Favorite Maintenance Day

There are very few jobs in home maintenance that make me as happy as the day I get my windows cleaned. Getting a new roof, no. Replacing an HVAC, no. Regraveling the driveway, definitely not. But paying four tiny men to clean the inside and outside of my windows, Yes, Yes, and Yes.

If I thought I could afford it I would have my windows cleaned four times a year. Alas, that would be a huge waste, but I would be so happy.

The week after daylight saving makes perfect sense as a time to clean because I want whatever afternoon sun there is to get in and I want my windows clean for all the Holiday parties.

While those tiny men were here, they cleaned off my roof and my gutters and cleaned up all the cobwebs with dead leaves that were around the doors and windows.

I am amazed how fast they are able to clean the storm and screen windows as well as my regular windows.

Getting my windows cleaned by others is a luxury I did not know about until I was older. I owned a house in Washington DC and not once did I get my windows cleaned. There was city dirt I am sure should have removed, but I had no idea that I could hire people to do this.

Most young homeowners don’t know how much money you need to have set aside for annual home maintenance. The rule of thumb is you are going to spend between one and four percent of the value of your house on big maintenance, not things like cleaning or yard up keep.

I was lucky that when I first bought homes I did not have any major replacements that came up unexpectedly, but that was just luck. My advice now is to young people is to have a deferred maintenance fund that you contribute to annually so when you need something major replaced you don’t worry about where the money is coming from.

Cleaning your windows is not something that falls into the deffered maintenance category, but it does help you enjoy your house so much more.