Taking Care of Clutter: Part 1

Clutter. You put it away, you throw stuff out, you’ve done everything you can think of to get it
off of your floors and tabletops. Yet, here it is, back once again. Making the room you just
cleaned, visually look messier than it really is. So, what can be done with an unruly item
that can’t be thrown away and refuses to stay out of site?

If you can’t beat the clutter one way you can manage it by putting it on display. You may
be thinking that your clutter being on display is the entirety of the problem. That’s why you
need to curate the way your clutter is displayed. Do you have a lot of one or similar items? I’d
call that a collection. Give that stuff a specific shelf or shelves, arrange them aesthetically,
and there it is your unmanageable clutter has become a display. I have a thing for tea and
buying teacups and pots, so much so that I literally have nowhere to put them. I use the cups
that I don’t regularly use as decoration or to store small things like coins and keys aesthetically.

Your “collection” doesn’t even have to make sense. Make a display of stuff, that kinda looks
good together. IDK, go on Pinterest, Pinterest will teach how to display stuff. When I display
things I look for shapes and colors that compliment each other and give them a similar purpose
or at least make them hold things that have a purpose and then it doesn’t look like you’re
wasting space but using it very prettily.   

The tea cups may have told you that I like collecting knick knacks. The majority of my property
may just be stuff I bought on impulse at vintage and antique shops. What I’m trying to say is
that I have swords, tea cups, plushies, a metal top hat, and ceramic moose a friend got me as a
joke displayed equally on my headboard. You can arrange anything and make it make sense.

Keeping Your Home Miraculously Clean Part:1

One of the main reasons we accumulate clutter is because all the stuff we have lying around doesn’t have anywhere better to be. Where do expect your stuff to go if you haven’t given it anywhere to belong! Of course, everything is piling up on your counters and conspicuous corners. You need to establish a place for everything to belong.  Shoes, jackets, mail, things that would come out of pockets, and miscellaneous things.

Have hooks and cubbies for Jackets, Coats, Shoes, and other things that live by the door and leave with you when you leave the house. The kind of storage you’ll need will depend on your daily activities. Then banish all other shoes and outerwear to rooms, closets, or whatever other designated organized space.

Build a system to deal with mail as it comes into the house. Mail has the ability to get super unmanageable, super quickly. The best way to do this is to sort the junk, fliers, packages, bills, and other mail worth looking through as soon as you bring it into the house. Recycle whatever you need to get rid of, get a small bin for whatever mail needs to be shredded (shred as soon as it gets full for cleanliness sake), and get a mail organizer and sort whatever’s left, tossing the nonsense and putting the keepers in an assigned spot.

For all the stuff you just don’t know what to do with, if you can’t figure out a category to put it into it might mean that you don’t need it, and it should go into the trash. If you’re sure you can’t throw it away or repurpose it than I suggest getting some sort of drawer organizer and making yourself a good old-fashioned junk drawer.  

To keep this system functioning I suggest you clear out your storage spaces once a month. I’m not saying to toss out everything or completely reorganize every month, that would be ridiculous and annoying. Just move anything that doesn’t particularly belong and put them where they actually belong, instead of letting it clutter up the wrong space.

How to Maintain Your Outdoor Kitchen

So, outdoor kitchens are a thing, a cool thing, potentially a cool thing for you to own. Backyard grilling
would instantly become the best thing. You’ll be the envy of all your neighbors. What could be the
downside? Well I’ll tell you.

I’m not trying to tell you not to install an outside kitchen or that cool feature on your new house you got
was a mistake. I’m saying that there’s a great deal of maintenance that comes with an outdoor kitchen that
doesn’t necessarily translate over from indoor kitchens.

First, it’s outside. Yeah, duh, that’s the point. I get that but that means weather, as in temperature. Do
you live somewhere where it gets super cold, or super hot, or both! You can prep properly for the winter
and you should. Disconnect your appliances from their services, empty and clean the fridge, cover the
furniture, drain the pipes of standing water. When you go to use your outside kitchen again you need to
check the various systems and appliances to be sure they’re all working properly. Make sure everything
is in proper working condition when you go to use it, every time, you never know. Preventative measures
can only go so far… it’s outside, the temperature is what it is.  

Second, it’s outside. Yes, I know I already said that. I said what I meant and I meant what I said. Outside
means nature, and nature means dirty. You can’t control the cleanliness level in your outdoor kitchen the
same way you can in your indoor kitchen. Shoot, keeping an indoor kitchen clean is nearly impossible.
You can only do so much outside, but you should always keep the grill as clean as possible. It’s what’s
going to kill all the germs on your food, grease also attracts animals that you would rather keep away
generally, especially while you’re cooking. Also, it’s just generally safer to cook on clean things when
using open flame.

Finally, once again, you’re outside. You’ll have to deal with a different kind of wear and tear outside
than you’d have to deal with inside. The materials installed for the floor and counter should be pretty
durable… you’re outside, I’d certainly hope so. However, there are a few things you should do for the
sake of upkeep. Get your counters, I’m hoping they’re stone, probably granite, resealed every three to
five years to protect them from the with sun and the rain. Sweep regularly the floors and wipe down the
counters regularly, it’s easier to miss dirt when you’re already outside but there’s nothing appealing about
eating in a visibly dirty environment. Power wash as a part of your spring cleaning to get rid of any year
long build up.

Winter Pool Maintenence

Let’s be honest whether or not you live in the south, swimming is or has already come to an end. If you own a pool it’s about to lie completely dormant during the fall and winter months and your pool maintenance is about to become a chore with no tangible pay-off for the next couple of months. You can’t just stop maintaining your pool altogether… I mean you could try that, but it’s not a particularly good idea, so what are you going to do?

The first step is to Winterize your pool. This means doing one final thorough cleaning of your pool, getting rid of any debris and dirt from inside or around it. Make sure your filter and pump are clean and in good condition. Check your pools chemistry, and if you have a cover, clean it off and cover up the pool.  

After this point your maintenance schedule changes a bit. It lessens significantly, so there is that. Still clean the area and check on the pump at least once a month to keep your pool clean and the mechanisms in good working order. The next change in your maintenance is to check your water chemistry once every other week. Stagnant, standing water is a breeding ground for bacteria, mold, algae, and mosquitoes so run the pump for a couple of hours, once a week to keep things from growing.

Use an enzyme product to help break down non-living contamination and prevent a waterline ring from forming. Adding this product will save you from having to scrub your pool tile or finish when opening your pool in the spring.

Upkeeping pool maintenance during the winter may seem tedious and pointless, especially since it’s not currently being used. However, it’ll save you a lot of money and a whole lot of trouble in the long run. Leaving a pool unchecked over the winter months is a good way to let structural damage and filth build up without notice, causing a giant headache come spring when you feel like taking a dip in the lovely pool you paid for that is anything but lovely now. Keep up with your maintenance over the winter, I promise it’ll be worth it.

Pool maintenece

Summer is coming quickly to a close for those of us who live in the south. It’s too late for most of y'all who
live any further north than North Carolina, but it’s still 70 degrees in Georgia! Which means we have one
last chance to enjoy summer activities. Yes, it’s time to take our final trips out to the pool. However, after
a long season swimming and frolicking in our respective pools, it’s far past time to wonder, what kind of
shape are they in?

I’m hoping that you’ve been maintaining a fairly regular pool maintenance schedule. If not… ew, but it’s
not too late to start. Pools actually don’t require a lot of care, if you have been keeping a schedule. If not
well… it’s a royal pain in the butt and most of your equipment is probably in tatters and needs to be
replaced. So, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to write out a schedule for you and you can decide
if or when you’re going to follow it or not. Making you do maintenance for your pool isn’t my job, but
I can eliminate the planning step for you.

Every to Every other Day

Spot clean: Get your weird fish butterfly net thing with the long handle and remove the random junk from
your pool. I suggest doing a quick sweep every day to keep it from building up or every other day if your
yard and pool doesn’t collect much debris.

Check Water Level: Your pool is outside and it contains water. Water evaporates and it rains. Just do a
quick check to make sure that the water level isn’t too low or too high for your equipment to run properly.

Clean out the basket. The basket is like a filter it doesn’t necessarily need to be changed but it does need
to be cleaned. This can also be done a little less than every other day as well depending on how much debris
regularly ends up in your yard or pool. So, if you don’t have any trees you may be lucky (if you’re not
bothered by the lack of shade).

Weekly: If you already have a regular once a week cleaning day then just add these to your list of chores.

Clean the perimeter:  All the dirt collecting outside your pool will eventually migrate into your pool.
Again, ew. Do you know how much of that water ends up in your mouth? Let’s just avoid as much of that
as possible.

Vacuum the pool bottom. Get all the stuff you weren’t fast enough to get during the week and has now
ended up in the depths of your pool. Pay special attention to the corners to collect all the build-up, ‘cause
ew. Then collect all the stragglers at the bottom and your done.

Shock the pool. Your pool is standing water, think about that. Standing water readily collects and grows all
sorts of thing like algae, mold, bacteria, etc. Raise the chlorine level to 5 or 10 ppm just to kill off anything
nasty multiplying in your water and on the water’s surface.  A DPD test kit can help detect levels of
combined chlorine, you can break it up by shocking the water to a level 10 times the tested level when
combined chlorine exceeds 0.3 ppm.

Check pool chemistries. There’s a lot going on in your pool on a mineral and chemical level. At least once
a week you need to go out and test the chemistries in your pool. You can even leave the tests to do their thing
as you get other chores done. Just once a week, make sure your pH, total chlorine, alkalinity, calcium,
cyanuric acid, and saturation index are on point.

Clean your filter/Check the Pressure. Check your pressure gauge. I say to do this weekly because the times
you may actually need to clean the filter could fluctuate. Just check the pressure and if it’s between 5 to 10 psi
higher than normal, it’s time to actually clean the filter

Monthly:

Look for tears in the liner. A torn liner means leaking water and unstable water levels and other various
problems. If you don’t get it fixed fast enough the problem can exacerbate itself. When you commit to a vinyl
liner you commit to patching up any holes it may collect in it.

Clean the pump room. Yeah, do that. Dust off the mechanics and their surrounding areas and keep
everything running properly.  

Clean your skimmer. Using a scrubbing sponge and soap, clean the scum and dirt out of the skimmer’s throat
and well.

Check all pump seals and safety equipment. You actively need all of these things to be working for safety reasons. Tighten all the bolts and such. Just a once around to make sure everything is in working order.

What do you do About Radon?

You may have heard that you need to watch out for Radon and the dangers of radon when you buy a new
house.  Here’s the thing. How many of us know what radon is? Besides, some vague memories from
chemistry and the word radon sounding a little too much like radioactive that makes you uncomfortable
with the idea of radon being in your house, do you know what it actually is? Is it likely to be found in
your house? If it is, is it really that big of a deal?

So, are you likely to run into a radon problem? The short answer is YES, it’s a very common problem to
have. Radon gases are naturally produced by the earth and it occurs practically everywhere.

Is radon that big of a deal then? Another short answer, YES! Here’s the rundown, radon, is indeed, a
radioactive gas. Put simply radon is the breakdown of radioactive materials in the earth releasing traces
of radioactive gases into the air in small amounts. You can’t see, taste, or smell traces of it in the air but
it can be extremely dangerous in large enough amounts. Overtime radon exposure in larger amounts can
cause lung cancer, especially in smokers.

Here’s what you do. Checking for dangerous amounts of radon is simple. You can do this yourself or hire
a professional to it for you. You can get a short-term test, which will tell you what the radon levels in your
house are like over the span of about a week. Then there are long-term tests that give you a better look at
the fluctuations of radon levels in your home over longer periods of time, up to 90 days. The level can
fluctuate. I suggest starting with a short-term test. If the results are around 3, get a long-term test to check
the levels over a longer period of time. If your radon level hits 4, you need to be taking action already.
Radon tests should be done on the lowest level of your house.

Any radon level from 2 upwards can be fixed. I would call a professional to consult on reducing the radon
levels in your home. There are some DIY things you can do to lower the radon level in your home but I don’t
suggest blindly following a tutorial. Some fixes done wrong can actually raise the radon level in your house.

When Should You Get Your Roof Inspected

So, you’ve noticed that people all around you are getting work done on their roofs. The seasons are changing, the weather's been a little bit turbulent, maybe they’re patching up some storm damage. However, your ceiling hasn’t been leaking and you haven’t noticed any potential damage to your roof. So, you don’t need to get any work done on your roof, right?  Maybe not.

If your house is new, under five years old there’s not much need for concern. You should have it inspected every once in a while, especially after a bad storm with winds strong enough to snap large branches or if there’s been hale. Otherwise, you should be fine. However, once your roof passes the five years mark you need to start getting your inspected once a year, minimum. If your roof is ten plus years old you need to start looking at quarterly and at least once a year professionally. Yes, I said quarterly.

Checking your own quarterly and paying professionals to come out and check it once a year may sound excessive. It sounds like a lot to have your roof checked that often. It sounds like a hassle, it kind of is a hassle. However, a compromised roof would be the least of your problems if you don’t have the damage taken care of promptly. There are so many problems that can occur along with the already damaged roof. We’re talking everything from the lumber that supports the roof and keeping it from collapsing on you, to the finish on your walls and floor getting damaged. Everything in your house, even the interior walls are protected by the roof, so when that’s damaged everything is at risk. When put into perspective, the hassle of maintaining your roof becomes exponentially smaller, it becomes an investment.

Here are two Cotton Home Team approved recommendations for the Greater Metro Atlanta area.

Raymond Little

Perimeter Roofing

Cell Phone: 770-313-7772

Email: RLittle@Perimeterroofing.com

Brad Lemmons

American Roof Specialists

Cell Phone: 770-307-7301

Office Phone: 770-888-5965

Email: brad@americanroofspec.com






Delana Cotton servers the north east Atlanta region that includes Dacula, Winder, Lawrenceville, Buford, Snellville, Conyers and surrounding areas. Delana treats every transaction as if she were you, the buyer or seller. If you have a real estate transaction on the horizon, meet Delana for a no pressure chat over coffee.