The other night, after everyone else was asleep; I went to check on my 5-year-old twins. They had coughs and sore throats earlier this fall, so I’m very concerned about air quality and the temperature in their bedroom. And their room was incredibly warm and humid, even with the air-conditioning on!

Something inspired me to look at the air-conditioning filter. I took the cover off and found the culprit immediately — a thick coating of gray lint and dust. I decided to check the master bedroom, and found the same thing — our air conditioner filter was totally caked with gray lint.

I took both air-conditioning filters, which are plastic and made to be washable, and washed them thoroughly. (Plain 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, potentially avoiding illness. These days all of us live very busy lives, and yet it’s unavoidable — owning a home involves lots of simple routines and maintenance cycles you shouldn’t avoid.

That’s why I want to remind you about AHA’s email Home Reminders. They’re free.
AHA reminders help you organize your life and your home. Count on them to help you stay on top of 58 different home and personal tasks. You choose the reminders you want, how often you want them, and where they go. They’ll even recommend how often you need to do some tasks. Ordinary home maintenance jobs (like cleaning air filters) and personal routines (such as a haircut or visit to the dentist) become simply part of an orderly life.

So do yourself a favor, as I have: go to http://www.ahahome.com/enroll and spend under 10 minutes setting up a year’s worth of free home reminders. They can save you many hours and countless aggravation in the coming year — I guarantee it.

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Let me tell you about an experience I had recently that’s so common for people who own homes, it happens every day. And it has to do with…of all things…trees.

Our home sits on a lot in the middle of a number of very old trees. Some of the trees may have been here for a hundred years. Mostly they seem to be healthy, although when we looked a bit, we could see dead limbs here and there.

My wife started worrying when she heard creaking noises in the largest tree, a Norway Maple right next to the driveway, with big loopy branches ominously poised above her car in the driveway.

It began to look like some of these huge lumbering branches could fall without warning and cause a great deal of damage, especially in a high wind, or if snow got on the branches. So we decided we needed some professional assistance to help us figure out what to do.

This Maple tree is what you would call a “prime feature” of the property in the front yard, so it’s not like we wanted to just chop it down.

So we (more accurately, my wife) started looking for a reliable tree guy (not to be gender biased, but all of the people who’ve shown up have been guys). The first three guys she got from the local yellow pages.

The first guy came and said he’d trim up the front tree for $500 and remove a branch that had fallen in the backyard.

The second guy came and said to chop down the whole tree and did we want the stump removed too, because that would cost extra. That would all be about $2,100.

The third guy said he would recommend chopping the tree down, including the stump, and that would cost $2,835. Or there was another way we could go which was to cable the tree, for $1,340. (He was a certified arborist, whose company had won various awards.)

The fourth guy, who came through AHA, said it would cost $700 just to remove the fallen branch in the back of the Maple.

The fifth guy, who came through AHA, was a true arborist, who went over all the property very carefully, and found other problems with trees that need to be cabled. He said he’d cable the large Norway Maple, and stabilize it, for $900, and he’d remove the broken limb in the back for $450. He also found two other trees in the back that need cabling. So the total would be $2,100.

So which of the 5 did we go with? None of the above. We got our lawn crew to take down a small dead tree in the back and clean up a bunch of other stuff for $300. Then we had the local utility company trim the worst branch on the Norway Maple at no charge.

My experience illustrates the need to get estimates from multiple sources before deciding on the right course of action. In my case, it saved thousands of dollars.

Take it from me — there often is more than one right answer. Your choice may be dictated by your budget, timing and availability of services. Don’t forget that with AHA membership, it’s easy to find resources, services and advice, to help you research the best choice for you.

So join here now!

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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!

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