surges (Note: only unplug the refrigerator if it is empty)
  • Arrange for yard maintenance in the growing seasons
  • Arrange for plant watering inside and out
  • Hire pool or hot tub maintenance if required
  • Contract Snow clearance in the winter – driveway and walkways
  • Arrange with professional property manager/ house sitter to watch over your house

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Smart Phone Security, can include were someone hacks into your smart phone and takes over your phone, or someone stealing your phone. This post is about the type of Smart Phone Security when someone steals your phone!

A good friend of mine was walking down the street the other day reading her email or sending a text message. I know you are not supposed to that. There has been all kinds of reports were people have hurt themselves walking into objects and other people. They even walk into the middle of the road and are hit by cars. That is actually another reason for not doing this sort of thing, but this post is focused on Smart Phone Security.

Anyway she was walking along, not really paying attention to what she was doing. Suddenly a guy walked up beside her and grabbed the smart phone out of her hands. Easy to do since she was holding it loosely while pressing the keyboard as she was preparing to send a message.

Apps Are Not Password Protected

She has a lot of apps on her Smart Phone , however they all have auto sign on turned on. Yes, her bank information, her credit cards, Paypal, Skype and much much more. Worse her phone was open and turned on because she was using it. Easy for someone to keep using the phone until the battery wore down, accessing her bank account and other applications that she has on the phone.

We used to be worried about losing our cell phone and someone racking up huge long distance charges. You still need to worry about this, but even more important is the applications we have on these Smart Phones and the damage someone can do to us financially. And I am not even mentioning the wireless transfer of funds when you bump smart phones together!

So How Do we Avoid Smart Phone Security being jeopardized?

There are numerous ways to tighten up security on our phones. As well as avoid the type of situation my friend had over the weekend. Here is a partial list which if you follow will certainly decrease the chance of both having your phone stolen as well as losing money through Smart Phone applications that are open. Here we go:

• Do not text, email or use apps while walking or driving
• Keep your Smart Phone locked at all times except when using it
• Keep a firm grip on your Smart Phone when using it
• Make sure no one observes you as you enter passwords
• Make sure you phone auto locks after 15 seconds of no activity
• Never store passwords on your Smart Phone
• Always type your passwords into the phone when accessing an app
• Never write down passwords

If your Smart Phone  is stolen or lost, it still is a big loss. However not as big as you might think if your apps are compromised. Following the above steps will help to limit the loss of your phone.

We will let you know the details of how the situation turned out in our next post. However for readers who do not have the time to come back next week, she did get her phone back in an interesting way.

Wipe Your Smart Phone

Another common method for smart phones offered by some carriers is that you can wipe your phone if it is stolen or lost. This is a good thing. Assuming you will never get your phone back. However by the time you reach your carrier and have the phone wiped the damage will already have been done. Protect yourself by not using your phone when you are not paying attention to were you are going or in large crowded areas.

We appreciate comments on this subject of Smart Phone Security as well as our suggestions to protect yourself. Please leave comments as well with additional suggestions that we can alert our readers to for improving their personal Smart Phone Security.

For more on Smart phones and security issues, click here.

Save

Twelve money losers and expenses that home owners need to watch out for. We recently saw an article about this subject and decided to put our own spin on this list of hidden money expenses and losers. Two more were added which we think would be of interest to our readers as well as potential money saving ideas.

We decided to try to estimate how much money is involved and how much you might save each year. You can plug your own numbers into this list as well to see what your savings would be, to help you decide if you want to pursue savings in this area. Here is our list of money losers:

• Short Car Trips
• Bundled Cable or Phone Services
• Leasing Hot Water Heaters
• ATM Fee’s
• Lottery Tickets
• Gourmet Coffee
• Cigarettes
• Infomercial Impulse buys
• Brand Name Groceries
• Eating Out
• Unused Gym Memberships
• Daily Internet Deals

For each of the money loser items below we have estimated the cost for the average person or family and summarized this cost at the end of this post. It is pretty amazing. Do your own calculations if any of these situations apply to you to see how much money you might save if you were to reduce or eliminate the charges for these items.

Money Losers – Short Car Trips

We all forget things and have to run to the store for an item we need for supper, however with a little planning many of these trips can be eliminated. Every time I run to the store I drive about 5 miles return. This works out to 84 cents per trip in gas alone assuming 25 miles per gallon and $4.20 per gallon. Assuming 3 trips a week for a variety of items this works out to $10/ week or $131.40 a year
Bundled Cable or Phone Services

This is a tougher one to estimate, however if you eliminate one feature that you do not use and save $5 on cable and $5 on your phone services, that is also $10/month and $120 / year. Check out your service packages to assess what you use and whether you can eliminate any services that you do not use very often or not at all.
Leasing Hot Water Heaters

We recently replaced our water heater at a cost of $700 and purchased the unit. Previously we had rented the unit at $14 / month. At this rate it takes us a little over 4 years to pay for the upfront cost. From then on we save $14 a month for as long as the hot water heater lasts!

Money losers – ATM Fee’s

Most people do not pay ATM fees when they withdraw funds from an ATM at their own bank. However it gets very expensive if you make a WD at another banks ATM. Some charge as much as $4 per WD. Let’s assume twice a week for a total of $32 / month and $416 per year. That is a lot of money you can save by avoiding this charge. Use your credit card or plan your money use to control these fees.

Lottery Tickets

Everyone wants to win the lottery, yet the odds are very low that you will win. You can check with your favorite lottery to find out the odds, however let’s assume you spend $5 per week. This adds up to $260 per year for a small weekly lottery purchase and many people purchase much more than this.

Gourmet Coffee

Daily gourmet coffee can get expensive. Even if you purchase only one gourmet coffee at $4 per coffee, think about how much you can save if you purchase a regular coffee at say $2 per coffee. Some regular coffee is priced even lower. Assuming 5 days a week, your annual cost difference works out to $520!

Cigarettes

Think about how much better you would feel and how much money you would save if you gave up that pack a day habit. Prices vary, but we used $8 a pack to calculate the annual savings of $2920!

Infomercial Impulse buys

Do you make these impulse buys? How often do they work out and you get the value that was advertised. If you resist, would it be the end of the world if you do not have this item advertised on infomercials? We assumed one a month at a cost of $30 per charge. Plug in your own numbers to get the real cost for you.

Brand Name Groceries

This is a tough one to estimate. Experts feel that brand name products are often as much as $2 per item higher than non brand name products. We assumed that you purchase 10 items per week and could save only $1 on each item, not $2 to get and annual savings of $520, which we actually think is very low.

Eating Out

Restaurants are expensive and the cost varies a lot depending on were you live, what you eat and how many people are in your family. Could you eat out one night less per week at a fast food place and your family of 3 would each a lot healthier as well. Home made food is so much better for you and costs so much less as well. We assumed you would save $20 once a week after taking into account the cost of the food you would consume at home for an annual savings of $1040

Unused Gym Memberships

Many of us get the urge to sign up for a gym membership, go a few times and then stop. We still have to pay whether we use it or not. Don’t sign up. If you cannot go for a walk each night, you are not going to work out at the gym. Memberships can cost as much as $30 per month or annually $360

Daily Internet Deals

Do you purchase internet access while traveling or when you are out somewhere. At an average of $5 this can add up. Some hotels charge as much as $15 per day. We assumed $5 once a week average for a total cost of $260.

The total cost is pretty amazing, $6800 per year. You can really do a lot with all of that money. Plug in your own numbers and figure out how much you would save!

Ignoring the tires on your car at any time of the year is one of the fastest ways to prevent your car from getting good gas mileage. It can also causing unsafe conditions for handling your car at high speeds on the highway. With the price of gas sky rocketing, now is a good time to check your tires. We cover a few tires and summer driving tips.

Checking your tires to ensure you are traveling on correctly inflated tires is one of the easiest ways to save money on gas. Making sure they are properly balanced and your front end is aligned is another.

Statistics are provided by the Energy Information Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. They suggest that it is possible to save between $100.00 to $200.00 per year by avoiding under inflated tires.

Of course your individual savings is based upon how many miles you drive and how under inflated your tires are. Your car will also be more stable on the road and you can avoid accidents more easily if your tires perform well.

Tires and Summer Driving Tips

20% of Tires Under inflated

There is at least one tire under inflated by more than twenty percent (20%) on approximately twenty-three per cent (23%) of cars based on information from the Canadian Office of Energy Efficiency. That means that almost 1 in 4 cars has at least one under inflated tire. Besides lowering your fuel consumption, under inflated wheels can also lead to steering and braking problems. That makes under inflated tires a possible danger.

Using a tire gauge is the only sure way to know if your tires are under inflated but a telltale sign of under inflated tires are loud squealing when coming to a stop or turning a corner even at slow speeds.

Fuel Efficiency Lower

Driving a car with just one tire under inflated by (8 psi) or 20% can lower the car’s fuel efficiency by 4%. In addition under inflation may reduce the life of the tire by more than 9000 miles. Tires are permeable. That means that air can and does pass through the tire walls.

A tire could lose up to 2 pounds of pressure per month. This is more important in summer as more air permeates through the tire in hot weather as the pores in the tire material get larger in the heat.

To repeat that was just stated heat can accelerate air loss in tires. When a tire is under inflated, the sides of a tire flex and bend more than normal. This builds up heat in the tire. With that additional heat an under inflated tire will to lose air at faster and faster rate.

Under Inflation Requires more Power

There is more bad new concerning under inflated tires and gas consumption. Under inflation also causes the tire to increase rolling resistance. That means the motor has to work harder to move the car and that also increases fuel consumption. Also the extra flexing and bending can weaken the tire walls which could lead to sudden tire failure.

You should make it a habit to measure the air pressure in your tires at least once every month. When you measure your tire pressure the tires need to be cold. A tire on a car is considered “Cold” if the car has not been driven more than 1 mile or the car has been sitting still for at least three hours.

Check the Tire Pressure Weekly

It is a great idea to keep a pressure gauge in your car. Check the air pressure of the tires often. If you can keep your tires at the correct inflation levels you should realize a savings of between $100.00 and $200.00 per year in fuel.

Although proper tire pressure will save you gas and money, it could also prevent tire damage that could lead to accidents. Not only will you be contributing to your fuel economy you will be maintaining the safety of your vehicle.

A hardwood floor is one of the most enduring floor surfaces and provides many benefits compared to all other surfaces. These benefits can be enhanced even more if you keep your floors clean by vacuuming regularly and cleaning weekly.

For example if you never wear your shoes inside your home on your hardwood floors you will avoid tracking a lot of dirt into the home and you will avoid scuffing the floor with your shoes. Any dirt or grit on your floor can be ground into the floor and acting like sand paper on the floor. Avoid wearing shoes any time inside the home on the hardwood floors. Here are a few of the reasons why you would want to make sure that your floors are always clean in addition to the obvious.

• Longevity
• Reduces dust accumulation
• Improves the decor of many homes.
• Can be easily repaired
• Can be refinished

By providing a little care and maintenance to your hardwood floors you can expect your flooring to last a lifetime. If you are new to hardwood flooring, here is some information about hardwood floor cleaners and other maintenance tips that will help you get the most from your investment.

Maintenance Tips

• Never wear outdoor shoes on your floor
• Never go barefoot on your hardwood floor
• Wear soft soled slippers or just wear socks while walking on your floor
• Clean up spills, especially fluids, immediately
• An option is to add throw rugs in heavy traffic areas
• Clean with proper tools regularly

Hardwood Floor Cleaner Tips

For almost every kind of spill, smudge, stain or any other type of mess, you will find a hardwood floor cleaner for the job. If all of these chemicals and solutions are confusing to you then perhaps an all-in-one hardwood floor cleaner kit is right for you.

You can find many of these kits for both laminate flooring and hardwood. They usually come with an all purpose cleaner along with a specially designed mop.

Some general purpose hardwood floor cleaners can  remove some of the shine from the floor or even leave a residue. To avoid this, make sure you choose a cleaner that is specially designed to clean finished hardwood flooring. Other hardwood floor cleaners that you should avoid are oil soaps that can build up over time.

General Suggestions

Maintain proper levels of moisture in your home with a humidifier in the winter time. Winter air tends to dry everything out and will cause gaps to appear between the floor strips, unless you maintain the humidity level in your home between 30% to 50% at all times. Clean your humidifier at least once a month as well to avoid any chance of mold buildup in the humidifier.

Along with a proper hardwood floor cleaner you should practice regular care and maintenance of the floor. Dirt and grit tracked onto hardwood floor acts like sandpaper and will cause problems over time. Clean your floors at least once per week and immediately  after you have had a party or guests in your home.

This means it is important to either sweep away this dirt with a fine bristles broom or vacuum with a specially designed hardwood attachment. Using the incorrect tool could scratch the surface of your floor causing more damage. This is especially true in high traffic areas. Another important thing to remember is that you should never allow water to remain on any hardwood surface. Wipe up any spills as soon as you notice them.

With only the most common sense cleaning and proper hardwood floor cleaner you will have great looking floors that will last your whole life. Over time you will gain more appreciation of the subtle details and warmth of the wood.  Hardwood floors can be re-sanded and refinished, however if you look after them this may be avoided for many years. The more you give to your hardwood floors the more you will receive in return.