As we enter into another winter of COVID shutdowns, lockdowns and mandates, it is important to focus our time on home projects that can be completed without a substantial financial commitment, and would not be entertained unless we were in this unique situation.
- Closet purging / take the time to remove everything from one closet at a time. Place the items in the room that the closet serves and simply look at them. How many of the items have not been used or even thought about for over 2 years. Remove them and either place them on your favorite website or throw them away.
- Observe your home / walk the rooms, the hallways, attic and basement. Note the very simple items that can either be fixed or cleaned up. You will be surprised at the number of extremely simple tasks that you simply walk around or ignore when you are not locked down or forced to remain in your home.
- Identify your home insulation / by feeling the cold and or the heat emanating from a window frame or a light switch, you can identify the various situations that are allowing either cooling or heating to escape. Fix them! In most situations this is not a difficult task with spray insulation, caulking or simple wood trim around the openings.
- All around home purging / this is the perfect opportunity for you to minimize the items in your home. Cubby holes are perfect, observe your home and the furniture and miscellaneous items around the home. Bookshelves, cabinets, vanities, etc. can be evaluated and cleaned. If you have not used it in the last two years, the chances are that you will not need this item. Donate it, sell it, or simply discard it.
- Light bulbs / do you really need the highest wattage in every lamp and fixture? Walk around, evaluate what lights are needed to be bright and which lights can be dim. The replacement of LED lamps will reduce your electricity consumption as well as provide you with some insight into the environmental benefits of reducing electrical consumption.
- Walk through the dark side / haha, meaning, go up in the attic or down in the basement. The areas of the home that you have decided to ignore for the last several years. Purge, organize and select only the items that you are convinced you will need.
- Organize your books / This is a personal favorite of mine! I love books, the problem is that they accumulate and clutter all bookshelves, basements, attics, etc. Look at them, unless you can give them away or sell them, donate them. But it takes time, you now have it, organize and minimize your books. Donate to old age homes, libraries, etc.
- Accept the expiration dates / Look into your cluttered kitchen pantry, your shelves and cabinets and get rid of ALL the items that have expired. I cannot count the number of items we have moved from place to place that have expired. Hello, get rid of them.
Simple and quick / instead of brooding, take advantage and use this time to get the activities that you would never think about done!! You will be happy you did!!