If you’re new to my blog, let me extend a warm welcome. If you enjoy your visit, please take a second to subscribe to my RSS feed.

Maintenance Monday is a regular “column” of sorts in which I share a maintenance tip. I am of the “quality, not quantity” philosophy and, to me, a key element of truly frugal living is buying high quality products and then doing everything necessary to protect that investment and prolong the life of my possessions.

~ o o o O o o o ~

Here’s a great tip that can end up saving you tons of headache and heartache down the road:  the next time you purchase a big-ticket item be sure to make a photocopy of your receipt.  This goes for anything on which the manufacturer offers more than a 3-month warranty and especially on any item with a mid- to long-term warranty (whether that’s the standard warranty or you purchased an extended warranty).

Make a photocopy of your receipt and file it away someplace safe.

Do this even if you intend to keep the original receipt because in all likelihood that original receipt will fade into nothingness within a few months.  When that happens it will be worth nothing in providing proof of purchase.

If you’re new to my blog, let me extend a warm welcome.  If you enjoy your visit, please take a second to subscribe to my RSS feed.

Maintenance Monday is a regular “column” of sorts in which I share a maintenance tip.  I am of the “quality, not quantity” philosophy and, to me, a key element of truly frugal living is buying high quality products and then doing everything necessary to protect that investment and prolong the life of my possessions.

~ o o o O o o o ~

This reminder’s a bit late, but as they say, better late than never, right?

We’re now two weeks into a new year.  How many of you remembered to change the batteries in your home’s smoke detectors?  [I sure hope I shouldn’t have first asked how many of you have smoke detectors.]

It is generally recommended that homeowners change the batteries in their smoke detectors at least once per year.  I have seen sources that recommend changing batteries every 6 months, or twice a year.  But in my experience, especially if you’re using a dependable brand-name battery, once a year is plenty.  If your detectors start to chirp before your annual battery replacement date, you should consider changing battery brands or switching to a 6-month replacement schedule.

It is also recommended that your smoke detectors be replaced every 8 or so years.  Although the thought of perfectly good smoke detectors choking our already overflowing landfills makes me wince, that recommendation makes sense.  Eight years of dust, smoke (cigarette smoke, cooking smoke, etc.), and the variations of temperatures thoughout the years will eventually take their toll on the plastics used in the detectors.  In addition, technology is always changing (and usually improving) so upgrading to new detectors every 8 years seems reasonable.

My detectors should have another 5 or so years of service left in them.  But the battery replacement process is overdue.  I’ve dug up a relatively fresh box of 9 volt batteries (expiration date is March 2010) so now it’s time to find a step-ladder and get to work.  Hm, this sounds like an excellent task for The Son, doesn’t it?  Time for mom to provide a little lesson in home maintenance.

Oh, and don’t forget to replace the backup battery in your CO2 detector at the same time!

If you’ve changed your smoke detector batteries this year — on your own or after my reminder, use the comment box to check in and let me know

If you’re new to my blog, let me extend a warm welcome.  If you enjoy your visit, please take a second to subscribe to my RSS feed.

Maintenance Monday is a regular “column” of sorts in which I share a maintenance tip.  I am of the “quality, not quantity” philosophy and, to me, a key element of truly frugal living is buying high quality products and then doing everything necessary to protect that investment and prolong the life of my possessions.

~ o o o O o o o ~

My mom left yesterday after a week-long visit.  Isn’t it funny how someone new can walk into a place and immediately notice something obvious that the regular occupants have missed for months?

That’s what happened the first night my mom was here.  She noticed how dusty it was in my house.  Now, I’m not known among my family and close friends as being a first-class housekeeper but I do try to keep dust at a minimum since my allergies are so severe.  Truth be told, The Husband and I had both noticed and commented on how dusty certain surfaces were in our house and how quickly they get dusty again after being cleaned.  But neither of us got very far in figuring out that there was actually an underlying reason/issue.  My mom, on the other hand, glommed onto the problem, and ultimately, the solution — my furnace filters.

Apparently furnace filters are supposed to be changed approximately every 3 months or every 90 days.  I know for a fact that it’s been at least three years since I last changed our furnace filters.  In all likelihood, it’s probably been closer to 4 years — that’s when I had someone come out to the house and add a few extra vents in the basement.

Although it’s not excuse, my health issues should certainly count at least a little as a reasonable explanation for this gross (pun intended) oversight.  Another issue, on that I was reminded of the other day when replacing the filters, is that I literally have to remove the utility closet’s folding accordion door in order to remove and insert the filters.  A bummer but not an insurmountable obstacle 

It turns out that furnace filters are not cheap, my friend.  My furnace requires two 25 x 16 x 1 filters.  Each filter recently cost me $15.97 or a total of $34.24 with tax.  I figure that our heat typically kicks on for the first time sometime in September and is used on into early- or mid-May.  That would mean that I’d need three sets of new filters each year for a total of $102.72.  I’ve already divided that amount by twelve and added the resulting $9 to my monthly YNAB budget*.

I’m going to make a note to myself to keep an eye on filter prices as spring approaches and see if they ever go on sale.  Whether they do or not, I’ve made a note on the calendar to change the filters in another two months since I figure that my vents might be particularly dirty — I know my filters were – after that embarrassing display of neglect.  If this set gets me through the end of February, a second set should see me through May when the weather should be warm enough to no longer require the use of the furnace again until fall.

Sorry for the late posting today — I’d meant to post my Maintenance Monday article earlier in the day but I got tied with with my lasagna and iced apple cake.

If you’re new to my blog, Maintenance Monday is a regular “column” of sorts in which I share a maintenance tip.  I am of the “quality, not quantity” philosophy and, to me, a key element of truely frugal living is buying high quality products and then doing everything necessary to protect that investment and prolonging the life of my possessions.

~ o o O o o ~

The next time you go digging into your couch cushions looking for loose change, take your vacuum cleaner with you.  Start by removing any throw pillows and then all the seat cushions.  Once you’ve found all the hidden treasures, and stored that loose change in your change jar, give the couch a thorough vacuuming — under the cushions, the cushions themselves, the back cushions, the arms, and any throw pillows you have.

Keeping your couch vacuumed and clean can significantly prolong the life of your sofa.  All that grit that sifts down under the pillows can prove awfully destructive to your fabric over time.

I give my couch a thorough vacuuming about once a month.

If you’re anything like me, then you barely know what grout is — and don’t much care to know anything more.  That was me about a year ago.  Then we shelled out gobs of money to have two bathrooms remodeled.  In the interest of protecting our investments, I learned about grout.  Or, more specifically, about sealing grout and keeping the grout from falling prey to mold and mildew.

I’m 43 years old and have been taking showers for as long as I can remember.  Every shower in every bathroom in every house and apartment that I’ve lived in had a tiled wall surface.  It was not until one year ago that I learned that one should, on a regular basis, reseal the grout lines in one’s shower.  Did you know that?

The way to tell if your grout needs to be resealed is to apply water to the grout.  If the grout absorbs the water, it’s time to reseal.  If the water beads, the grout is properly sealed and thus properly protected.

The grout in showers will need to be resealed on a much more frequent basis than the grout in, say, a kitchen backsplash or your tiled floor.  On average, I reseal the grout lines in our showers every 12 or so weeks — about 4 times a year.  I reseal the grout lines in my tiled kitchen backsplash once a year.  And I reseal the grout in our tiled bathroom floors twice a year.

Resealing grout is not a task I particularly enjoy nor look forward to.  The one consolation is that it’s much quicker and easier to do than the initial job of sealing brand new grout.

When preparing for the task, make sure you have to right tools for the job and that you’ve done your prep work.  The day before you’re going to reseal, wash the surface of your tile and your grout.  Then let the grout dry thoroughly (24 hours).  Make sure you’re using a high-quality sealant — quality is extremely important in this case and you’ll get much better results over the long term if you shell out the extra money to buy a good sealant.  You’ll also need gloves and clean, lint-free rags or a clean sponge.  [I prefer to use clean painter’s rags.]  If your tiles are ceramic or non-porous, it will be important that you not get sealant on the tile surface.  Make sure to wipe up all drips; the sealant will leave a cloudy residue on ceramic tiles.  If you’re working with a porous tile (natural stone, for example) then the surface of the stone can and should be sealed/resealed along with the grout lines (make sure you’re using a sealant recommended for your stone and grout types).  The sealants I’ve used do not have toxic fumes but I always run the bathroom fan just to be safe.

As much as I dislike sealing grout, it does give me a sense of satisfaction and I love knowing that I’m actively prolonging the life of our new bathrooms and protecting the money we invested in those remodeling projects. 

Our master bathroom is, well, not palatial. ;-)  Really, it’s less than 7′ x 5′ — I kid you not.  I don’t think you can build a full bath any smaller than that.

When we remodeled the master bath earlier this year, one feature I set my heart on was finding an alternative to the standard framed glass enclosure for our shower.  No offense intended, but I hate them.  They’re ugly.  They’re tacky.  They’re so very ordinary.

So I set aside a chunk of my project budget for a custom-fit frameless 3/8″-thick glass enclosure.  For me, it was an expense that I fully expected to be worth my money but I was concerned about protecting my investment.  The last thing I wanted was to spend that much money only to be faced with degrading quality and value of the product or to be faced with having to replace the glass after just a few years.

So, I did what I always do, I started asking questions and seeking advice.  Here’s what I learned:  water spots, over time, will actually etch themselves into your glass (remember your physics:  glass is actually a very slow moving liguid, not a solid).  If left for too long, the only way to remove water spots is to subject the glass to expensive and complicated polishing and renewal processes.

The three universal pieces of advice I received for assuring a long life for my glass enclosure were:

1. use a squeegee every single time you shower;
2. clean the glass on a frequent and regular basis;
3. the application of a simple auto-supply product, Rain-X, will do wonders for helping protect the glass and help lighten the load of regular maintenance.

The daily task of using the squeegee, now that it’s become an ingrained habit, is laughably minimal.  I was concerned about getting everyone on board and did need to be slightly heavy-handed with the kids after the novelty of it wore off but now it’s an accepted part of everyone’s showering routine.

As for cleaning the glass, that’s a task that I’ve added to my every-other-week deeper-bathroom-cleaning schedule.  I’ve found it to be not nearly the unpleasant task I expected it to be.  When the enclosure was installed, the installers left me a can of foaming glass cleaner.  I find it easy to use and effective and will most likely go back and purchase another can of the same stuff when this can is empty.

The Rain-X, though, is the coup de grace.  It’s the magic bullet.  It makes the water run off in sheets, makes squeegeeing all that much easier, and dramatically cuts down on water spots.  I usually re-apply the Rain-X every 4 to 6 weeks.  The first time I used the Rain-X, I only put it on the inside of the shower stall.  After a few days, however, of using our new bathroom, I realized that an application on the outside of the glass would be well worth my efforts.  Because the room is so small, the sink is right next to the shower and splashes from tooth-brushing and hand-washing, etc. manage to get on the outside of the glass.  Now I keep both sides Rain-X’d.

Now, not everyone has a frameless glass shower enclosure — and not everyone feels the way I do about the framed ones.  None of that matters; if you have a shower with a glass enclosure, you too could benefit from using Rain-X on a regular basis.

image credits: Raghu, Elizabeth, and Amazon (respectively)

I know that today’s maintenance tip will seem ridiculously simple to some.  It’s so simple, in fact, that each time I’ve thought about posting it I’ve managed to talk myself out of it.

But today it occurred to me – to some people the concept of spending less than you earn is so patently obvious they’d never think to include it in the list of financial must-dos.  Still, there it is — on lists everywhere as the Golden Rule of financial solvency:  Spend Less Than You Earn.

So, without further ado, here’s the Golden Rule of Cleaning:  If you clean it while it’s clean, it will never get dirty.

I sure wish I’d grown up with that philosophy of cleaning and maintenance.  It would have saved me a lot of hassles and frustration over the years.  I know now that cleaning a clean toilet is just so much easier than cleaning a dirty one.  Amen to that!

I was all set to continue with my bathroom theme for today’s Maintenance Monday post, but an incident yesterday inspired me to write about auto maintenance instead.

As I was pulling out of The Home Depot parking lot yesterday, a guy came running up behind us and told me that my left back-up light wasn’t working.  After thanking him and pulling away, I realized how timely this piece of news was.  Yes, it gave me a topic to discuss today but blog topic aside, it happened to drill home something that’s been discussed rather frequently in our home lately.

At 15, The Daughter has a driver’s permit and will be eligible to test for her driver’s license in less than 6 months.  She, and by default The Son because he’s usually also frequently a passenger, has been a captive audience for oft repeated mini-lectures from both The Husband and I regarding the importance of respecting and maintaining a vehicle’s safety equipment.

It’s so easy to take a vehicle’s basic safety equipment for granted.  And it’s downright scary to consider the big price that can be exacted when something very small is overlooked or neglected.

Back in the early 80’s when I was learning to drive, our state required each registered vehicle to have an annual safety inspection and an emissions test.  These inspections and tests were conducted by any state certified auto repair/servicing station.  Nowadays, our state requires a much more comprehensive emissions test every other year and car owners have to have the test done at one of only a handful of testing stations around the state.  The safety inspection requirement is long gone.

Based on the number of cars I’ve seen in the past few years with some or all of their brake lights not working, getting rid of the required safety inspection was not necessarily a good idea.  Not that I’m advocating reinstatement of a state-required annual test.  My point simply is that if you own a car, you should make a point of checking your safety equipment on a regular basis.  I think that it’s impossible to over-estimate the importance of such simple equipment as your brake lights, turn signals, windshield wipers, and the frequently-overlooked wiper fluid.

Today, after picking up a package of two bulbs, The Son and I made a project of replacing the burned-out back-up bulb and completing a safety-equipment checklist on The Tank.  Here’s a list of the equipment we checked:

• parking lights (front and back)
• headlights (regular beams and high beams)
• tail lights
• brake lights (all three)
• back-up lights
• license plate lights
• right blinker (front and back)
• left blinker (front and back)
• horn
• wiper blades (don’t forget your rear blade, if applicable)
• wiper fluid level

A vehicle safety equipment check requires a partner — it’s a great job for ‘tweens and ‘teens.  If you don’t have one at home, enlist your spouse or significant other.

After replacing the burned-out bulb, The Son and I discovered that one of my tail-lights is also out.  It’s a secondary light — part of the wrap-around portion of my rear lights.  Still, I’ll have to go back to the auto parts store to pick up the right bulb for that light so The Son and I can replace it as well.  If you’re the type that likes to learn from others’ mistakes, take a lesson from my experience and make sure you do a complete safety equipment test before buying an necessary parts and taking your car apart for required repairs.

Not everyone is the do-it-yourself type and into replacing their own burned-out bulbs — though it’s a much less expensive alternative to taking your car to a professional.  But even the most technically-challenged car owner can complete their own safety equipment test.

Be sure to put a safety equipment test on your to-do list then come back and leave a comment when you’re done!

I am of the “quality, not quantity” philosophy. But quality will only get you so far; proper maintenance of your possessions is a very important component to getting the most value out of the quality products you buy. My Maintenance Monday “column” of sorts is where I share a maintance tip that I employ to help keep my house and my possessions in tip-top shape.

Last week I wrote about the importance of using a bathroom fan to keep your bathroom from steaming up [view here].  Today’s maintenance tip is again focused on keeping away the dreaded bathroom mold and mildew.In a word, squeegee.

When I was still in the process of planning two bathroom remodels, one of my biggest concerns was how do I keep my new bathrooms looking new?  The most common advice I received was to use a squeegee every single time the shower was used.

Using a squeegee was a new concept to me.  I’d used one only once — when visiting my sister a few years ago, she insisted that I squeegee the glass shower door after showering.  The idea was to avoid water spotting on the glass.

Every surface, Every time.
But now I was being told to squeegee every shower surface — tiles and glass.  And after a minute of thought, the concept makes perfect sense.  Using a squeegee on your shower walls removes all the excess water and allows your tile, and more importantly your grout, to dry much more quickly thus, in the long run, avoiding the growth of mold and mildew.

Getting it Done.
Knowing you should squeegee and actually doing it can sometimes be two different things.  Especially for cranky old men and lazy teenagers ;-)  The Husband was easier to train than I had expected but then he had a powerful motive — protecting his investment!  The kids were a little tougher but I finally found the right motivation — anyone neglecting to squeegee immediately after showering (2 hours after the fact does not count) loses their allowance for an entire month.

My preferred squeegee is made by OXO and costs about $8.00. It’s got a nice rounded rubber handle and comes with a suction-cup holder. When dropped, there’s no danger of damage done to tubs or toes. The suction cup works extremely well on traditional tile but simply will not stick to my marble shower tiles in our master bath.

I am of the “quality, not quantity” philosophy. But quality will only get you so far; proper maintenance of your possessions is a very important component to getting the most value out of the quality products you buy. I’m starting a new weekly “column” of sorts where I’ll share a maintance tip that I employ to help keep my house and my possession in tip-top shape.

Having remodeled two bathrooms in the past year, proper bathroom maintenance is a high priority around here. I sure don’t want to put out that kind of cash again for a very long time! At least not for bathrooms

The most important maintenance consideration for bathrooms is to avoid any situation which will allow, or even worse encourage, the growth of mold and mildew. And an important weapon in the fight against mold and mildew is your average, everyday mild-mannered bathroom fan.

My contractor kept telling me that bathroom venting fans cannot pull moisture out of a room. I politely smiled and nodded and went about my business leaving him to install the new fans.

The truth is he was absolutely correct — bathroom fans cannot and will not pull moisture (steam) out of a bathroom. But they can do something even better — they can keep the steam from even forming.

The right time to turn on your bathroom fan is before you get in the shower. The fan keeps the temperature in the room cool so steam doesn’t form. I’m sure you’re familiar with what a steamy bathroom is like — moisture on every single surface: the walls, the mirror, the ceiling. The warmth and moisture content of steam is like steroids to mold and mildew. Don’t feed the monster! Use your bathroom fan!