Home & Office Maintenance and Safety Checklist for the New Year
During the holiday season, people’s free time often dwindles. People are shopping for gifts, preparing for their holiday guests, and celebrating a new calendar year. Because of this, the end of the year is often regarded as the busiest time of the year. But when the New Year comes, people tend to have more time again.
Many individuals will begin the year by setting New Year’s resolutions for themselves. These resolutions are set with the intention of bettering one’s self, but they don’t need to be limited to personal growth. The New Year is also a great time to work on improving other things, such as your home and office.
January is perfect for a little pre-spring cleaning and careful inspection of your home and office
To help simplify the process, at Solid Rock we created a 20 January Home & Office Maintenance Checklist. It will guide you through preventive maintenance tasks to make your home and offices a safer, healthier place for you and your family and colleagues in the new year.
20 January home & office maintenance checklist
1. Clean the kitchen
If you’ve been hosting holiday events, your kitchen has logged some overtime. Maybe it’s time to give it (and yourself) a break and order some takeout.
Before you cozy up on the couch, clean these parts of your kitchen so it’s fresh and well-functioning
2. Check your range hood filter
Now that the busy season is over for your kitchen, it’s a good time to clean your range-hood filter in boiling water and baking soda. This not only rids your filter of ickiness—it helps keep your kitchen air pure. If the grease is too stubborn to clean, opt for a new filter instead.
3. Clean your cooling coils
Refrigerator coils are dust bunny magnets. Boost your fridge’s energy efficiency by vacuuming the coils regularly.
4. Get organized
Now that the holidays are over, your bedroom and shared spaces deserve some TLC. Time to make your environment conducive to all the ambitious New Year’s resolutions you have your eye on.
5. Create a home inventory
Make a list of the items you want your insurance company to know about if, heaven forbid, you lost your home in a fire or flood. Don’t forget to add any big-ticket items you got over the holidays.
6. Update home files
Gather up all those instruction manuals and warranties and slip them into a single file. But first, check if the instruction manuals are available online—you may be able to chuck the physical copy. While you’re organizing, start a file for all the income tax paperwork you’re getting in the mail.
7. Pack away decorations
You’ll thank yourself next year if you take the time to coil your lights carefully and pack ornaments securely so nothing gets broken.
8. Declutter closets
Start off your new year with some breathing room by dropping the dead weight of unused items.
9. Check batteries
Storms can bring power outages, so it’s a good idea to check batteries and bulbs in flashlights, weather radios, and other emergency gear.
Restock your battery supply so you’ve got plenty of replacements throughout the year.
10. Do house maintenance
Inspect pipes
Hopefully you’ve already bundled up your water pipes with pipe insulation, but it’s still a good idea to check them for cracks. Catching a leak before it happens can save you from costly water damage.
11.Clean filters and vents
If you didn’t change your furnace filter as part of your December Home Maintenance Checklist, now is the time. Clear debris from your dryer vents and other air vents so you can breathe easy.
12.Inspect house structure
Grab a flashlight and inspect exposed beams, foundations, and your chimney for cracks, leaks, mold, and damage from pests.
13. Inspect bathrooms
Your bathrooms need some love this month too—make sure to replenish medical supplies and ward off water damage.
Replenish medical supplies
Add more bandages, burn cream, and antiseptic to your first aid kit to make up for all the holiday injuries you doctored in December. Keep plenty of cold and cough medicine and vitamin C on hand to prep for flu season.
Run water in unused spaces
It’s a good idea to flush toilets and run water in unused bathrooms to prevent frozen pipes and hard water stains. Clean your water softener to keep it in good working order.
14. Prepare for emergencies
Don’t forget to test and inspect the safety devices standing at the ready in your hallways.
Test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
Check fire extinguishers
Speaking of fires, confirm that your emergency fire extinguishers are still charged. If the needle on the pressure gauge is in the green, you’re all set. Otherwise, get it recharged.
15. Review your emergency plan
Make sure your family knows what the alarms on the smoke detectors sound like and what to do in case of a fire. Practice!
Check out our guide to preparing kids for emergencies for tons of helpful activities and resources.
16 Upgrade outside
Check off these January to-dos for the outside of your home. These tasks protect your home exterior so you can feel safe inside.
Replace light bulbs
It’s important to have working outdoor lights for your safety and home security. Replace any burnt-out bulbs.
17.Start researching security cameras
Smart homeowners start planning ahead for the burglary season by researching home security systems and surveillance cameras
18. Clear your gutters
Clear gutters of leaves, debris, ice dams, and icicles to prevent damage to your roof and siding.
19. Keep your devices running smoothly
Once a month there are a few things you need to do to keep all of the devices around your home running smoothly and safely. The first of each month is a perfect time to do a quick checkup.
Review the list of devices connected to your Wi-Fi
To make sure that someone else isn’t using your Wi-Fi and sucking up your precious bandwidth, check the list of devices that are connected to it. For most routers this is as easy as logging into its online dashboard. Make sure to delete any devices you don’t recognize.
Reset the Wi-Fi password
Changing the Wi-Fi password every month may be a hassle, but it is a good way to prevent others from hacking into your network and potentially stealing your personal information. Use our cybersecurity guide to make your password strong.
20. Inspect furniture, cabinets, and vanities for loose knobs, pulls & hinges. Tighten or repair as necessary. Lubricate squeaky door hinges with lightweight machine oil. Free sticky doors by trimming edges or shimming hinges with thin pieces of cardboard.
At Solid Rock, we are wishing all our clients and loved ones A Prosperous, Blessed and Safe 2023. We thank you for your patronage
