Hello New Year Week 5 Home! If you haven’t joined our Hello New Year Facebook group yet you’re missing out! Come join us through the month of January to get the New Year off to a great start!
Hello! Kimberly here! This week is going to be all about home! We are finishing the month strong! We have 5 days of challenges that involve the home. If you are like me, you have great plans for your home, you talk about it with your spouse but then you don’t have any set plans!
If you’re new and haven’t joined our Hello New Year Facebook group yet click on over and join! It has been a really helpful way to get this year going right! Each day throughout the month of January we will post a 10-minute challenge to help you get things in order. You can get feedback and tips from everyone in the group as well as share your ideas with others!
Here are this week’s challenges if you want to read up and get ahead, or jot them down in your planner! They are all about creating balance in your life to set yourself on a path for a better new year.
Hello New Year Week 5 Home
Challenge 28: Your House Needs to go on a Diet! Let’s Save Energy!
We all want to save on our energy bill, so this is a great time to start! Take 10 minutes make a list of doable things you can implement in your home. Here’s a list of things that can help you succeed!
- Shut doors and close curtains
- Set your thermostat. Every degree about 20 degrees can add 10% to your heating bill
- Turn heaters and coolers off when you don’t need them.
- Wash clothes using cold water. Using cold water can save you around $115 per year
- Run your fridge efficiently. Make sure the door seal is tight and free of gaps. An ideal fridge temperature is 4 or 5 degrees and an ideal freezer temperature is minus 15 to minus 18 degrees.
- Save energy in the kitchen. You can thaw food in your fridge to reduce for cooking time. When you are cooking, use the microwave when you can- it uses much less energy than an electric oven.
- Use energy-efficient light globes.
- Understand and improve your home’s energy use.
Challenge 29: Get Out of Debt! Budget Improvements
What do you want to do at your home this year? I always have great ideas that I want to do to my house but I have the hardest time writing down a budget for the improvements and planning ahead. Take 10 minutes and think of what improvements need to be done to your house and make a budget. The US Census Bureau says that the average annual maintenance and home improvement expenditures are about $3,300 per household. Leading lending institutions agree that you should set aside 1% to 3% of your home’s initial price.
That means the owner of a $250,000 home shout budget between $2,500 to $7,500 each year for upkeep and replacements. Now, let’s be realistic, there are times that you can’t set aside that much for upkeep! I have been there and done that! So do what is best for your family. Remember, if you save just $10, that’s better than nothing!
Challenge 30: Learn Something New!
When you first purchase your first home you realize how many things you didn’t know about being a homeowner. Take 10 minutes and decide what you want to learn to be a smart owner! You can educate yourself about your home finances and how to improve your insurance score or watch a youtube video and learn to tile your bathroom. There is so much to learn!
Challenge 31: De-Clutter
We have talked about this a lot this month, but after I have gone on a rampage and decluttered my house, I’m such a happy camper! I’m going to make it easy. Take a large garbage bag, choose the room you want to declutter and fill the garbage bag with the items you don’t want! You are done for the day! Repeat each day until your done. Now all you have to do is go to your local charity and donate.
Challenge 32: Family Time
Spending time with your family takes quality planning, but it’s worth the effort. Your 10-minute challenge is to have a family planning meeting. Let every voice be heard! Make a list of fun-to-do- projects you can do as a family. If you want to plant a tree, pile the family in the car and shop for a tree that will become a new member of your family. Then the kids can name it and help take care of it.
Hello New Year Week 5 Home
Join the group and let us know what you’re doing to keeping your home healthy!! It’s never too late to start the challenges!
Your Closest CHEERLEADERS!
We are your big sisters , cheerleaders , and confidence boosters in building a happy home. We are the Lou Lou Girls!
I feel like the entire month of January has flown by and I have been de-cluttering and purging as I go. We recently changed all of our bulbs and then discovered we got the wrong ones so it’s way too bright in here. I love the idea of a family planning meeting. It would definitely help to get feedback as to what to do as a family.
I definitely need to try this energy challenge. I know I’m wasteful, but I have a pretty big house that is really hard to keep warm. It’s only my first winter in it though, so I should challenge myself now and be super efficient next year!
I am so bad at conserving heat and lower our heat bill. Right now I blame it on renting but I know I could do better!
I recently de-cluttered my apartment and it has seriously changed my life. I felt to suffocated by everything I owned and now I feel like I can breathe !!
I need to de-clutter for sure. I am now at the point where almost everything needs to go. Entropy has taken over and won.
saving energy and de cluttering have been at the top of my list for quite some time now. I am such a procrastinator when it comes to de cluttering my house. It is so overwhelming so I have to learn to break it up. I also have a problem getting rid of things so it adds to my clutter problem. These are great challenges I am definitely working on 🙂
I love all of these ideas! We have worked very hard to become debt free and I have to say it’s the best thing we ever did!
I am loving these challenges! I totally plan on decluttering and working on my budget. My husband and I are working hard to pay off our debt, we at least want to make a large dent this year.
I love these ideas on how to save energy. I’m a green person at heart so not only does it save on my bank account, but it also helps save the planet!
Loving the idea of the house going on a diet!! My family always tends to keep the house cold, even in the winter months, and I’ve recommended it to a bunch of friends — you can always put on a sweatshirt, fuzzy socks, and my PERSONAL FAVORITE, a heated blanket, and save a ton of money!!
I can’t believe January has come to end. Seems like it flew by so fast. I love the idea of taking 10 minutes to do something to help save money at home. It’s amazing how in just a few minutes to you can make big changes to your energy efficiency.
I sometimes follow the de-clutter challenge, I gave all of my stuffs and clothes that I did’nt wear to my cousins or sometimes I just sell it into cheap price
Getting out of net is definitely one of our goals this year too. We’ve made some huge progress the last few years but now we’re tackling student loans!
Learn something new has been on my top priority list. I have been doing a lot of work in my studio!
I need to do all of these things! We’ve been working on the decluttering thing for a while. I mean really it’s a never-ending process but I am also trying to be more energy-efficient around the house.
I love these challenges! We just moved into a new home a few months ago and I already feel like we need to declutter! I love the idea of making that easy by clearing out a bag a day until you’re done!
I need to try the energy saving challenge, and de-clutter. Before Christmas I always clear out things that we don’t use, but after it looks like nothing was ever touched.