Tips For Decluttering And Organizing Your Home Before Spring

Are you ready for spring? March breezes will soon be blowing. After the long cold winter you might be ready to get started with spring cleaning and organizing your home. You do not have to wait, you can get a head start on some tasks that are often overlooked.

Both indoors and outdoors have tasks that if done routinely will eliminate the overwhelming load of doing it all at one time come spring.

Here are some ideas of both indoor and outdoor tasks that you can begin now and enjoy a more leisure spring and summer.

Indoors

This time of year you may still have cold days, so use them to tackle inside jobs such as closet cleaning, painting, deep cleaning, cleaning out air vents and replacing air filters. 

According to US News, 37 million Americans are affected by sinusitis every year and 22 million people have asthma. We can’t control outside pollutants but we can improve the quality of air inside the home.

This is also a great time for calling your local charitable organization to come and pick up donation items that you collect during closet cleaning. 

Outdoors

Use a sunny saturday to prepare your house by scraping and removing paint peeling spots on trim or woodwork.  Prepare your house exterior against summer's heat and moisture. Use the warmer days for preliminary landscaping and curb appeal projects so that you are ready to plant in early March.

The warmer days are also great for garage clean-out and reorganizing of sporting goods, camping equipment, recreational vehicles, and garden tools. This will give you more time to enjoy these items when summer arrives. You may also consider inspecting, cleaning and repairing outdoor furniture and washing windows inside and out.

Spring showers will bring summer weeds. Upon the arrival of spring, many HOAs and their members are dusting off the grill, repairing the lawn mower and opening the pool to the summer crowds. Spring and summer bring new life to HOAs as members prepare to keep up with the HOA's home and property maintenance standards.

Zillow has provided these 5 home organizational tips. Don't worry, you don't have to do them all today.

The Benefits of Volunteering in Your Homeowners Association May Include Health And Well-Being

“One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.”  Gordon Hinckle

There are many benefits to volunteering in a Homeowners Association.  The benefits of volunteering in an HOA can be helpful to you, your family, and your community. The right match can help you to reduce stress, find friends, reach out to the community and learn new skills. Giving to others can also help protect your mental and physical health. Learn more about the many benefits of helping others and find tips on getting started.

It’s no secret that volunteering in your homeowners association can be a time and energy consuming endeavor. The role of the HOA board member is often a thankless one, but that’s not to say it can’t also be rewarding. It is also a necessary role.

There are great health benefits to volunteering in general. Volunteering and helping others can help you reduce stress, combat depression, keep you mentally stimulated, and provide a sense of purpose. While it’s true that the more you volunteer, the more benefits you’ll experience, volunteering doesn’t have to involve a long-term commitment or take a huge amount of time out of your busy day. Giving in even simple ways can help others those in need and improve your health and happiness.

Another benefit of serving in an HOA is the ability to protect your investment. One of the top priorities of every homeowner is to protect the value of his or her home.  Being involved with an HOA will put you in a better position to make and implement rules in your community. Some of these regulations will directly affect property value, especially if they require decisions about the association’s budget or routine maintenance.

Everyone needs to have a sense of belonging, and volunteering can meet that need.  An HOA meeting is the best place to meet your neighbors and to know more about them. It gives you a chance to socialize and make friends with others living in your neighborhood. If you’re new to the neighborhood, getting more involved can be an effective way of meeting new people. Not only are you getting acquainted with how the HOA is run, you’re able to put together names and faces when you see people around. Depending on what committee you volunteer for, you have the opportunity to interact with a wide range of HOA members and community organizations.

Perhaps the biggest benefit people get from volunteering is the satisfaction of incorporating service into people's lives and making a difference in their community.