I Don’t Use a “To Do Check List” – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

One of our business mentors has a saying “What are you tolerating?” as a way of pointing out the things that might be distracting you from your goals.  This saying might seem like it only has intellectual or financial consequences as far as one’s business is concerned – but there are also consequences to tolerating those little annoying things in your home.
 
We come across this kind of thing all the time, and we’ve written about them before. Things like the wobbly fan (Is it dangerous when it does that?), the sparking wall outlet (Is it normal for that to happen?) and failing to clean the chimney (What’s that smell?).
 
Recently, one woman we know threw her back out because the sticky sliding glass door she had been tolerating decided to stick in place, right in the middle of opening the door to let her dog out (ouch!).
 
While the sliding glass door story is funny (sort of) some things homeowners tolerate are truly life threatening.
 
We heard about a homeowner whose garage caught fire. This was someone who never had a “to do” check list because “what could possibly go wrong?” Never mind the dryer was taking longer and longer to dry a load of laundry. (Hint – if that’s happening to you, it’s time to check the dryer exhaust for lint)  The dryer vent was packed solid with lint and, with no where for the heat to go, the lint ignited.  That’s just one example of how failing to do a simple “to do” item was both dangerous and expensive. Here’s one that got very expensive.
 
Meet “Bob” the busy homeowner who “never got around to” the annual gutter clean out.  Out of sight out of mind, right?  And in spring when weeds began to sprout from the gutters, you think that would be a clue, because now, it was no longer out of sight. The gutters would probably have cost less than $300 to clean out. Sadly for Bob the busy homeowner, procrastinating on this task will now cost at least $6,000, because water seeped from the clogged up gutter on to (and in to) the roof, causing part of it to buckle.
 
Our fall and winter to do check list (attached here as our gift to you) will keep those little things you’ve been tolerating from becoming dangerous, expensive things you wish you had done.
 
We invite you to print out the check list and actually walk around your house  with it in hand and ask yourself, “When was the last time this was done?”  If it was more than a year ago (or – yikes you don’t remember) time to break out the tool belt and get to it!
 
If the thought of doing any of the tasks on the list seems overwhelming, dangerous, or you’re sick of nagging your significant other to take care of it  Just give us a call.  
 
Read on for our January Check List Check Up Special