I have developed countless bad habits over the years.
There are trivial things like never making my bed in the mornings and neglecting to shave as often as I probably should.
But, then there are serious blunders like failing to clean my dryer ventilation yearly or allowing the weather stripping on my doors and windows to slowly disintegrate and fall apart. My weatherstripping problems put my energy bill up sky high, but the dryer ventilation mishap bordered on the edge of life threatening. There was a clog in the metal hose that connects the back of the dryer to the ventilation port on the adjacent wall. The clog was substantial enough to combust the lint piled up inside. I was lucky enough to find it before the smoldering lint turned into a full scale fire. If I hadn’t come to my laundry room fast enough, my house surely would have caught ablaze. Most would figure a close-call like that incident would make me diligent with all of my home maintenance. Unfortunately, my uncanny ability to screw-up would get me into hot water soon after the dryer incident. I managed to forget to replace my air conditioner filter for six straight months through the hottest time of the year. Lint, dust, dirt, and fungal microbes piled up on the filter inside my air handler, slowly hampering the system’s air flow strength. But, it was such a gradual decline that I didn’t realize what I had done until my HVAC technician returned months later for a routine maintenance visit. He was amazed that my fan motor had not fried with the sheer degree of buildup on the AC filter. Filters are pennies compared to the repair costs for failing air handlers. I think I finally learned my lesson with home maintenance after that last close call.