5 Bad Housekeeping Habits To Break in 2017

Just like our cars and smartphones, our homes take a serious beating through the years. While it can endure a great deal of use and abuse, that doesn't mean we should let proper maintenance take a back seat—remember, good homeownership is in the details. Let these bad habits that cause clutter and frustration bite the dust and start the year fresh with these must-dos: 

1. Using your oven as a storage device. Whether we admit it or not, we've all used the oven as a makeshift drawer for kitchen tools that we don't use often. This is the time to take out everything you've kept inside, be it old mail, old rolls of foil and saran wrap or baking filters—you don't need extra fire hazards in your cooking corner. 

2. Tossing everything you think you might need in a junk drawer. There's nothing wrong with having a junk drawer—in fact, it can be very handy—but if it's bursting with stuff, you should probably look into cleaning it out. Be strategic with organizing it, too; place loose buttons in Ziploc bags or keep rubber bands in small boxes to keep it neat. 

3. Avoiding folding the laundry until it piles up. Aside from the junk drawer, we all have a chair in our bedrooms that is nothing but a hodgepodge of clothes—new t-shirts and even delicates. Unless you're going to use that item within the next 24 hours, make it a habit to return it to your closet to keep clutter from building up. 

4. Not washing your sheets and towels often. How many times do you use your bathtime buddy before throwing it in the wash? How long is too long for changing the bedding? Here's a good rule of thumb to follow: clean towels every three to four days and replace your sheets every other week.

5. Delaying minor repairs. From the tiniest wet spot in the ceiling to squeaky floorboards and chipping paint, make it a point to attend to these mishaps before things get worse. Bigger repairs will cost you more time, money and elbow grease.