10 Simple Home Maintenance Steps That Will Make Your Life Easier in the Future

Every home needs upkeep and maintenance. Sometimes it can feel like you get one problem fixed, only to face another one. That can lead to tunnel vision, focusing on the present because you feel like there’s no time to worry about the future.

But the future is coming, and if you don’t want to inordinately trouble your future self, there are several small steps you can take to make Future You a little happier.

Record your paint

Painting is an easy way to upgrade your house. Choosing the right color and sheen can be a project in itself, but once you get there you’ll have a space you feel comfortable in.

Right as you start your paint project, snap photos of the can’s mixing formula on the label, then drop those photos in a folder for your home projects. That label contains everything you’ll need to know in order to replicate the paint at a later date, saving your future self a lot of grief. Alternatively, you can peel the label off (or ask for a second one when you buy the paint), and stick it in a notebook.

Hang onto spare materials

Re-tiling the shower? Re-siding the house? Laying down some vinyl plank flooring? Whenever you finish a project, always try to have some leftover materials—and hang onto them. If you need to tear up a portion of your work years later, having spares on hand for the patch work will make the job a lot easier. Tiles and flooring are discontinued all the time, and even if that particular style is still being manufactured in the future there are often color and grain inconsistencies between batches, so a box of tile bought five years after the initial project may not match perfectly.

Ask contractors

We hire skilled professionals to do home maintenance and renovation tasks we can’t handle ourselves. But that doesn’t mean you should nip off to the pub while the work gets done. Paying attention and asking a few questions will make your future a lot less stressful:

• Materials used. Get a breakdown of the specific materials used. Knowing exactly what kind of paint, tile, or flooring was used will make it easier to replace or repair it in the future—and as noted above, ask to keep the leftover material. After all, you paid for it.

• Installation. You aren’t a contractor and don’t aspire to do complex plumbing or electrical work—but knowing how things were installed will be incredibly helpful to your future self. Contractors are deep wells of information, and they can clue you in on hacks, tricks, and best practices that can help you keep systems and finishes looking good and working correctly.

Record dates

Keeping a house in shape can be a whirlwind of constant effort, and that makes it easy to forget when, exactly, things were done. But knowing how long ago something was installed, repaired, or replaced will serve your future self very well. Everything in your house has a lifespan and a recommended maintenance schedule, so knowing when your boiler or HVAC was installed, how old your roof is, or the last time your basement flooded will be valuable information.

While you're at it, mark down the date when you change the batteries in your smoke alarms, thermostats, alarm systems, and anything else that your comfort and safety rely on. Then do the same when you change out the filters on your HVAC system, furnace, or water supply (and don’t forget to check your fire extinguisher).

Label fasteners

Homeowners have been dealing with growing supplies of loose screws, bolts, and Allen wrenches for most of the modern home-owning age. To keep from someday desperately sifting through incorrect screws and wrenches, label them today. Every time you put together furniture or install shelving, put any leftover fasteners into some kind of storage and label it clearly. When the time comes to disassemble or fix it, you’ll have everything you need.

Save product manuals

Just about everything you buy for your home will come with some sort of product manual (and these days you can download most of them pretty easily). You might be tempted to think you don’t need a product manual for simple appliances—you know how to operate a toaster, for example—but you should keep your product manuals, physically or digitally. These manuals will provide the basic information you’ll need to repair, replace, or troubleshoot your stuff, including a breakdown of the specific sizes of fasteners, wall anchors, and other parts you might need to replace someday. Plus, manuals contain a lot of other useful information, like weight limits or other tolerances. If you want to turn a bookshelf you assembled into storage for your dumbbells, for example, it will be great to be able to just look up the unit’s capacity.

Keep visual records

Take photos of things like air filters or unique light bulbs and leave them on your phone. Do this for any unique item that needs replacing from time to time. Now, the next time you need a fresh supply, you'll be able to look up exactly what’s needed.

Map out circuits

You won’t know frustration until you need to cut the power to an area of your house (like the air conditioning) and you can’t figure out which circuit it’s on. You wind up flipping breakers until you find the one, and then you have a solid 20 minutes of resetting clocks and preferences ahead of you.

Instead, spend a half hour mapping your breaker panel, labeling each one neatly. Next time you have reason to cut the power to an appliance or a room, you’ll be able to do so with no drama or stress.

Purchase extra keys

As a man who has been forced to break into his own house far too often, I can say that having some extra keys stashed in safe places around your neighborhood (or a few trusted folks with security codes if you have smart locks) will be deeply appreciated by your future self.

Identify contractors in advance

The worst time to look for a plumber, electrician, exterminator, or roofer is when you’re in the midst of an emergency. Start asking friends and neighbors for recommendations now, and start a master file of contact info and who recommended them (including the specific work they did, if you can). When you discover a newly formed lake in your basement one morning, you’ll be able to calmly make a call instead of trying to cram three months of research into three minutes.