New Home Kit
Before you start
Map household essentials, check ownership costs, and create a maintenance routine from actual manuals.
For: New homeowners, people taking over household responsibilities, and learners using a fictional home.
Goal: A home information map, ownership budget, service-contact record and maintenance calendar.
Use supplied fictional costs or a redacted mortgage/utility summary.
Gather appliance manuals or note which ones need to be found.
Have a calendar and a place to store records privately.
Use this as a planning guide, not inspection certification or instructions to work on electrical, gas, structural or other hazardous systems. Follow actual manufacturer instructions, local requirements and qualified advice. No fixed repair percentage guarantees adequate savings. The fictional housing allowance excludes other household expenses and does not establish overall affordability.
Keep your own editable copy. The website calculator and checklist are temporary; downloads do not save an account record. Use fictional information for practice; do not store passwords or sensitive records here.
Action guide
Create a home information map
Useful information is easier to find before a problem happens.
- List the labels of water, electrical and other relevant service controls using existing labels, manuals or qualified guidance; do not operate unfamiliar equipment for this exercise.
- Record where manuals, warranty information, insurance documents and repair history are stored, without copying account numbers into the worksheet.
- Identify the utility reporting route, property manager if any and qualified repair contacts you would verify before hiring.
- Review the household escape plan and accessible exits with the people who live there.
Check: Someone with permission could find the right document or contact without the worksheet exposing sensitive details.
Check the ownership budget
Quoted mortgage payments may include some costs and omit others.
- Separate principal/interest, taxes, insurance, association fees, utilities and a chosen repair allowance.
- Check whether taxes and insurance are paid through escrow inside the quoted payment. Add each cost once.
- List closing, moving or initial setup cash separately from ongoing costs; use actual written quotes when available.
- Test an expense increase and write how you would revise the plan without assuming a future house-price increase.
Check: Every recurring cost appears once, and the plan explains what is included in escrow.
Schedule safe maintenance
A property-specific calendar is more useful than a generic repair promise.
- Choose three routine tasks from actual manufacturer or building instructions, such as checking an alarm, observing a visible leak or following a filter-replacement instruction.
- For each task, write the recommended interval, responsible person, instruction source and next review date.
- Mark electrical, gas, structural, roof or unfamiliar equipment work for qualified help rather than assigning it as beginner DIY.
- Create a repair log with the observed issue, date, reported contact and follow-up; use observation rather than an invented diagnosis.
Check: Each task has a source and owner, and hazardous work is clearly assigned to qualified help.
Review the first month
A new routine should change when real information arrives.
- Compare the first utility bills with your estimates and correct the budget.
- Check which document and service-contact entries are still missing.
- Confirm maintenance appointments and keep written scopes, quotes and receipts privately.
- Choose the next review date and one manageable improvement, such as locating a missing manual.
Check: The revised plan identifies one completed action, one open question and the next review date.
Checklist
[ ] List key controls without operating unfamiliar equipment.
[ ] Record document locations using nonsensitive labels.
[ ] Review accessible escape routes.
[ ] Separate principal/interest from escrow components.
[ ] Count tax and insurance costs once.
[ ] Keep closing/setup cash separate from recurring costs.
[ ] Choose maintenance tasks from actual instructions.
[ ] Assign hazardous work to qualified professionals.
[ ] Start an observation and repair-follow-up log.
[ ] Replace at least one estimate with an actual bill.
Worked budget
Casey is comparing ongoing costs for a practice home. The lender quote lists $1,200 principal/interest and a separate $270 escrow estimate.
One-time costs: $0.00
Monthly costs: $1780.00
monthly allowance left: $420.00
Available is a fictional $2,200 monthly housing allowance. Total planned housing cost is $1,780, leaving $420 in that allowance. Taxes plus insurance equal the $270 escrow estimate; adding that estimate again would incorrectly produce $2,050. A $60 utility increase changes the correct total to $1,840 and the balance to $360. A repair allowance is a planning choice, not a guarantee it will cover actual repairs.
CSV has no formulas. Sum costs separately by period. Subtract only matching-period costs from the allowance. Keep upfront funds and ongoing funds separate; do not count the same payment twice.
Worksheet
1. Which three home documents or manuals must be easy to find?
My notes: ___________________________
2. Where can an authorized person locate them without this worksheet containing credentials?
My notes: ___________________________
3. Which quoted payment components are already included in escrow?
My notes: ___________________________
4. What are the recurring ownership-cost estimates and their sources?
My notes: ___________________________
5. Which three safe maintenance tasks have manufacturer or building instructions?
My notes: ___________________________
6. Who should handle an unfamiliar or hazardous task?
My notes: ___________________________
7. What will you review after the first month?
My notes: ___________________________
References
CFPB: plan what you can spend on a home: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/owning-a-home/prepare/figure-out-how-much-you-want-to-spend/
U.S. Fire Administration: prepare for home fires: https://www.usfa.fema.gov/prevention/home-fires/prepare-for-fire/
CFPB: income, bills and cash-flow planning: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/consumer-tools/educator-tools/your-money-your-goals/toolkit/