7 Bad Habits That are Making You Lose Money on Your House

Owning a house is a great investment. But with any great investment, comes great responsibility. It can easily start to feel like a part-time job with financing, utilities, maintenance, not to mention that most of us have demanding careers and busy family lives. We can often forget all the little maintenance details and smart upgrades our homes require. Here is a list of things you may (or may not) be doing that could help save you money in the long run.

Brian McCourt is a contractor, design expert and co-host of HGTV Canada’s Backyard Builds.

A wooden house with bright red front door in need of paint

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Neglecting Paint or Stain Work

Exterior paint jobs and staining are great ways to customize your home. More importantly, these top coats can seal and protect materials from water damage and harsh climate conditions. When not maintained properly, however, water damage is inevitable and will eventually lead to rot and destroy the materials used to protect your home. Tip: If you’ve already let your exterior surfaces go for an extended period, look into Restore 10X or 4X (by Rust-Oleum). It can save deck boards that are on their last leg and squeeze a little extra life out of an old deck.

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Not Cleaning Filters

Filters are easy to forget, but ignoring them can create even more problems that are far more expensive in the long run. Letting filters build up increases your energy consumption and reduces the lifespan of your furnace because it has to work harder to push through the dust and dirt. But this is an easy fix that shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes four to six times a year. To make your life easier, buy your filters in bulk and set a reminder in your phone for every two or three months (or more often after a renovation).

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Slamming Doors

Maybe it’s the wind or maybe your kids are not as careful as you would like them to be; nevertheless, slamming doors can damage more than your eardrums. The heavy impact can shift jams, loosen hinges, break handles and even create air gaps that allow outside air into your home. Be kind to your doors and keep them off your “fix it” list.

Leaves filling house gutters in the autumn

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Not Cleaning Gutters

I can’t recall anyone saying that they love cleaning their gutters. They’re high up, hard to see and easy to ignore, but allowing leaves and other debris to build up and block your gutters can cause back flooding, roof damage and leaks in your home. It’s a lot easier on your bank account to keep them clean rather than having to replace or repair them. This might be one of those maintenance tasks best done by a hire.

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Not Changing Lightbulbs

This is not a new concept anymore. If you haven’t already swapped out your old bulbs for a new low-energy option, then what are you waiting for? I don’t need to spell out the benefits of LED bulbs, but the upfront investment is well worth the long-term savings and, more importantly, reduces your footprint.

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Neglecting to Upgrade Your Thermostat

Upgrading to a smart thermostat is one of the easiest ways save money on your home. Our homes make up for a huge portion of air pollution (far more than vehicles) and being able to reduce our consumption when we are at work or away for the weekend can add up to huge savings. We don’t leave our cars running all week when we aren’t using them, so why heat our homes at full throttle when we aren’t around? This can add up to a high degree of savings and is worth exploring!

An exposed brick wall with a single light

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Leaving the Lights On

This is perhaps the simplest and most obvious thing on this list (also a personal pet peeve – right up there with someone leaving the front door open when it’s 30 below). I was brought up to flick the switch when leaving a room and it is something that has stuck with me. Like many others on this list, its about saving money, but it’s also about reducing consumption, increasing the life of what we’ve already consumed and about considering our environment.