Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Home in 2023

With 2023 approaching, it’s time to start thinking about New Year’s resolutions. Many people look inward when deciding what part of their lives needs improvement. Popular resolutions include working out more, de-stressing, and becoming more organized. While these are all admirable aspirations, it’s equally important to make noticeable changes to your environment and living space. This is why we’ve created a roundup of New Year’s resolutions specifically for your home. 

Since home improvement is a broad category and everyone has different goals for their New Year’s resolutions for 2023, we’ve divided our list into three groups. This way, you can choose which aspect of your home to prioritize. The first talks about home maintenance and keeping your home in tip-top shape, the second looks at home safety and keeping your family secure, and the third is focused on organization and cleaning habits. 

New Year’s Resolutions Ideas for Home Maintenance 

Inspect and Repair Your Home’s Exterior

Homes are built to withstand decades of exposure to the elements. As a homeowner, you must take care of your home’s exterior so it can continue to protect you and your family. But thanks to the hustle and bustle of modern life, it can be difficult to ensure every crack, chip, and crevice is accounted for and addressed. This year, we recommend setting aside some time to take a closer look at your home’s most important exterior portions: the roof, foundation, and gutters. 

We recommend thoroughly inspecting these regions starting in early spring. Keep an eye out for cracks, missing shingles, loose hangers, and any other problems that may have popped up over the last year. Make a list of each problem you find, and schedule a time to address and repair each. For a more detailed breakdown of home exterior problems, you can also schedule a roof, foundation, or general home inspection. 

Keep Your Lawn Healthy

Keeping your lawn in good condition does more than increase your home’s value and curb appeal; it also helps protect it from pests and mold. And homeowners may not realize there’s a lot that can go into keeping your lawn happy and healthy. If you want to get a leg up on your lawn this year, we recommend making time for the following: 

• Get a soil test – Obtaining a soil test will give you your lawn’s pH level, micronutrients, soil type, and general moisture levels. Knowing these is essential for leveling up your lawn care. 
• Reseed dead spots – Reseeding dead areas will not only help keep your lawn looking great, but it also helps prevent erosion and aids in soil stability. 
• Master your watering schedule to control moisture levels – Maintaining good lawn moisture is difficult. Different grass types, soil types, landscaping elements, and precipitation levels can all affect your watering schedule. Look into the watering schedule for your type of grass and region, then adjust accordingly. 

Check Your Home’s Indoor Air Quality 

Air quality is something that homeowners can easily take for granted but is a core factor in our health and comfort. Make air quality one of your top priorities this year, as it can significantly affect your ability to live well and enjoy your home. Specifically, we recommend checking for harmful gases like radon, one of the leading causes of lung cancer for non-smokers.

To better understand your home’s air quality, you can either perform an at-home test or hire a professional. While plenty of high-quality indoor air quality tests are available, we recommend scheduling a home inspection. An inspector can provide a more accurate analysis of your indoor air as their equipment is much more precise and tests for more harmful particles. Furthermore, a comprehensive inspection will also tell you what parts of your home affect your air quality, and an inspector can better explain the air quality test results. 

Take Steps To Cut Down on Energy Usage

When most people think about at-home energy efficiency, they immediately consider installing solar panels and undertaking large-scale home improvement projects or major remodels. 

While these investments will help you save energy and money, they can be tall orders for most homeowners. When planning to save on energy, we recommend starting small, with impactful habit changes and manageable home improvements. You can save money, reduce your carbon footprint, and lower energy bills without feeling overwhelmed by major changes or colossal undertakings. 

Here are some simple DIY ways you can save on energy and recycling:

• Turn off lights when you leave the room.
• Set computers to enter sleep mode when not in use. 
• Switch to LED light bulbs.
• Use advanced power strips to cut back on “vampire power.” 
• Cut back on watering with drought-resistant plants. 
• Don’t let taps run idle when cooking or cleaning.
• Check on and replace weather stripping on windows. 
• Install a sweep on your front door. 
• Use cold water in your washer for clothes.
• Install a programmable, smart thermostat. 
• Replace furnace filters in your HVAC system.
• Install low-flow showerheads.
• Turning off the air conditioner when leaving the house.

New Year’s Safety Resolutions for Your Home

Check Your Smoke Alarms and Carbon Monoxide Detectors

Two of your home’s most important safety features are smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Smoke alarms alert your household in case of a fire, and carbon monoxide detectors measure the level of toxic gases in the air. 

There are several vital steps to ensure your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors are functioning correctly. Here are the most important ones: 

• Check replacement date – The manufacturer date is located on the back of a smoke detector. Smoke detectors should be replaced once every 10 years; if yours is more than 10 years old, it’s time for a new one. 
• Test functionality – The U.S. Fire Administration recommends smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors should undergo monthly checks. Hold down the test button until a high pitch beep sounds (two beeps for most carbon monoxide detectors). If the beep sounds weak, faded, or non-existent, replace the device’s batteries or purchase a replacement detector. 

Get Fire Extinguishers 

In addition to smoke detectors, another home safety must-have is a set of fire extinguishers. When shopping for fire extinguishers, you will notice there are several different kinds, the most common of which are class A, B, and C. 

Each kind of fire extinguisher is designed to handle a specific kind of fire: 

• Class A – These extinguishers handle fires from wood, plastics, paper, cloth, and rubber.
• Class B – These control flammable and combustible liquids, like tar, oils, petroleum-based gases, solvents, lacquers, alcohol, etc. 
• Class C – These specialize in electrical fires. 

While it may sound like a good idea to have one of each kind of extinguisher, most experts disagree. In most situations, the average homeowner won’t have the presence of mind to distinguish between a type A, B, or C fire and then find the correct corresponding extinguisher. Instead, purchasing a combination type A-B-C extinguisher that works on most home fires is much safer and easier, as it can handle most fires that could occur within the home.

The National Fire Protection Association recommends keeping at least one fire extinguisher on each level of your home. Place these extinguishers in areas of your home with a higher likelihood of fire, like a kitchen or workshop. Choose an extinguisher large enough to extinguish a fire but not too heavy to be unwieldy. We recommend a five to 10-pound A-B-C rated extinguisher. 

Consider a Pest Inspection and a Mold Inspection 

There are few home problems as insidious as pests and mold. These two threats can creep into your home undetected and slowly grow between walls and under baseboards, unnoticed but not inactive. 

For pests, home invaders like termites, carpet beetles, and lawn grubs can wreak serious havoc on your house and possessions for years without anyone noticing. Mold is similar; one bad leak and a patch of furry, noxious mildew begins growing unseen. Because of this, we recommend scheduling a yearly mold and pest inspection to catch any unwanted guests in your home. 

Make a Home Safety Checklist

Home safety checklists are created to ensure that your home meets specific safety requirements. Think of them like building codes, but instead of measuring the structure of your home, they check the safety of everything from lighting to slick surfaces, item storage, and even furniture condition. These checklists can be as simple or comprehensive as you deem necessary, but we like this one from the University of Georgia’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences.  

Cleaning and Upkeep New Year’s Resolutions

Decompress and Declutter Major Spaces

Keeping a clean home can be a constant struggle. Our busy lives make it easy to let our major spaces become cluttered, like the living room, bedroom, or home office. Even worse, as the clutter builds up, cleaning it becomes more difficult and is more likely to be put on the back burner until we have more time. 

One of our favorite New Year’s home improvement resolutions is purging these spaces of clutter, trash, and unwanted items. We recommend setting aside one or two days in the week, preferably over the weekend, and tackling these rooms in shifts. Work for a period, then rest, so the work never feels too overwhelming. Be sure to categorize goals, such as cleaning a specific surface, corner, or obstacle in each room – this will make larger rooms feel more manageable and give you a great sense of accomplishment as you work. 

Create a System for Long-term Cleaning

This resolution can easily go hand-in-hand with the previous one to help you avoid clutter buildup in the first place. Finding a good rhythm for cleaning can be challenging, but once you get it down, your home will feel much better to live in day-to-day. 

Start with prioritizing the most important daily chores, like throwing away trash, doing laundry, and cleaning dishes. Make each of these chores a part of your daily routine. If you live with a partner or family, encourage them to work together, picking certain days to handle chores. After that, begin incorporating weekly tasks, like removing clutter, dusting, or vacuuming. Once your rhythm is down, you can start setting monthly goals, like room-by-room cleaning.

Don’t Forget About Your Home When Making New Year’s Resolutions 

The new year represents the spirit of new beginnings and self-improvement, so why not begin this journey right at home? From scheduling a home inspection to getting your cleaning routine down, installing LED bulbs, and performing soil tests, these New Year’s resolutions for your living space can help improve your household. Ultimately, taking up any of these aspirational goals is a solid step toward general home improvement and better housekeeping. 

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