You’re ready to start spring cleaning the house. You want to remove the clutter sitting on your countertops, tables and floors. You want to get rid of the piles of junk sitting in your garage, your attic, your basement and all of your closets. You want to clean out clogged filters and wipe down appliances until they’re sparkling again.
All of this spring cleaning will make your house feel completely refreshed. It can also help you save money. Read ahead to find out how.
Finding Cash
Whenever you buckle down and decide to give your home a thorough clean, you’ll find money. You’ll find loose change under couch cushions, crumpled dollar bills in jacket pockets and forgotten gift cards beneath piles of paper. Collect this money and add it to your wallet!
If you don’t want to use the gift cards, you can try to return them to the original retailer for the cash value (this may only be possible with the receipt in hand). You can also sell them online for cash or trade them for different gift cards you’ll actually put to good use.
Selling Unwanted Items
Take a look at the “junk” you’re clearing out of your garage, attic, basement, closets and other nooks and crannies of your home. Is it really junk, or is it still valuable? If you think some of the items are still valuable, don’t toss them in the garbage. Try to sell the used items online and pocket the profits. You can declutter your space and make money at the same time.
Saving on Energy Bills
Cleaning up your appliances can make them run more efficiently. When your appliances run better, they consume less energy, which could benefit your energy bills in the upcoming months. Considering how steep energy bills have become, you’ll appreciate an opportunity to lower the costs.
What chores will help your appliances run better?
- Refrigerator: Clean off the dusty condenser coils.
- Oven: Scrub the oven’s interior. You should also remove and clean the grease filter from the kitchen exhaust fan.
- Dishwasher: Remove the filter and rinse out debris. After putting the filter back, add a cup of white vinegar to a dishwasher rack and then run the appliance on the hottest cycle.
- HVAC: Replace the disposable filter when the old one is dirty. If your unit has a built-in filter, remove it, clean it and put it back.
- Dryer: Remove the lint trap and carefully wash the mesh screen. Use a vacuum to remove lint and dust from the crevice, before adding the trap back into the slot. You should also consider cleaning out your dryer vent.
Preventing Appliance Breakdowns
Cleaning up your appliances will do more than help them use less energy. It will also make them last longer, which means you can stave off any major repair costs or appliance upgrades.
If you don’t bother to clean up these appliances, you could face some nasty surprises in the near future. Your appliances could start to slow down. They could require urgent repairs from a trained professional. Or they could simply break down at an inconvenient time and leave you scrambling for a replacement. You’ll have to put a dent in your emergency fund to cover these costs right away.
What if you don’t have an emergency fund? You can’t exactly ignore the problem. Some of your appliances are essential, like your refrigerator or AC unit. You can’t skip repairs or replacements for them just because you don’t have any emergency savings. If you’re in that situation, you could go to a website like CreditFresh and see whether you qualify for a personal loan there. You just might be eligible to apply!
With an approved personal loan, you can use borrowed funds to cover emergency appliance repairs or replacements in a short amount of time. Once those expenses are dealt with, you can focus your attention on your loan repayment plan. It will be arranged through a monthly billing cycle, similar to a credit card.
You can reduce the risk of this emergency by simply cleaning your appliances. A little bit of effort will go a long way.
It’s time to break out the mop buckets and vacuum attachments. Spring cleans your house and start saving money!