New year resolutions for your home

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

As we move into 2022, after another tough year, there's no doubt that change is at the forefront of thought. but what about for the place that you've been spending the majority of your time? Here are some new year resolutions for your home in 2023
Rearrange furniture and wall décor for a fresh look

Sometimes all it takes is repositioning furniture and freshening up wall décor for a whole new vibe. Embrace the art deco style that's gained popularity in 2021. Buy a few mirrors or frames to create a gallery wall. You can also try color-blocking your walls or putting a Very Peri spin on your apartment—a gallon of paint typically doesn’t cost more than about $40. Some social platforms like Houzz and Pinterest offer ideas and inspiration. A few 2022 Pinterest trend predictions include bringing luxury elements into your home, especially if they don't also have luxury price tags, creating a home office where you can manage your side hustle, turning a spare room into an "emotional escape room," and building in pet-friendly elements like nooks and dog-specific furniture.

Get smart gear to save on energy costs

Work smarter, not harder. Energy Star suggests using smart thermostats, smart lighting, and smart appliances to save costs.
While every home’s heating and cooling system has its quirks—vintage steam radiators, anyone?—depending on the age of the home, most are compatible with smart thermostats made by Ecobee, Honeywell, Emerson, and Nest, the best smart thermostat we've tested.  Similarly, you can make the smart switch in your home’s lighting systems. First eliminate all incandescent light bulbs, which use a lot more energy than LED lights. LED smart bulbs by our top-ranking Philips, Lastly, if you've got the budget, replace old appliances, including the fridge, dishwasher, over, washer and dry, with new, Energy Star or energy efficient ones. Doing so will not only save you energy, it'll save you money.

Clean out your basement, garage, or attic

Start 2022 off fresh with a cathartic decluttering of your hot mess. Getting organized has been gaining steam since 2020, and it's still going strong. If you haven’t jumped aboard this train yet, now’s the time to do so.Areas of the home that you don’t typically see day to day—like the basement, garage, and attic—tend to accumulate the stuff we don’t know what to do with or put aside to deal with later.
You can Order new outdoor furniture in a style that fits your budget and your mood—and order it early, before winter ends. You’ll also need to consider some extras, like shades, outdoor rugs, Adirondack chairs, a bar set-up, and other fun, non-essential pieces.

Empty out a closet or drawer

Every home has a junk drawer jammed with take-out menus, spare keys, flashlights, birthday candles, and the local phone books that are somehow still being printed. Similarly, there’s usually a closet stuffed with wrapping paper rolls, a vacuum, old backpacks, and other miscellaneous ideas you don’t want too far away but don’t have a designated place for.
You can’t toss these frequently used essentials, but organizing their storage areas will make it easier to find what you need when you need it.
For drawers with a little bit of everything, expandable drawer dividers or a drawer organizing system with myriad compartments can make all the difference.

Vent your bathroom to prevent mold

One of the worst situations you can see as a homeowner is mold. Not only is it destructive and gross, it can make you really sick.
Moisture creates mold, and showers create moisture, so if your home doesn’t already have a way to remove humid air and steam from your bathroom, you need to consider installing an exhaust fan.
Don’t install an exhaust fan only to dump the captured air into the attic or a soffit—this redeposits moisture to another area of the house. Instead, vent it out an exterior side wall or gable to the outside.
When installing, make sure to get an exhaust fan that accommodates the size of your bathroom, or it will be ineffective.

Dispose of expired foods

When it comes to food storage, there’s a lot to keep track of, especially if you have a big family.
Most of us store perishables in a kitchen fridge, and, possibly, a second refrigerator. Then you’ve got the pantry or kitchen cabinets for non-perishables, your basement or garage for overflow, and whatever water and canned goods you’ve stashed away in your emergency bunker.

But, when was the last time you cleaned out your fridge or went through your cabinets?
 
Empty out your fridge and give it a deep clean; if you haven’t in a while, look at it with fresh eyes and see the sticky fruit punch drips, dried up blueberries in the crisper drawer, and unidentifiable food dust in the corners. Before you put anything back in, look at use-by dates, especially on foods you may not use daily like salad dressings, pickles, condiments, and jam. Toss out whatever is expired.

Similarly, go through your non-perishable items. As a general rule of thumb, it’s OK to keep canned items past their use-by dates—even by two years, according to the Canned Food Alliance.You can donate any unopened, non-perishable food that is still good to eat but that you won’t use to a local food pantry.
Before you smoosh everything back in the fridge or cabinets, think about organization. In the fridge, consider what should or should not go on the door—readily accessible snacks if you have kids perhaps, but not eggs or milk. In the pantry, group like products together and make sure the items with the soonest use-by dates are closest to the front.
 
Create front entryway/mudroom harmony