If keeping your home in top condition seems like an impossible dream, you're not alone. After all, the process of rising each day, getting the kids off to school and yourself off to work, coming home and determining your family's path of least resistance to the dinner table, then sending the kids off to bed consumes all of your brain power. Weekends are reserved for catching up on immediate needs: You need to grocery shop, pay your outstanding bills, maybe mow the lawn or tune up the car so it won't quit next week. Home maintenance is easy to postpone because so many areas of your home that are in need of your attention are out of sight and thus out of mind. They only enter your mind when they begin to sputter, bang and demand large amounts of money when the repairman comes to visit.

Let's face it -- the only way most of us can remember to maintain our homes is to keep a calendar, committing ourselves to a date and thus, a regular schedule of home maintenance. The best part of compiling such a calendar is that once you've outlined everything in and outside of your home that needs periodical maintenance, and you've scheduled a time during which you'll perform that maintenance, the task of home upkeep suddenly doesn't seem so daunting, after all.

Let's start with your home's exterior. Consider your roof, which probably cost you an arm and a leg to install. It's one of the biggest investments you'll ever make. It's also one of the most neglected, despite the fact that your roof requires very little of you in the way of maintenance. Unless you experience severe wind gusts and or thunderstorms that could cause substantial damage to your roof, you need only inspect the gutters and spouts about twice a year for clogs of branches, leaves and other material which could block the flow of water. Throughout the year, walk around the parameters of your home, and check for any missing or broken shingles -- a side effect of windy weather. If you see any patches of missing or broken shingles, call a professional to repair a small problem before it turns into a larger, more expensive problem.

About four times a year if not more, examine your heating/air conditioning unit. Is it obstructed with leaves and branches? Brush them away, or get out the garden hose, and spray the unit's exterior clean. Obstructions will cause your unit to work harder to heat and cool your home less efficiently. In short, it takes longer for your home to heat and cool, and when it does, it never quite feels warm or cool enough. So either you run the unit for the longer period of time, or you turn the temperature up or down to compensate. The bottom line affects your bottom line; your energy bill will climb exponentially. And ironically, this periodic maintenance is effortless. Have your heating/air conditioning unit serviced each spring when the cold months are behind you and you're preparing for the arrival of the warm months, and make sure the filters are replaced at that time, as well.

Take a close look at your gardens at least four times a year if not more. Pay particularly close attention to your yard and garden during the times when you're not engaging in frequent yardwork (i.e., the winter months), and your grounds are more likely to suffer from overgrowth and a collection of insects. Of course, if you live in a very cold climate, insects may not plague you in the winter months. But if you let excessive tree limbs, branches and leaves collect all winter long and into the following spring, you're building a habitat for six- and eight-legged creatures come the warmer months. At that point, what was once a minor job of clearing a few stray branches and leaves has become a big cleaning job, a bug infestation and possibly the ruin of your garden.

Throughout the year, as you come and go from your house -- and as you walk around it -- be aware of any missing or damaged bricks or siding. At least twice a year, give it a thorough inspection, carefully examining the exterior of your home. If your home is covered in siding, make sure it's not buckling or rotting. If you have a driveway and front sidewalks, inspect those at least three to four times a year for cracks that may need to be sealed. Before you wave away the problem, consider that cracked sidewalks are an accident waiting to happen, particularly for seniors, who could trip, fall and seriously injure themselves. And the same goes for you. And each spring, examine your home's exterior paint. Is it chipping and showing signs of wear?

Also twice a year, inspect the outside of your doors and windows. Is the caulking beginning to deteriorate? If so, that's a job you can probably tackle yourself at minimal expense. If you've neglected your windows and doors to the point where caulking has deteriorated considerably and is causing drafts in your home, you may need to call a professional, depending upon your home-repair skill level.

Next, we'll cover the interior of your home, which requires a more frequent commitment. Nevertheless, these periodic checks -- much like the ones you perform around your home's exterior -- are extremely quick and easy, and can save you thousands of dollars in arduous home repairs.

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Published: December 8, 1999

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Editor's Note: This article reflects the opinions of Courtney Ronan only and not necessarily the views of this or any other publication, organization or Website owner.