10 Tips for Extending the Life of your Home Appliances

Show your workhorse appliances a little TLC, and they may stick around a bit longer.

Replacing a refrigerator or oven range can take a bite out of your budget, as can buying a new washer or dryer. To make sure your appliances stand the test of time and continue to perform, follow these pointers:

Keep your fridge and freezer clean: In general, appliances operate best when spick-and-span. Besides regularly cleaning up leftovers in the fridge, keep condenser coils clean, says Bud Eader, manager at Bettar Appliance in Kensington, Md. Do so by using a condenser coil brush.

To clean the freezer, unplug it, remove all food, wipe it down with a baking-soda solution, use water to rinse it, and then dry the freezer with a towel before plugging it back in.

Defrost your freezer: Many freezers today are frost-free. However, if you have a manual defrost freezer, plan to defrost it at least once every year, before frost gets to about a half-inch thick. Use a plastic or wooden scrape — no knives or other sharp instruments — to remove the frost layer.

Scrub your oven and range, too: Clean inside your oven often and never let food debris stick around on burners, even if it requires a bit of elbow grease to remove.

Don’t spray cleaning fluid directly on control panels though, which could cause them to short circuit. Instead, apply a little onto a rag to clean that surface.

Don’t foil your oven: Experts debate whether you should use the self-cleaning feature if your oven comes with one, but they agree you shouldn’t use aluminum foil under the baking element.

Replace filters: Whether it’s a charcoal filter in an oven, a filter in some dishwashers or refrigerators or the one in your furnace, follow manufacturer guidelines to clean and/or replace them as directed.

Don’t use dish soap in the dishwasher: This can hamper the machine’s performance by creating gunky buildup. Use only dish detergent.

Scrape off plates: Food debris can clog dishwasher pumps. “It’s going to stop up the spray arms and, in the case of emptying the water out, it’s possibly going to make the pump … fail prematurely,” Eader says.

Don’t overload your clothes washing machine: Doing so adds strain on the motor, tub bearings and other parts, besides not getting your clothes clean if water and detergent can’t swish between them. “You shorten the life of the machine,” Eader says.

Instead, follow the owner manual instructions on how much to load. Hint: If your machine is banging around under the weight of all of your laundry, you’ve gone overboard.

Improve your dryer’s circulation: Often forgotten, the lint screen needs to be cleaned regularly. Failing to do or allowing your dryer vent to become clogged will force your dryer to work overtime (read: retire sooner) and can present a serious fire hazard. Plan to have your dryer’s exhaust system cleaned annually.

Watch where you apply stain removers: Spraying it on top of washers or dryers can corrode painted or plastic parts.

Source

Q: So how much rent will the kids pay when they turn 18? A. £70,000!

Babies entering the world in 2015 can expect to pay up to £70,000 a year in rent in London by the time they turn 18, should rental growth in the capital continue to soar at its current rate of 9pc.

Rents in London, the most expensive city in Britain in which to be a tenant, could see costs jump from £1,413 to £6,135 a month when children born this year celebrate their 18th birthday, according to new data from the website Rentify.

The average rate of rental growth in the UK is currently set at 7.5pc - which translates into a 135pc increase over the next 18 years.

Average rents in Newcastle – one of the cheapest places to live at the moment (£528 a month) - would rise to £795 by 2033.

Britain is in the throes of a housing stock crisis, inflating both house prices and rental costs, particularly in the supply-stricken South-East.

House prices in the UK rose by more than £100 a day in April, according to recent data from the Halifax, taking the average value across Britain to nearly £200,000 - and forcing more people to stay in rented accommodation.

This is set to continue as momentum and price rises return to the housing market after a muted six months, following the election result and the end of a period of political uncertainty that dampened demand.

“The UK property market looks unlikely to change in the near future unless there's a radical change in the new government's housing policy. We have a shortage of housing and a huge amount of demand in the UK for somewhere to live. We need to build more houses in the UK, particularly in London, to stop this madness," said George Spencer, chief executive of Rentify.

The current rate of annual rental growth is highest in London, followed by Oxford, Bristol, Norwich, Manchester and Birmingham.

Source

Looking to sell your home? Time to spring into action!

Easter is the unofficial start of the property year and although you can sell your home any time, spring is when most people who want to move, rather than need to move, will call in the estate agent. 

If that’s you, then before you reach for the phone take a good hard look at your property and decide whether it needs a spring clean – both inside and out. 

“The quickest way of making an impression is to get rid of any tat in the house and the garden,” says William Wells, Residential Sales Director of Mullucks Wells (mullucks.co.uk) based in Essex and Hertfordshire. 

“If you have a driveway and it is not Tarmacked, adding extra gravel always smartens things up, while mowing the lawn is the quickest way of making the garden look neat. If you don’t have much colour in the garden, go for pots and get some spring flowers.” 

Pretty front gardens are essential for kerb appeal, so get down to your local garden centre to stock up. Many garden centres have special Easter offers and the new Percy Thrower’s, a Wyevale garden centre near the revered late TV gardener’s former garden in Shrewsbury, has borders planted to give you design ideas. 

Buying online can be cheaper of course or you can order gardening and DIY products from the online version of the TV shopping channel QVC (qvcuk.com). 

It also has practical videos of DIY projects, such as wallpapering. Nick Ferrier, a director in the Midhurst office of Jackson-Stops & Staff (Jackson-stops.co.uk), recommends “a good stripe on the lawn” and “a fl ash of spring colour in the beds.” 

Karcher (karcher.com) has a Window Vac that vacuums dirty windows clean, and once you have decluttered it has a new steam cleaner that is not only excellent on cleaning hard surfaces in kitchens and bathrooms but it has an attachment for steaming curtains, too. 

As for decluttering, the rubbish removal service Clearabee (clearabee.co.uk) has a few good tips: “Clear the largest objects and bulky items first – that way you’ll feel like you’re making progress,” says founder and managing director Daniel Long. 

Once you get to smaller items, he advises: “Put your junked items into three distinct piles: stuff to gift or sell, stuff to recycle and stuff to throw. 

“But once you’ve done this act quickly. There’s little point dejunking one room, only to have piles of stuff waiting to be removed in the hallway later.” 

Finally, Michael Bruce, CEO of the hybrid estate agents Purplebricks.com warns that although spring is “a great time to sell property” it means increased competition. 

While spring days are great for making your home look airy and bright, he warns: “it can also highlight minor problems, such as mould, damp and unwashed windows and mirrors.” 

He does have one excellent tip for vendors, however. “Prior to any viewings, ask a friend round to your home, preferably on a sunny day, to carry out a mock viewing. 

“As they walk around they will help you identify any small problems you may not have noticed previously.” So now Easter is here, it’s time for anybody wanting to sell their home to spring into action.

Source