Resolutions for a Safer and Happier Home

The new year can offer many new beginnings and opportunities, so why not focus some of that positive energy on your home?
By resolving to give it some extra TLC over the next few months, you can create a much more pleasant living environment, helping to foster a sense of tranquility in your everyday life.

Declutter your spaces
Clutter can zap a good mood just as easily as it can attract dust, so make limiting yours a priority.

To help the task seem less daunting, break it into small pieces, such as by spending ten minutes a day tidying your spaces. You could use bins to corral your belongings as you work, perhaps designating separate ones for items to keep and others to get rid of, allowing you to speed up the cleanup process. As weeks pass, you’ll likely see your results grow, and your spaces will look better for it. Give some of your clutter away to charity, and you’ll also benefit from contributing to a good cause.

Secure your home
Your home is your castle, a place where you can relax, create memories, and recharge. But you don’t need to fortify yours with a moat to make it more secure—there are several easy and relatively inexpensive tactics you can employ instead. For example, upgrading to a video doorbell would help you keep an eye on your visitors and packages, while putting up some motion-sensor exterior lights would likely deter any potential intruders. You could also add an extra layer of protection with a smart security system, such as one from SimpliSafe or Vivint, which offers security measures like cameras, a siren, additional sensors, and 24/7 professional monitoring.

Create a safe haven
Once you’ve taken steps to protect your home from exterior threats, turn your attention to safeguarding it from possible interior ones like house fires. Working smoke alarms can prevent costly damage and, per the National Fire Protection Association, cut the risk of dying in a home fire by 50 percent. So if you haven’t done so already, position one in each bedroom and on each level of your house. Equally dangerous is carbon monoxide, a gas you can’t see or smell, making it important to place a carbon monoxide detector close to your main living spaces and bedrooms as well. Also test your home for radon, an odorless and colorless gas that’s been linked to lung cancer, particularly if you have a concrete slab or a basement.

Make a cleaning plan
Once you’ve upgraded the safety of your home and have removed clutter, you can make it sparkle, too, by drawing up a cleaning schedule. Follow it faithfully, and your regular chores may eventually become second nature, making them seem much less taxing. For example, consider dusting on Mondays, mopping or vacuuming the floors on Wednesdays, scrubbing the bathroom on Thursdays, and straightening up your kitchen nightly after dinner. Use time-saving helpers like robotic vacuums and cordless scrub brushes to give yourself a few extra minutes of relaxation at the end of the day—a just reward for all you’ve accomplished.

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