Is your house also overmaintained?

Given I was broke and homeless in my later 20's, having a roof over my head is a primary concern of mine. I have posted before that I plan for the long term; use of top quality materials and ultra-low long term cost.

Yesterday I did a little tree trimming on one of the front yard Japanese Maples. I recently had the house painted using Benjamin Moore paint. I have my painter scheduled to resurface and stain the front door.

I have things in order so I could live on my Social Security and not much more. Is that smart? That's not the point. I am desperate and desperate people do desperate things.

Oh yeah, and I have 2 backup houses that I could move into right now. Is that over-maintained? Perhaps but I never wanna be homeless again as long as I live. I am scared straight. Been there, don't ever wanna do that again.
 
I don’t over maintain things. The house needs a little more maintenance and care than the vehicles though. But I don’t really do that much myself on the house. Have a lawn guy. Local HVAC company maintains the system. And we have a cleaning lady who comes by every few weeks. Work gets a reasonable amount of my time however I’m no workaholic. Family, marriage, and personal fitness gets their due time as well. I’m too busy to over maintain anything.
 
We have owned a 1934 New England Colonial house in Hamden CT for 39 years. It has been a wonderful home to live in and raise our two children. It’s a beautiful home.

I was fortunate in my work and investments. Anything that needs repair gets immediate attention.
 
The only thing scheduled for the house is the yearly vinegar flush for the instant water heater, even the hvac doesn’t get changed regularly. 2 boys and a wife lots of stuff broken and might get fix depends if I want them to suffer.. boys that is.
 
I wouldn't call it I over maintained but I properly maintain my home. I pay a large tree company to take care of my trees as I have no idea what I'm doing. My wife puts in more hours with her career than I do mine, so I clean the house and do our laundry.
 
I wish I could do so much more in our house.

Prior to having children my Wife and I lived in a small end-of-terrace with 2 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, and a large kitchen/dining area and living space downstairs. It was like a show house 24/7! The house was impeccably decorated, the house always smelled fresh and clean, I'd rewired the house, re-plumbed the house, had a brand new boiler fitted etc etc.

We now live in a 10 year old 4 bedroom detached house which I've decorated top to bottom twice already. I've now given up. Our 4 and 6 year old destroy anything put in front of them. Our walls are covered in hand prints. There's always toys left out everywhere. Food ends up in the strangest of places. Our two Daschunds took to the stairs carpet around 12 months ago and my Wife replaced one of the tread carpets with a section of 'car rug'. It drives me insane, but I refuse to do anything until the kids learn to look after things better.
 
I just spent a pretty penny on some custom windows, converting my bow window to a bay, and custom doors… next spring will involve HEAVY yard maintenance, trimming trees/tree line that sort of thing.
 
If something breaks i fix it doesn't matter if it's a car, yard equipment, house or anything else in a day or three. I'm very rural. Most everything come from online except if it's something needed right away. Grass and weeds get cut once a week. 9 acres normally take three days 3 hours a day. Rock drive 1/4 mile long groom it two or three times a year.
 
You need to define over-maintain on a house. Mine didn't come with a schedule.

Do I replace things that aren't 100% worn out before they fail, like paint or the HVAC. Yes.

I change the HVAC filters likely a bit early, and am in the process of replacing all the screens. There 10 years old. The ones on the South side required it. I want the rest to match.

There is no oil to change that I can find. :ROFLMAO:

Air conditioning compressor oil, you need to get on that asap.🙂
 
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