Futureproofing describes the act of making sure that a thing will be adaptable despite future changes. If you’ve ever lived in an old home or apartment that had too few electrical outlets for modern life, you’ve felt the pain of what can happen when future proofing is not considered. The tips below can help you future proof your home.
Know Your Budget
If you’re going to be doing even a small renovation, you need to have an idea of what it’s going to cost. This means considering not just the overall estimate but building in some extra as well. Renovations nearly always take longer and cost more than you think they will. Of course, you may simply be starting out by buying a few items, in which case you probably have a more precise idea of how much money you’ll need. Either way, you may decide that you need to reduce your monthly expenses. You could look at your overall spending as well as at specific expenditures. You can save money by reducing your monthly obligations such as refinancing your existing student loans with a private lender. By paying less in interest every month, you can put that money toward your futureproofing plans.
Electric Car Charger
Whatever type of vehicle you prefer to drive today, it appears that electric cars are poised to be the vehicle of the future, and having a car charger installed in your home will help prepare you for this future. However, there are also steps you can take to futureproof the charger itself. If your charging station is a modular one, it will be easier to switch out parts of it if they become obsolete rather than having to replace it entirely.
Online Connectivity
When the internet still felt like a novelty to many people in the 1990s, few of them might have predicted that it would so quickly become an important part of infrastructure and that it would be difficult for people to do many basic things, like job hunting or banking, without access. Similarly, many smart products today may seem like novelties or luxuries, but even if they don’t appeal to you now, smart home technology can increase value in your home, and greater connectivity is likely in the future. Therefore, having ducts that cables can run through and generally getting your home ready to be wired may be important even if this isn’t something you’re interested in embracing in a big way just yet.
Accessibility
Accessibility in the home today is not just about ramps, wider doors and bars where there might be falling hazards although those are all still useful features. Today, technology plays a big role in making homes more accessible, and it’s worth thinking ahead to how that could be the case for you even if you are currently young and in good health. From smart doorbells to voice-activated lights and entertainment to robot vacuums and more, technology continues to remove what would have been significant obstacles to independent living or simply offer a better quality of life for many people compared to as recently as just a few years ago.