Maintaining your Major Home Appliances

People tend to forget to do something that, quite frankly, is easy to forget about. Especially for a first time home buyer or someone who has no idea about these things. for you all, I understand! As a homebuyer, you don't think about the things like "oh, need to check my furnace filter" or "the AC should work just fine in the Summer, we don't need to look at it." Trust me! I am with you! I struggle to remember to do all the things needed to do to maintain my major home appliances. I mean c'mon, with as busy as our lives can be, especially around the holidays, the last thing on our mind is to make sure that the appliances are maintained. We see it as, its working, so no need to mess with it.

Well this is so wrong, and I am guilty of it! Appliances, in my opinion, are like the uncharted territory for people who don't have much experience with them. I grew up in an apartment my whole life, lived in one as an adult too, and in apartments you don't have to worry about making sure the furnace filter is cleaned, or the AC is good to go, even for the next Summer. As a new homebuyer, I realized that my lack of knowledge really came back to bite me. One day, 2 months after moving into our new home our heat went out. We were so confused because everything passed when we had our home inspection.

So after days of no dryer (another story), and an appointment with a heating company, they had told us that the furnace filter needed to be changed. The what?!? We didn't even know how to do it! I know, sad! But again, I was so used to never having to worry about it! The repair person explained how we needed to do everything, and I felt so stupid but he explained to us that this is actually pretty common. People tend to forget to do this. I was relieved but also so astounded that even people who have owned homes before forget to take care of the major home appliances. But than I thought, well we knew we had to do something with the furnace but we forgot. We were lucky enough that we didn't have to replace our whole unit! What a bill that would be!

The moral of the story is, please, PLEASE remember to change/clean your furnace. Even if you aren't using it, or just cleaned it, at least check it every month. I cannot stress the importance of this. And for those of you who know to do this, this can be a friendly reminder to you to check it in between the 5 loads of laundry, or making dinner, go take a quick 5 minute break and check on it. Your wallets will thank you! I don't want someone making the same mistake as me because I was pretty spoiled never really having to worry about it. It was like a blessing and a curse. Now I am thankful that I remember every month to check or change it. This can be a lesson or a reminder for everyone out there who reads our blogs!

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