When you’ve lived inside rented housing all your life, there comes a big shift when you become a first time homeowner.
Suddenly, you’re not calling the superintendent of the building or the rental company to come fix the heating and cooling or whatever.
And all the upkeep and maintenance of a house is on you as well. There was a big learning curve for me when I first bought this house. And I guess I was a bit surprised by it. That has to do with the fact that I was just so eager and excited to leave apartment life behind. I never lived in an apartment that had actually good residential HVAC. Also, I was ready to shed the noisy neighbors and all that stuff as well. To be able to pay a mortgage and build some equity was what I was all about. And I think that I simply didn’t fully get the fact that owning a home comes with plenty of tasks. So initially, I wasn’t very good with many of the responsibilities that come with homeownership. A big one was the HVAC duties. I was leaving dirty air filters for months at a time which is not good for the HVAC equipment. And I forgot to call for the HVAC maintenance that was essential to the performance and longevity of the residential HVAC. So I called the HVAC company and signed up for the HVAC service plan. This way, I don’t have to remember the HVAC maintenance appointments as the HVAC company takes care of that. And then, I set alarms across all of my devices to remind me to change the HVAC air filter every month.