Devin Reams

Rachel and I have been living in our house for almost two years now. Last year I found a neat little online startup (out of Denver, I later learned) called BrightNest that helps us take care of all the chores and things we never quite knew we should do (plus the ones we did) around here.

Throughout the year it has a great set of “must do” reminders for things like cleaning your oven, testing your smoke detectors, disconnecting your hose bib from any outdoor water spigots. Plus, it starts to ask questions about your house and give specific suggestions tailored to you, for example: we have tips on how to fix scratches in our hardwood floors and a reminder check our sump pump in the basement every spring. Every todo has an estimated time for completion and describes the benefit to you and the house (cost savings, for example).

BrightNest also asks you to tell it about your various appliances and provide make and model number information to not only keep track of this information in your “Homefolio” (I had no idea what kind of fridge water filter we had) but also directly link to online resources like PDF manuals and guides that it can find.

I’d highly recommend BrightNest as it’s another tool that allows both Rachel and I to offload some of the worry and “to do list” that comes with a house. In fact, it allows multiple accounts to share a “house” to help split up the work. Sign up for free at brightnest.com*.

* This is a referral tracking link, as far as I can tell I get no benefit from this