And now it's time to finish out this week's look at getting your house in order. Today, we turn to those bigger projects needed to maintain a house and keep it in good shape.

So far, no one has invented a self-maintaining house. That means that we have some work to do. If you are a renter, your landlord may do some of this. You'll want to check our lease agreement closely to see what responsibilities you have.

Make a plan to spend a few evenings or a weekend day walking through your house looking closely at each room and checking each system (plumbing, heating, etc.). For each room, make a list of anything that needs to be repaired, replaced, or just cleaned more thoroughly. If a major system (or a chimney) hasn't been inspected recently, put that on the list too.

For some of us, that list will be very long, potentially expensive, and, frankly, somewhat disheartening.

Once the list is complete, it's time to prioritize. The first step is to identify any necessary repair that could negatively affect your safety or could lead to lasting structural damage to the home. Obviously, those need to be fixed as quickly as possible. Contact the experts you need to make your house safe. (If necessary, use your life happens fund to pay for them.)

A second step is to identify those tasks that can be done quickly and easily (fixing a leaky washer, replacing burned out light bulbs, etc.). Likely, you will be amazed at how many of those tasks could be completed in a single focused weekend for a few hundred dollars. And crossing off a third of your list will make you feel awesome.

With those two groups off the list, you can take your much smaller list and begin to schedule them. You won't be able to do everything at once since both time and money are finite resources. But having a plan for getting these things done allows you to budget your time and money to accomplish them.

For most people, your house is your biggest investment. It's important to maintain it well.