Apartments are like cats; Houses are like dogs
For those people who haven’t owned furry domesticated animals like cats and dogs here’s a small explanation of my completely NOT LITERAL analogy.
Cats are very independent animals. You can go away and have a friend to pop by to feed and check on the fur baby, and it’s fine. Cats just chill, eat when they want, do their business generally in one spot and will self-entertain until you return. You may get some side-eye for disturbing their personal time. There is less of a worry and demand for attention. A smaller ‘to-do list’. Maybe. Some cats give strong-willed a new meaning, and this is not the case, but again, I said this was not literal. Apartment’s don’t have as large of an annual maintenance, but that’s not to say they don’t require attention. The ‘to-do’ list just looks different. I’m not insinuating you can just leave it without care. Things break. Like air conditioners in the middle of July when you’re in the hospital having a baby! It happens.
Dogs, like homes, need constant attention, and routine so they don’t self-destruct. You need to be around to feed them, create good walking habits and exercise, pick up after them (HEAR THAT NYC – PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOG), make sure they don’t eat your houseplants, make sure they don’t pee out of spite, baths when they roll in miscellaneous poop, provide belly rubs and head scratches, be a thunder-buddy. This is my experience with dogs. I am the ultimate dog lover but not the dog whisperer. I’ve only had dogs that require my extreme full-time attention. The ‘to-do’ list for a home is ever-changing, and constant. Things are always breaking, and in need of fixing or tweaking. Changing seasons, and global warming also contribute to your home’s annual needs. There is definitely more to consider and think about so it’s important to be organized.
No matter where you live, I encourage everyone to educate themselves on how it all works and think! Work smarter, not harder. What does this mean? This lesson is about learning the needs of your new dwelling and managing it. The easiest way is to make a seasonal schedule which defines when you need to pay attention to specific things like changing batteries in CO2 detectors, keeping on top of air filters and seasonal HVAC maintenance, or gutter clean-out, Cleaning the oven and sanitize Appliances. Small or Big. Learn what your home needs, schedule it and keep on top of that ‘Annual to-do List’. If you are a contractor, developer, smartypants, or own/manage an entire building then you already know all these lessons and can teach me some things. Please.
So what did we learn?
- I’m a dog person
- Apartments require less day to day maintenance, but things can still break
- Houses, even brand new ones, require a lot of attention
- Making seasonal to-do lists for any type of property will help keep things organized; even the small things, like changing batteries in CO2 detectors or changing out expired fire extinguishers