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Stop Your Home from Becoming a Money Pit to Protect Your Future Finances

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By Olivia Parkinson

Have you ever seen The Money Pit with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long? It’s a film about a couple’s struggle to renovate their home but are faced with all kinds of disasters, costing them a lot of money in the process. It might be a work of fiction, but for a lot of people, it’s the reality of owning a home. A house can cost you a lot of money, which is why you must protect your home and your other assets to secure your financial future.

Learn how to stop your home from becoming a money pit to protect your future finances.

Get your budget in order

One of the easiest ways to take control of your finances is to create a budget. This can help you manage all of your outgoings so that your home essentials are covered. You should also ensure your budget has room for savings, including a rainy day fund that can be used to fund any home repairs you might need to make in the future.

Your budget should have some wiggle room to cover changes in your financial circumstances and priorities as well. Why not use a budgeting app to help make things a little easier to manage?

Take out a home warranty

If you want to protect your home and the items within it, then a home warranty can be an extremely useful product. A home warranty will cover your appliances and other systems should they encounter problems or need replacing. Home warranties can be used to cover your home against roof leaks, broken appliances, your home’s electronics and more. This will save you money on the cost of replacement, allowing you to save your emergency fund for major repairs if needed.

Put the right insurance in place

Home insurance is a must to protect your home against significant damage, theft and other incidents that could occur in your home. Home insurance can save you a lot of money in the future, especially if your home suffers fire or flood damage. Your home insurance should cover damage done to your property, but it should also cover your contents too.

Have your home surveyed

A home survey can help identify any existing issues with your home, as well as warn of future ones. A building expert will be able to identify issues such as dampness or mold, faulty plumbing and more.

You will usually undertake a home survey before you buy a property, but you might want to run a follow-up further down the line to alert you to any new issues with your home.

Keep it clean

Keeping your home clean is essential for maintaining its condition. A dirty home can attract mice, rats and other vermin, cause mold in your home and leave your furniture and other items to deteriorate.

Do you ever wonder how people manage to keep their homes clean every day? Most people break up their cleaning chores throughout the week, instead of letting them all pile-up. Spending as little as 30 minutes doing daily tasks could be all it takes to keep your home looking its best and prevent damage caused by dirt, damp and more.

Bring in professionals for major works

DIY jobs are great, when you know how to do them yourself. But if you get them wrong, you run the risk of causing some serious damage to your home. If you’re not confident with DIY, you need to consider bringing a handyman or other professional to take on the task for you. Bringing in a professional costs money, but it can be a price worth paying to avoid causing significant damage.

Simple tasks, such as hanging shelves or even doing your own tiling, are simple DIY tasks you can do yourself, but it’s important to make sure you have the right tools and do your research on how to do things correctly. Even the smallest of DIY tasks could cause damage if you aren’t careful!

For larger-scale jobs, especially those that involve electrics or plumbing, always bring in a professional. This isn’t just important for getting the work done correctly, but also for ensuring your own health and safety.

Put money aside for emergencies

After pouring all of your money into buying a house, it’s unlikely you’ll have much left for a while. But having an emergency fund is essential for covering significant maintenance on your home, or covering your expenses if you’re unable to work for whatever reason.

Saving your emergency fund takes time, but it helps to have a figure to aim for. You could start by saving enough to cover three months’ worth of expenses and work your way up to six months or even a year. An emergency fund gives you peace of mind, but it can also help you plan for your future - helping to cover extended maternity leave, for example. Your emergency savings should be separate to your other savings, and you can agree on uses in advance to make sure you don’t withdraw for any old reason.

Make the most of your emergency fund savings by getting to know the different types of savings accounts, allowing you to save more and keep your savings secure.

Make improvements that add value

Making home improvements could add value to your home, helping you get the most out of your asset. You might decide to sell it in the short term, or you can work towards it being a part of your retirement plan.

There are a lot of different home improvements that can add value to your home. From upgrading your kitchen to remodeling the bathroom, there are a lot of things that prospective buyers will look for when it comes to buying a house. Invest in improvements that can help you make money in your home, but make sure that they’re ones that you can enjoy too.

Work towards paying off your mortgage early

One way you can prepare for your future is to work towards paying off your mortgage early. By paying off your mortgage, you’ll free up money to invest in other properties, or to use for other investments to save for your future.

There are different ways you can pay off your mortgage early, including:

  • Find ways to save extra money each month by cutting your bills and expenses.
  • Take on a side hustle to help you put away some extra money.
  • Make investments that will help you grow your savings quicker.
  • Look out for good deals on your mortgage rate, remembering to switch when your current rate expires.
  • Downsize to a smaller property.

These tactics can also help you retire early. Being able to cut down your expenses and save as much as possible could mean that you give up work earlier than expected to do the things you really want to do. Having your retirement savings in order can give you peace of mind, but it will also help you make some important choices about your future.

Your home can come with a lot of costs attached, but it’s money worth spending to live in your dream home. What you don’t want is for your home to cost you money unnecessarily. By taking good care of your home and making sure all of your savings, insurance, etc. is in order, you can make sure your home remains something of value that you can rely on in the future. Protect your home and protect your finances to help you ensure the best future for you and your family.

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