Tune up your home in 10 minutes or less with simple home maintenance.

Home maintenance is something we often neglect. Even though your condo may have a property manager for exterior maintenance, the inside of your unit is still largely your responsibility. Between our daily and weekly responsibilities, maintenance is something that often falls by the wayside. But it’s essential. Like your vehicle, your home and property benefit from regular tune-ups.

Fun, right? We know: not so much. But here’s the good news. Taking on home maintenance in 10-minute bursts is the smart way to get it done.

Here’s our checklist of 12 things you can easily manage, each in 10 minutes or less. Killing time before Bachelorette? Cross off one of these easy tasks…

1. Dust and test your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors (twice a year).

2. Replace the batteries in your smoke/carbon monoxide detectors (annually).

3. Vacuum the condenser coils at the back of your fridge (annually).

4. Polish your natural wood front door. If painted, surface wash it.

5. Clean the air conditioner grill and register.

6. Check your faucets for leaks – it will save you money.

7. Check for signs of insects or vermin getting into your home.

8. Examine window and door seals and repair as needed – lubricate locks on doors and windows with silicone spray.

9. Self-clean the oven (okay, technically this takes hours, but it only takes a few minutes to set it up).

10. Examine, seal and repair grout in bathrooms and tile floors to prevent moisture damage.

11. Pick a ground fault circuit interrupter outlet (GFCI) and test it. Push the Test button, check that this has popped out the Reset button and that anything hooked up to the outlet will no longer power on. Push Reset and you’re good to go. Test a different GFCI outlet next time.

12. Check your emergency flashlight. Do the batteries work? If not, replace them, or consider upgrading to a non-battery powered, manual wind-up model.

See? In just 10-minute spurts, you can mitigate costly problems in your home, keeping it safe and healthy for you now, and down the road.