College is a time for learning new things. Most of this learning takes place in the classroom.
However, if you’re living in off-campus housing, there’s another aspect of your education experience that you can learn about: home maintenance.
Sure, if you’re renting off-campus, you can always call the landlord. However, that’s often an unpredictable scenario. You might be left waiting and, even when they show up, they might not fix the problem to your liking.
Here are a few home maintenance tips for college students. You can use them to make the best of your off-campus rental life while also learning a few lifelong homeownership lessons along the way.
Identify Dangerous Things
Before you start fixing things or even settling into your new home, it’s worth taking a few minutes to look around and identify any potential dangers. Every home has its issues. You might find mold under the sink, lead paint on an old staircase, or even acoustic ceiling tiles that contain asbestos.
If you do find something dangerous, don’t panic. Again, every house has its weak points. Finding a problem isn’t always a good enough reason to look for a new place. After all, you’ll likely find another problem in the next rental.
With that said, at the least, it’s worth being aware of the issues in your rental space. Some of them may be easy to address.
For instance, you can use Borax, bleach, or even white vinegar to clean mold out of a bathroom. However, if you find that there are copious amounts of black mold in the basement, you may want to call the landlord or even consider finding a new place.
If things get to that point, make sure to leave a review to inform the next potential occupant about the issue.
Hone Your Basic Handyman Skills
Once you’ve identified the condition of your living space, cleaned any addressable issues, and settled in, you can keep an eye out for other maintenance concerns that might crop up over time.
When it comes to home maintenance, the internet is your best friend. There is no shortage of housing problems that you can research online.
If a light isn’t working, you can look up a video to troubleshoot common light fixture issues. If the tub drain is clogged, you can research what may have clogged it and whether you can unclog it yourself or not. If a door has a steady draft, look up a video on how to fill the gap with some weatherstripping.
From YouTube videos to handyman pictures to good ol’ text descriptions, never be afraid to research a problem. Chances are, you’ll find a quick and easy fix to the issue a good chunk of the time.
Always Balance Your Time
As is always the case with home maintenance, you don’t want to overprioritize every little thing. Remember, you’re in your rental to attend school. Always make sure that your education comes first.
This isn’t just a reminder to get your schoolwork done. It’s a critical life lesson. As you get older, you’ll likely accumulate more and more responsibilities.
Learning to attend to time-sensitive things while letting other home maintenance items wait for a better time is a skill that you will continue to be able to utilize for decades to come.
Don’t Forget Your Budget
Along with balancing your time, it’s also important to consider your budget. As a student, chances are you won’t have copious amounts of cash to spend on home repairs. And the truth is, you shouldn’t break the bank on repairing a rental. Any serious expenses should fall on the landlord.
With each home maintenance issue that you come across, always make an initial assessment about what you should do. Is the work something that you can handle? For instance, you can plunge a toilet pretty easily, while replacing a toilet altogether is a bit more difficult.
As you assess, always consider the cost. To use the above example, even if you have to go out and buy a plunger, you’re talking about a few dollars at the most. However, a new toilet could cost hundreds of dollars.
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If you find that you’re handy enough to do larger maintenance and repair activities, there’s one other alternative to consider. You can always offer to make repairs and conduct larger home maintenance activities for your landlord in exchange for a reduction in your rent. This could be for a specific payment period or it could even be a recurring form of savings.
Learning to Maintain a Home with Your First Off-Campus House
Living off-campus is an adventure. Often it’s the first time that you’re really out on your own. This is exciting, but it also means you’re cut off from many of your home maintenance lifelines.
This leaves it to you to take matters into your own hands. From identifying dangers to making minor repairs, there are many things that you can learn while renting a home off-campus. Just make sure to always consider the time and the cost for each repair and act accordingly.
Image Credit: home maintenance tips by twenty20.com
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