I went from my parent’s house to a college dorm back to my parent’s house for a year while I saved up the down payment for my little bungalow. I discovered that I am terrible at home maintenance and the first year was really a challenge. My lawn would get almost knee high before I got around to mowing it. Once, my HVAC system quit working completely because of lack of proper maintenance. It was a fairly new HVAC system and I had noticed it having a few problems. It didn’t seem to be working as well. But, I was busy with my career and living my life and didn’t get around to getting the HVAC unit looked at. Then, one day I came home and it wouldn’t work at all. I called for an emergency visit from an HVAC technician and I was so embarrassed. It turns out that my HVAC system has a safety feature where it shuts itself off to keep the motor from burning up. I hadn’t changed the air filter since I moved in! Thank goodness for that safety feature or I would be paying off a whole new HVAC system. I got really lucky. The HVAC technician helped me get set up with a service plan. An HVAC technician will automatically come out twice a year to service my HVAC system. And the technician that came to my house also showed me how to set the calendar on my phone to remind me to change the filters and he gave me the web address of a company that will send me a filter once a month to remind me to change it. That’s one more thing I can mark off the home maintenance checklist.