14 smart ways to save money when upkeeping your home

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One of the most difficult parts of owning a home is keeping up with maintenance without eating through your entire savings account. Even basic repairs can be expensive if ignored for too long. But there are plenty of ways to save money while keeping your house from slowly falling apart.
Turning home maintenance into a series of do-it-yourself projects is the easiest way to take care of the house at an affordable pace. Just choose which projects are the most important and are within your budget and tackle them one at a time. This list can help any DIY-ready homeowner figure out where to start.
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1. Make your own household cleaners
Keeping a clean house is the bare minimum of home care because it takes less effort and time than household repairs. However, it's also the kind of upkeep that has to happen most frequently. Instead of constantly buying a variety of cleaning products, figure out which ones you can make on your own. For instance, a great all-purpose cleaner requires nothing more than 4 tablespoons baking soda mixed into 1 quart warm water. And keeping vinegar on hand will clean just about anything else. Replacing store-bought cleaners with homemade ones might take a little extra time at first, but will save the most money in the long run.
2. Refinish wood floors
Wood floors usually look nicer than any other kind of flooring. However, the upkeep for wood floors is a more involved process than something like carpet. But refinishing wood floors, if done correctly, shouldn't need to be done too often. Start with a completely clean floor. Scuff-sand the floor with a buffer, which will be the largest expense for this project (most hardware stores will rent them out for a reasonable rate). Let the dust settle and vacuum over the floors with a felt-bottomed attachment. Use a long-handled roller to put the finish on the floors, going first with the grain and then across it. Renting the buffer and refinishing the floors yourself will cost significantly less than hiring a professional or putting in new floors.
3. Weather strip exterior doors
One way to keep the heating bill down is to prevent cold air from getting into the house. The easiest way to do this is by weather stripping all of the house's exterior doors. Start by cutting foam tape to fit the sides and top of the door. Peel off the back and press the foam into the inside of the stop moulding. Next, cut the aluminum sweep to fit the bottom of the door and screw it in place, making sure its bottom touches the floor. These simple steps will keep out unwanted cold air and keep the heating bill as low as the outside temperature.
4. Change furnace filters
Another easy way to keep costs down and temperatures up in the winter is to frequently change the furnace filters. Figure out what type of filter is needed and buy them in bulk. Once a month during the winter, turn off the furnace, remove the old filter and install a new one. Replacing the filters on a monthly basis with clean ones will prevent clogs and keep the furnace from working too hard and using too much power.
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5. Trim the dryer hose
If there's plenty of slack in the hose when the dryer is pulled out a few feet from the wall, then the hose can be shortened. Shortening the hose will prevent clogs and help the dryer run more efficiently, which also cuts down on the amount of time it takes to dry clothes. Measure how much hose to cut, detach the hose from the dryer and slice through it with tin snips. Reattach the vent hose to the dryer, attach it to the wall and move the dryer back into place.
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6. Insulate hot-water pipes
Whether for showers, washing dishes or doing laundry, most households use a lot of hot water. The bigger the house, the longer it takes for hot water to move through the pipes and out of the faucet. Insulating the hot-water pipes can speed up this process, getting the hot water out faster and cutting down on how long the water needs to run. Pipe insulation is an easy DIY project and the only cost is for inexpensive preformed foam tubes to slide over the pipes.
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7. Drain the water heater
Even if the pipes are insulated and everyone in the house limits their water usage, the bills won't really be cheaper if the water heater isn't properly cared for. Over time, sediment builds up in the tank, forcing it to work harder, which in turn causes it to cost more. To fix this problem, drain the water heater once a year. Turn off the water heater, hook up a hose to the drain valve, open the pressure relief valve and let the water drain out through the hose. When all of the water is out, close the two valves to allow the tank to refill and turn the power back on to the water heater.
 Minerva Studio / Shutterstock
8. Install ceiling fans
Running the air conditioner all summer might help the comfort level of everyone in the house, but it will also severely drive up the energy bill. Instead of relying on the AC, install ceiling fans in the rooms people are in most often. Start by turning off the power and uninstalling the light fixture from the ceiling. Install a support brace if necessary and the junction box. Mount the fan bracket to the junction box, then hook up the motor assembly and finish by installing the fan blades and light fixture. This will help keep the house cool without constantly running the air conditioner.
 antoniodiaz / Shutterstock
9. Use expanding foam filler
After installing new doors or windows, homeowners occasionally discover gaps around the frames. Air gets in through these gaps, forcing the air conditioner or heater to work harder and raising bills. These gaps can be easily filled with window and door expanding foam filler. Just spray a thin layer of foam into the gap and wait for it to expand. Depending on the size of the gap, you shouldn't need more than just that one layer, but if the gap is fairly large, spray in enough to cover it.
 Igor Meshkov / Shutterstock
10. Clean refrigerator coils
If the refrigerator no longer seems to be running cold enough, the food inside could go bad before its expiration date. Take care of this problem by cleaning the refrigerator coils. First, locate whether the coils are on the top, bottom or back of the fridge, move it away from the wall if necessary and unplug it. Use a coil brush to remove any dirt, pet hair or dust clogging up the coils. If necessary, vacuum the area around the fridge before plugging it back in and moving it back into place.
 Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock
11. Clear out gutters
Cleaning out the gutters might not seem like an obvious way to save money, but it will make things cheaper in the future. When rain gutters are clogged with leaves and dirt, rainwater has nowhere to go so it pools on the roof, leading to leaks, wood rot and bugs. The actual process of cleaning the gutters, while time-consuming, isn't too difficult. Just throw on a pair of gloves, climb up the ladder and start digging debris out of the gutter. After the gunk is cleared out, run water through the gutter and the downspout to make sure there are no remaining clogs.
12. Install insulation in the attic
Anyone with an attic already knows that proper insulation is absolutely necessary to help regulate the temperature throughout the rest of the house. But not everyone knows the best ways to insulate their attic. Most professionals use spray foam insulation, but for a DIY project, rolling out and installing fiberglass mats is easier and cheaper.
 Nagy-Bagoly Arpad / Shutterstock
13. Pump the septic tank
Even if the plumbing is working properly, a septic tank should still be pumped every 2-3 years. To clear out the sludge in the tank, use a cast-iron pump to suck out the solid waste and move it into a removal container. After the sludge is removed, find out how to legally dispose of the waste. Waste removal can be done by professionals if necessary, but individual homeowners can take care of pumping the septic tank on their own for a much lower cost.
 KaliAntye / Shutterstock
14. Deep clean carpets
There will come a time in every homeowner's life when just vacuuming the carpet isn't enough and it's time to bring out the heavy-duty machinery: a carpet steam cleaner. Don't worry if you don't have one; most major hardware stores rent them out for a reasonable fee. For major stains, mix 1/4 cup salt, 1/4 cup borax and 1/4 cup vinegar into a paste, set it on the stains and leave it to soak into the carpet for a few hours before vacuuming away. The part that will save the most money comes with the steam cleaning. Don't worry about buying carpet shampoo or any name-brand cleaners. Just fill up the steam cleaner with really hot water and make two passes over the carpet with it.
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