Unexpected expenses of home ownership never cease, often exceed foreseen and planned insurance premiums, monthly mortgage, and property taxes when major improvements are needed, such as roofs and windows.
While gardening makes weekly demands, there are tasks people forget or postpone indefinitely since they’re only required every 3, 5 or 10 years, depending upon your property or residence. Each requires planning in advance, since they are inevitable budget busters. Save annually about 3% of total value of appliances, auto, and home for contingencies. Given high housing costs and need to know when neglect is inherent, old timers might be persuaded to share their tribal knowledge with Gen-X mansplainers who don't know they are headed into crises:
Assess household appliances; planned obsolescence means your air conditioner, clothes dryer, dishwasher, furnace, garage door opener, microwave oven, refrigerator, sump pump, washer, water heater, or well pump are living on borrowed time waiting to fail when least convenient. Had to replace a furnace oil burner on Christmas Day one year. Attaching a plastic tag with an installed date can be a useful reminder. Appliances typically last on average 13 years, dishwashers, microwave, and water heaters 10, HVAC units 20.
Change jobs to move up; after 3 years of marginal increases or no promotions you’re sure that bosses don’t respect your contributions, thereby making home ownership more difficult. Being taken for granted never compels loyalty.
Check CO2, radon, and smoke detectors; replace batteries. Some might argue this is an annual or biannual task, but 36 months it a hard limit. Entirely replace every 10 years.
Clean grout lines, porcelains, and tiles with an appropriate chemical solution; weekly or monthly washing leaves buildup of film, grease, and wax. Reseal grout.
Cut hedges back by 1/3 and remove dead branches late every 5th winter; manure, mulch, and water to restore thick foliage.
Dispatch and/or replace stuff untouched in 3 years, especially broken tools, expired canned goods, drugs and ointments, frayed extension cords, stored liquids and paints; shred outdated financial statements no longer useful as tax records past federal statutes of limitations at 3, 6, or 10 years.
Divide garden perennials, such as daylilies, irises, and perennial herbs; roots strangle each other producing ever fewer blooms. Loosen garden beds and renew with well rotted compost.
Drain and refill boiler/furnace and water heater every 3rd summer when demand is least; any service you get past 10 years is a bonus due to good maintenance.
Dry lubricate door hinges, portal locks, slider rails, and window glides.
Empty septic tank. If instead connected to sewers, have drain lines inspected every 10 years.
Inspect motor vehicle belts, hoses, and tires; all are rated for only 5 years, slightly longer if routinely garaged. Many cars must be replaced after 125,000 miles, unless exceptionally well cared for, with a hard limit of 250,000 miles or 20 years before recycling or rehabilitating. Ownership costs average $9,600/year, but decline with age as long as driven often enough, say weekly, to keep components free and lubricated.
Inspect wooden building foundations for termites. After initial, more frequent, and successful extermination efforts, routinely renew pest control and spread protection at 5 year intervals.
Install gutter guards, or scrape out debris and leaves. Gutter flooding can damage roof and siding, even indoor ceilings and walls.
Lightbulbs supposedly fail after ~1200 hours, which could be 3 years depending upon intervals left on. Keep multiple replacements on hand for when they do, then not always available. Consider LED alternatives that use less wattage for same lumens, as long as their bases fit your installed fixtures.
Lubricate garage door hinges and roller runs.
Note drafts and reseal periphery of exterior windows neatly with vinyl caulk. If you can’t remove window air conditioners for winters, you might consider wrapping outdoor portion in an insulated cover.
Power spray algae, flaked stain, lichen, loose paint, mildew, and mold off decks, door jams, railings, sidewalks, siding, soffits, steps, and storm gutters.
Recaulk sinks, tubs, and transitions; remove excess for a concave, indented surface which sheds water to retard mold.
Replace bicycle helmets; they deteriorate and get brittle from exposure to direct sun, household chemicals, impact shocks, or poor storage; once cracked in a crash, they are worthless as noggin shock absorbers.
Replace faucet washers, or units themselves, and whole house purification filters. Routinely check to ensure no water leakage throughout plumbing system.
Replace installed rugs and stair runners every decade. Area rugs can be cleaned as needed, or at 5 year intervals, and reused.
Restain wood decks, railings, and steps; if you wait too long, you’ll have to power wash and/or sand and sometimes bleach to revive wood, perhaps even replace boards or components.
Review financial direction, post mortem wills, and retirement plans.
Sand and scrape loose paint or rust off enclosed porch decks, house exterior surfaces, metalwork fences and railings, or trim not covered by aluminum or vinyl siding; repaint.
Sand exposed wooden floors and immediately varnish every decade.
Seal asphalt driveways or walkways every decade; asphalt doesn’t last long under heavy use.
Service gas lawnmowers, snowblowers, and trimmers.
Snug toilet flange bolts; never over-tighten.
Soak shower head in solution to remove lime deposits.
Stand apart from house at various angles and view entire roof with binoculars to inspect for buckled or missing shingles, cracked siding, or loose trim. Check ceilings indoors for stains that might indicate leaks.
Sweep ducts, dryer exhaust, and flues, and install new filters.
Sweep chimney if you intermittently burn firewood, more often if you heat by wood. Every 10 years have a professional inspect flues.
Treat windows with glass wax at least every 3 years, more often if stained. Moist sponge it on to clean, let dry, then remove haze with a microfiber towel. Extends shine and repels dirt.
Trim tree limbs, especially ones that overlap or threaten power lines.
Tuck point masonry every decade; at same time, check foundation for cracks and window frames for rot, especially around basements.
Vacuum dust from refrigerator coils.
Vote in national elections every 4 years, and, if possible, elections occurring in between; only 50% of eligible citizens exercise this democratic right, including residents of true blue Rhode Island, United States of America. Beats living in Texas, The Separatist State of Magastan, where governor unilaterally decides whose votes get counted.