I'm house proud, meaning I'm proud of having worked hard enough to put myself into the position to buy some and also proud of the house I live in - It's my home and I have put a lot of time and money into creating a place in which I feel comfortable.
It can be a pain in the ass at times though, there's always something to do... and it seems always too little time to do it.
On Sunday I dedicated the day to doing house stuff; I'm not talking about cleaning and tidying, I mean general maintenance and preventative maintenance - jobs that seem always to mount up but often get pushed aside due to lack of sufficient time. Admittedly, some of it requires the right weather, climbing on my roof for instance, but if I'm honest with myself, and I always am, I have consciously ignored some of these things because a lack of time a lack of motivation to do those things when I have the time. I had to cowboy up and rectify that on Sunday though as we're coming into winter and a couple of the jobs are essential to prepare for it.
I started with a prioritised list to ensure the most important things were done first and that meant I was up on my roof cleaning gutters straight after an early breakfast; the weather was perfect for it, sunny, blue skies and 20°C in temperature.
For the record, I fucken hate cleaning gutters and getting on roofs, I fell off mine (cleaning gutters) back in 2021 and wrote a post about it - laughable now but not at the time - and getting up there is something I really don't prefer to do. Dirt, moss and leaves build up in gutters and if they're not cleaned rainfall can build up and overflow. Gutters are designed to overflow outwards during high rainfall but if they are too full of detritus they can run the water back into the roof cavity and that's big trouble. So, I clean my gutters two to three times a year...and hate every minute of the three hours it takes me.
While I was on the roof I checked the roof tiles for cracks, two required replacing, and next was the clean up around the house, the stuff that came out of the gutters, and then I moved on to the next task which was checking the integrity of the silicone seals in the gutters and around gutter downpipes; a couple had deteriorated a little so I removed and replaced the silicone and job done.
I lifted all the storm drain grates in my driveways and along the front of my garages and cleaned them next. These capture water that falls on the concrete and prevents it from entering the garage by running it away and down to the storm water system on the street. They're sort of like roof gutters but set down flush into the concrete of driveways so cars can drive right over them. After cleaning up from that it was lunch time but I pushed on with a small job of changing my garden hoses over on my hose reels front and back as the hoses tend to go hard with the harsh Australian sun over time, they crack and kink. New hoses on and working and now it was time for lunch.
After lunch I treated all my internal and external drains to a clean using special chemicals to remove any build up in there which can restrict flow and cause unpleasant smells and I also replaced the water-filter canister under the kitchen sink as it had developed a tiny leak which, if left unattended had the potential to moisten and ruin kitchen cupboards, or leak profusely causing even more damage. I changed the filter over at the same time, a bi-annual job.
From there it was up another ladder to remove and clean the reverse-cycle air conditioning return-filter in the ceiling and while that was drying out in the sun I cleaned all the ceiling air conditioning ducts/vents - it's amazing how much dust and fluff those bastards accumulate. While in filter-mode I also changed the filter in the rangehood over the stove, something I do twice a year.
I changed a dodgy lock/latch on my side gate, cleaned and serviced all my remote control garage doors (I don't like spiders so sprayed them with a long-term poison too)...and then stopped for coffee and a sugarless chocolate brownie.
It was pushing into the later afternoon by now and I had a few more things to go like removing and cleaning my window fly-screens, cleaning the windows inside and out and...hang on, that's it, list complete!
It was a full day, 18:00h by the time I was done, and I was tired at the end of it but I was satisfied with what I'd gotten done.
Maintenance on a house never ends, certainly not if one wants to keep their house in top-notch shape and avoid potential problems; it's much easier, and cheaper, to apply preventative maintenance than waiting for things to fuck up. It wasn't a bad day, at least I didn't fall off the roof again, and I felt good having completed my list...although there's new list waiting to be made for another weekend in the near future.
Do you take the time to maintain your house or do you wait for things to go wrong and fix them then? What chores around your house do you hate the most, gutter cleaning perhaps, snow shoveling/ploughing, painting? What skills have you had to learn to better care for your house and which would you like to learn moving forward? Feel free to comment if you would like.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
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Image(s) in this post are my own
That reminds me I need to send eldest up onto the roof.
it's been a couple of years but it's still so very weird having an adult child and soon there will be another x_x
I like the idea of preventative maintenance in theory but we never seem to have money at the moment. Hopefully this will change once the kids have decent enough jobs to pay board (with the way things are going I can't see them moving out in the near future as rent looks unrealistic).
We do what we can x_x
Get that lad up there, what could go wrong? 🫣
I think that doing what you can is a good strategy and far better than doing nothing. Gutter cleaning has saved many houses from water damage and it's free to do provided one has a ladder.
I know that feeling when you are ticking away your to-do list and the more you tick more your dopamine levels rise up. And the best feeling is when you are lying in bed and calculating how much you saved, just because you fixed something by yourself. And not only that, even if you try something for the first time, you will be happy with the result. No one else will put that much effort and time than yourself. On the other hand, I am concerned for the next generation. Youngsters nowadays are afraid to fix anything. DIY videos are like kryptonite to them. Well, with the house price trends, new owners won't even need to maintain by themselves, I guess. They will simply afford handyman if there will be any. MAybe I will be, at the age of 65. After all, why not ;)
Yep, n many don't want to do their own work preferring to leave it to others which means skills diminish. It'll be a big problem in times to come.
I always wondered, 'should I have a bunch of kids? raise one to be a carpenter, one a plumber, one a gardener?' that way, they could be my indentured slaves, to maintain the house?
In the end, I decided all that food to raise them? Nah, I'll just fix it myself. My house was built in 1896. Not a square room left, level? nope! and like you said,
I like doing things myself, where possible, and would have enjoyed teaching my kids to do things had I had any. I'd have prepared them well to live in a world where working with ones hands, being self-sufficient and taking ownership is becoming unfashionable.
I COMPLETELY agree.
Hi Galen, I live in an apartment, so the things to do are few. Of the daily chores I don't like to do the dishes. Only when I bought it did I spend a lot of time in the apartment. I didn't have much money and participated in the masonry and painting work. Since then little, annual deep cleaning and painting every year or two years. A hug
It's easier with an apartment I guess, a house can be far more work. I don't mind doing it although getting on the roof isn't my idea of fun.
Where I live, which is a big city, there are only apartment offers. And as you say, it's easier maintenance. With the advantages of living in a big city, less and less, and with the disadvantages of living in it. Even so, as soon as I leave home the first thing I see is a park and walking a little, there is a large pine forest where I often walk. And I think I understand that climbing on the roof is not a great fun, but I don't have to think too much to imagine all the advantages of living in a house in the country. Best regards.
I prefer the country, it was where I was born and raised, but live on the outskirts (suburbs) of a city, albeit a small city. I don't like the traffic if cities, the fast-paced nature of them and the people...although the city I live in only has around 1.2m in the greater metropolitan area so it's not as bad as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with close to 8m in each.
For now it's ok, although I'm thinking of moving in the not too distant future.
I am considering the option of leaving Madrid at some point, although this is not a good time. I have some friends who have already bought a house in the countryside, a few kilometers from Madrid, and they are not doing badly. And I share everything you say about the big cities.
I think being away from the city is a better way to go although it may bring some complications, a lack of services like hospitals and all...but if one can work around that them life in the countryside is a better life.
I was back in my home town today, for work, and it just felt so nice to be in the countryside, fewer people and all. I felt more comfortable.
I'm glad the move back "home" makes you feel good. I value the inconveniences you talk about when I value leaving Madrid. It's not clear to me, but I was born in a village in the Swiss Alps, and having contact with snow and mountains makes me feel special. Near Madrid there are also mountains (and snow in winter). This is an option that I am considering to move to the mountains in a few years.
I guess I'll see you tomorrow, a hug.
Dammit Man..!
Pretty good long ✓ list you knocked out there bro.
Now that I know how much you enjoy a good gutter cleaning. I will save that job for you to help me with when you stop by to visit. 😉
Haha, well it's my least favourite job really, I'm not a huge fan of getting on the room, gravity and all, you know. It's something that has to be done though I guess. Eventually I'll be too old to get up there, maybe already am, and someone else will have to do it...if anyone actually wants to work that is.
I'd love to be in a situation where I had to go and clean gutters. I've worked my whole life - Since I need a visa to stay in the countries I live, I haven't been unemployed for a single day in my entire adult life.
But the more I earn, and the more I save, it's always outpaced by the rising house prices. Approaching 40 in a few years and there's essentially a 0% chance I'll own even a small house by then, if ever 😣
It's a problem here also, rising house prices mean many will never actually own one and be long-term renters instead. I worked hard to buy my first one, and the subsequent ones also, went without things, and made a lot of good decisions. I feel fortunate to have put in the effort, learned along the way, taken some calculated risks and the initiative to buy, invest and transact property for many years. It's left me in a good situation.
I feel for those who work hard and yet the house/property purchase remains elusive and it's only likely to get worse.
I found it bizarre when I learnt that 30% of 25-29 year olds still live with parents now in England. It was only a few years ago it was an absolute embarassment to still be there a day over 18 lol
Yep I agree...I was out of home at 17.5 and leaned into life hard knowing I'd make mistakes (which I did) and have success (which I did). These days people hang around at home, it comfortable I guess, and that inhibits learning, mistake-making and ultimate growth and development. Just my opinion.
Wow, you really got a lot of work done in a day. I do minimal prevention work, like with the gutters and drains before the rainy season, but most of the time I'm a if it ain't broke don't fix it guy. There's a small channel of water, kind of like a mini sewer that runs on the side of our area that I clean from time to time. That is the worst because there's a lot of gunk, and throwing the collected gunk is a lot of work.
Yeah, that's one way to go, I don't fix things that are not broken because they're not broken. Preventative maintenance saves potential suffering and expense down the track though, so I do it. Some don't.
You had a very busy weekend with preventive maintenance on your house 👏
This weekend was very long for me, besides, it was a non-working one, from May 1 and 2, we followed up on the celebration of Easter. And yesterday, the "Slava" celebration (I wrote a post about this, but I will definitely repeat it).
Unlike you, I also spent time in the house, but in the kitchen.
But since I don't work all week, I agreed to spend Wednesday and Thursday maintaining the cottage (I live in an apartment, where there is no need for preventive maintenance, but that's why there is in the cottage).
The most urgent obligation in the cottage is to drain the water from the system in the fall, so that the water pipes and sanitary ware do not burst during the winter.
Now I just back water into the system, it's a much easier job for me.
Other: mowing the grass, painting the blinds, cleaning the gutters, removing wasps' nests from the attic, trimming the "living" fence, filling the warehouse with cut wood... The next two days will be "interesting" for me 🤣
Yep, but productive for sure.
It sounds like you take a bit of care with your property as well, it makes sense I suppose right? Preventative maintenance saves time, stress and money down the track.
Prevention is the best thing a man can afford.
Preventive maintenance of your health, of the house, of the car...
I concur.
When I clean my house on weekends I enjoy as much as possible, especially when I work in my garden with the beautiful flowers, with their aroma with the radiant blue sun and my husband here and there doing the toughest job, I end up very tired but happy to do what I have to do and what I choose, it's time in balance in my life.
It's best to get it done right? Leaving maintenance jobs undone means problems down the track.
I am one of those who think that my house, my garden is the reflection of my psycho-emotional garden.🌹
So it's better to attend it, to take care ( The back yard) today, and not leave it for later because it may be late.
One must tend to oneself, that's the only way to go right?
Galen, without looking sideways, and very sure of what we want, with nothing to distract us from the goal.
To me, it is one of the best feelings to decorate your home the way you like 😉
It turns bricks and mortar into something more personal, a private, comfortable place...home.
It can get pretty annoying. My wife has a lot of things she would like to change about our house, but I am pretty happy with it. We do need a new roof and some new windows eventually though. They are just so dang expensive. I don't go on the roof too much anymore because it is just too high with our new house. I tried to put Christmas lights up one year and I was like "yeah nope". I did have to go up the ladder to clean out the dryer vent though. Also mowed the lawn and weed whacked on Sunday.
Christmas lights...I've almost come to grief doing those myself. 😂
Now we just have a couple trees I made out of tomato cages and chicken wire that we put out front.
A safe option. I have a neighbour who goes full-Griswald with his Christmas lights. I might do a post on it this year.
Oh wow, that sounds pretty magnificent!
All that work reminded me of my life in Argentina. I even did a guttering course, the only woman in the course. Climbing on roofs, changing roof tiles, changing water tanks, gutters, painting wooden braces... painting walls, railings, changing water and electricity pipes... everything! New house, but it took me more than 10 years. Because the house was very bad, after my grandfather's death, nothing could be done. When my brother and I took over, we always maintained it, we didn't want to cause any problems.
Here, we maintain the flat, always informing the owner, but always maintaining.
Seems like you're experienced, you can come here and do mine!
I do have experience hahaha
No... it's your house, but I can give you some advice🤣
Your weekend was productive, with all those cleaning and repairs.
I don't own a house but I live in a rented apartment and I do general cleaning very often to sanitize my home but I refuse to do any kind of repairs on the house, that's the landlord's headache not mine.
Our tenement agreement is that he does the repairs when anything goes bad.
It's a good thing you didn't fall this time 😊
As long as the landlord upholds his end of the bargain then it's a good deal.
My modus operandi is to buy a place, let it fall to bits, sell it and move on. Ladies don't climb up on rooves, clear gutters, drains or change latches; it seems impossible to get any man to do it around these parts. Coffee and brownies on the other hand......
I'd do your gutters for you, free of charge. Well, I'd need some lunch maybe.
Deal?
From a man who hates getting onto rooves, that's an offer I can't refuse. This lady does a slap-up lunch so fix the roof tiles too and we have a deal!
Good deal. 😁
When we deal with home on our days off it can be a bit discouraging but then the feeling of having worked on it is unique, our home is like our body, we have to take care of it and dedicate time to it. Have a nice day! thanks for share with us 😀👍
Yeah, it's best to take care if it as bringing something back from a state of disrepair is often far more costly and not taking care of things has a way of causing other things to get worse.
Oh I guess you enjoyed working house maintenance.Doing house works is satisfying specially if you really see the before and after heheh
Yes, it's satisfying indeed.
Home is a place where you find peace when you come. As an example, if you have visited a place, you will like it very much at first, then gradually you will miss home and there will come a time when you feel that you want to go home. I liked one thing more from you, you said that I spend Sunday time for house cleaning and house work. It is really important, many people take it lightly. This is a good topic to talk about. @galenkp
Not every Sunday, some though, I'm not one to avoid work that needs doing and I know how important preventative house maintenance is.
🥰😀 Feel happy to hear you cherish your moment in your house.
Maybe I should make a post too on what I was doing on Sunday with my kids when their Mum travelled to a nearby State for an engagement. It wasn't easy and funny cleaning around and making food for the children, coupled with the fact that it will Sunday (church day).😂😊 I thought taking about house isn't fascinating for people to read but yours has inspired me. I'll drop my own Sunday experience before the day is over.
Maybe you should.
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Wow, you are a hard worker, you spend all your time just cleaning. truly extraordinary
Not all my time.
According to them, expenses for house never ends. 😅
Allegedly.
Do you agree? 😅