The Routines of Owning a Home

November 13, 2007 on 4:38 pm | In Homeownership |

The other night, after everyone else was asleep, and I was the last to go to bed, I walked into my kids’ room where my 5-year-old twins were sleeping, to check on them. And their room was incredibly warm and humid. They’ve had coughs and sore throats already this Fall, so I’m very concerned about the air quality in their room and the temperature. I couldn’t understand, since the air-conditioning was on, why it was so hot and humid.

Something inspired me to look at the air-conditioning filter. I took the cover off and there it was, covered with a thick coat of gray lint. Immediately it was obvious I had found the culprit. I decided to check the master bedroom, and found the same thing — our air conditioner filter was totally caked with gray lint.

Now these days all of us live very busy lives, and yet it’s unavoidable — owning a home involves lots of routines and maintenance cycles you really can’t avoid.

I took the air-conditioning filters, which both were plastic and made to be washable, and I washed them both off thoroughly. Soap and water works great on these filters. I dried them off and put them back in the air conditioners.

Problem solved. But it could have been avoided. And maybe my girls’ air-quality would have been better, avoiding potential illnesses.

That’s why I wanted to remind you about AHA’s email Home Reminders. They’re free. They help you stay on top of 58 different home and personal tasks, so you can stop putting them off and get them done in minutes. You choose the ones you want, you choose how often you want them, and they go: your home maintenance and personal routines (such as a haircut or visit to the dentist) become simply part of an orderly life.

AHA reminders help you organize your life and your home. And they’re free. They’ll come into your e-mail box and remind you to change your air-conditioning filters twice a year. They’ll even recommend how often you need to do each task. So do yourself a favor, as I have: go to www.AHAhome.com and spend under 10 minutes ordering a year’s worth of free home reminders. They can save you many hours and countless aggravation in the coming year — – I guarantee it.

A Better Way To Choose a contractor

One of the most challenging situations for a homeowner is trying to find a suitable contractor to get a job done for you. It can be anything, plumbing, new windows, a new roof, new flooring, an addition, a new driveway, landscaping, septic repairs, or a new bathroom. And of course, a new kitchen.

Each of these requires its own expert professional. Each also requires a contractor who has the time, the temperament, the honesty, the licenses and insurance, and the know-how to get the job done when you need it and to your satisfaction. Oh, and also, at the budget that you are looking to spend.

All of this is made more complex because contractors frequently take on more work than they can do, start and stop jobs based on a whim, and have their own particular pet peeves about jobs they like and those they don’t. There is also unique experience called Project Creep, in which both the time and money required to complete the job become mysteriously elongated.

That’s where membership in AHA comes into play. You see, AHA lets members match themselves and their projects to contractors who are prescreened for the right credentials, good customer experiences and reviews, and who are available to do the project you want in the time frame, budget level, and quality level you are seeking. The AHA contractor matching service also comes with a $1000 project satisfaction guarantee. Either the contractor we’ve matched you with completes the project to your satisfaction, or you can get up to $1000 to make sure that it’s completed right.

We’ve used this AHA service in our household for everything from a new roof, to electrical, plumbing, with great success. Even found a good handyman.

And, there’s more: your AHA membership gives you access to a model contractor contract which helps protect you. Simply by filling in the blanks, you clarify for both you and the contractor what the scope of the project is, the materials to be used, the payment stages and terms, as well as the timeline. This step alone will save you from innumerable headaches in your life as a homeowner. It’s all part of the benefit of being a member of America’s #1 homeowner organization. So join here now!