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How to Prepare for Building a New Home

These tips on how to prepare for building a new home are in partnership with Clorox, but the thoughts and opinions are always my own.

While we are preparing to move into our new house we’ve hit a few snags in the new build process and altered timelines. So I sat down and created a game plan for things I’d like to accomplish during our building process. The goal was to allow me to stay on track, and not feel very stressed as our home is approaching completion.

HOW TO PREPARE FOR BUILDING A NEW HOME:

By completing this 5 step list, it helped me understand exactly how to manage my time:

1. Increase Savings

I have shared a lot about the importance of keeping money in the bank. Moving into our forever home comes an increase in our monthly payment,. Due to this, we wanted to increase our savings. We like to have month of our mortgage payment saved. With the increase in payment comes and increases in bills

2. Make a List of Home projects

This is important. We plan to complete some projects after our home is finished. On some of the previous projects, our builder was more expensive than expected.  Creating a list of projects allows us to create a timeline and figure out which projects may come up in the future.

3. Plan for your New Furniture

In our new home, we are planning to purchase a lot of new furniture. This means that we will have to do a lot of measuring to do to make sure everything will fit properly. To accomplish this, I walked completed floor plans of the house we have been building to get an idea of the pieces we would like in the home. Then I created a spreadsheet that has a tab for each room in the new home.  As I find the furniture I like, I add it to the spreadsheet.  Our goal is to slowly start buying the new pieces so by the time we get to the new house, we won’t have anymore major expenses.

4. Sell your Old Furniture

A lot of our existing furniture will not fit well in our new home and/or we are just looking to make an update.  I have started to utilize a resell app and Facebook marketplace to start selling our furniture.  The last thing we want is to be approaching our close date and have unsold furniture

5. Prepare for the Unexpected

Something that is very important that Rick has been pressing me to do is also prepare our Emergency kit. Rick has even scoped out areas to make a Tornado shelter in our new home. As we have learned from seeing people’s experiences during Hurricane Dorian ,you never know what type of emergencies can happen so it is important to always be prepared for the unexpected.

Whether you are preparing to move or build a new house, you should have an emergency kit ready to go. I have partnered with Clorox to share a list of items that you can gather to prepare for the unexpected.

This September, as part of National Preparedness Month, Clorox and the American Red Cross is encouraging all Americans to follow three steps to prepare for a natural disaster: Prepare a Kit, Make a Plan, Be Informed.

Emergency Kit:

• Water: Keep one gallon per person, per day (3-day supply for evacuation, 2-week supply for home).
• Food: Stock up on non-perishable, easy-to-prepare items (3-day supply for evacuation, 2-week supply for home).
• Clorox® Disinfecting Bleach: During an emergency, especially after a natural disaster, water may not be safe to drink. A few drops of Clorox Disinfecting Bleach can be used to make water potable to drink in an emergency situation and can also help clean up mold and fungi from a buildup of excess moisture.

Here are some specific measurements to make water safe to drink:

• All water of uncertain quality should be treated before it is used for drinking, food preparation, or hygiene:
  • Remove suspended particles by filtering or letting particles settle to the bottom.
  • Pour off clear water into a clean container.
  • Add 8 drops (or 1/8 teaspoon) of Clorox® Regular Bleach₂ with CLOROMAX® to one gallon of water, or add 1/8 teaspoon of the product to 1.5 gallons of water. Allow the treated water to stand for 30 minutes. Properly treated water will have a slight chlorine odor. If not, repeat dosage and allow the water to stand an additional 15 minutes. The treated water can then be made palatable by pouring it between clean containers several times.
  • For cloudy water, use 16 drops per 1 gallon of water, or add 1/4 teaspoon of this product per 1.5 gallons of water (3 drops to 1 quart). If no chlorine odor is apparent after 30 minutes, repeat dosage and wait an additional 15 minutes.
• Flashlight (and extra batteries): Having a flashlight ensures that you’re able to navigate in the dark if the electricity goes out. Always keep extra batteries on hand to power your flashlight and other items that you may need.
• First Aid Kit: In case of emergency, first aid supplies are crucial to help keep family members as healthy as possible. Make sure to stock the kit with things like bandages, gauze and antibiotic creams.
• Multi-purpose tool: Tools with multiple functions can be used for everything from cutting wire to opening bottles.
• Sanitation and personal hygiene items: Besides keeping Disinfecting Bleach on hand, it’s important to keep things like moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal cleanliness.
• Medication
• Copies of important documents such as medical insurance card, driver’s license, etc.
• Cell Phone with Chargers
• Emergency Contact Info
• Extra Cash
• Emergency Blanket
• Maps of the Area

Hope you enjoyed these steps on how to prepare for building a new home, I am excited to take my community on this home building journey.  I will continue to share posts that I think will help you prepare for the unexpected. Visit here to learn more.

Surrounding National Disaster Preparedness Month in September, Clorox will support Red Cross initiatives with PR and Social Activations (Be Red Cross Ready and App Downloads)