Putting together a beautiful home is the result of a million small touches. While some parts are more visible than others, all must be in place to keep a home running smoothly. However as much as you may think your home is well-designed and well-maintained, take a look at the following list for some mistakes you may not realize you’re making around your home.

Forgetting to Clean the Vacuum

Image via Flickr by allenjaymichael

You may be thinking that whatever else you have going on in your busy life, at least you are solid on cleaning. But sometimes small matters can drag you down.

How often do you clean your vacuum? We don’t usually think about cleaning a vacuum, but if you never take some time to blow out dust and wipe down your vacuum, this cleaning tool could soon becomes a repository for all the debris that it collects. And debris can lead to bacteria growing on stray food particles or a motor that kicks out dust over your home when it’s on.

Letting the Sun Shine on Your Thermostat

Opening the curtains during a cold day can help keep your house warm with less energy expense. If your home has an improperly placed thermostat that faces direct sunlight, your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system can get a false reading of a room’s internal temperature, causing the thermostat to trigger your HVAC system to operate unintentionally.

If you suspect that you have an improperly placed thermostat in a room of your home, call an HVAC services professional to help relocate your thermostat.

Using Too Much Soap

When you are doing your dishes, using soap is an important way to make sure you get all food waste and contaminants off of your eating surfaces. But too much soap can itself become a contaminant; few cleaning supplies are made of items that are edible or pleasant.

Using too much soap to wash your dishes means spending more time rinsing scum off of your plates and glasses. This scrubbing, in turn, wastes water. Try using less soap when washing your dishes and then determine if you are able to get your dishes clean.

Relying on Single-Setting Lighting

After a long day of cleaning and working, you may be ready to relax your evening away. Unfortunately, you may be relaxing wrong as well. Many homes have a single lighting setting in the rooms used the most. But using less light in certain rooms, such as bedrooms, can help you calm down.

Since human beings regulate our days by the sun, we are wired to react to lighting levels. Too much light can impede your ability to relax. Even if you can’t afford to install a dimmer on your lighting switches, spending an evening with only a lamp turned on is a great way to prepare for a sound sleep.

As much work as some of this advice seems, keeping a functioning home is its own reward. By designing your living space, you can create the ideal environment for productivity and relaxation inside your home’s walls.