Your home has more moving parts than you think
I bought a house a few years back. Within the first year I’d already lost the receipt for the heat pump, forgotten when the roof warranty expires, and had no idea which filter size the ventilation system needed.
None of this is complicated. It’s just a lot of small things, and they add up.
The stuff you forget about
The washing machine, dishwasher, fridge, heat pump, robot mower. Each one has a brand, model number, serial number, purchase date, and warranty period. You need this information exactly once, when something breaks, and that’s when you can’t find it.
Renovations are worse. That bathroom cost 125,000 kr and came with a 5-year waterproofing guarantee. The kitchen countertop was granite, installed by a specific company. The roof was redone with concrete tiles, 10-year warranty. Three years later, good luck remembering any of it.
Then there’s the contacts. The plumber who did good work, the electrician, the HVAC guy, the roofer. Their numbers are somewhere in your call history. Probably.
Maintenance is where it gets real
A house needs regular upkeep, and most of it isn’t obvious until you miss it:
- Monthly: test smoke detectors, clean the dishwasher filter
- Quarterly: replace the heat pump filter, clean floor drains
- Twice a year: clear gutters, clean ventilation ducts
- Yearly: service the heat pump, replace smoke detector batteries, check water shutoff valves, inspect window seals, oil the deck
- Every other year: inspect the roof, check the foundation for cracks and moisture
Miss the heat pump filter for a year and you’re looking at reduced efficiency and a bigger service bill. Forget the shutoff valves and you’ll find out they’re stuck when a pipe bursts.
Supplies run out at the worst time
Heat pump filters, LED bulbs, 9V batteries for smoke detectors, descaling solution, dishwasher salt, robot mower blades. Each one has a different replacement interval, stored in a different place.
It’s always the same story. You need the thing, you don’t have it, and a 50 kr item turns into a postponed maintenance task.
Costs add up quietly
Electricity swings from 800 to 2,100 kr/month depending on season. Add water, waste collection, insurance, internet, property tax, and suddenly you’re spending a lot more than you thought. That’s before the mortgage, which in Sweden is often split across three separate loans with different rates and terms.
I kept losing track of what the house actually cost to run. Month to month, it was just a blur of Swish payments and autogiro.
Why I built Hemsaga
I tried spreadsheets for a while. Then a shared note. Then a folder of photos of receipts. All of it fell apart within a few months because none of it was built for this.
So I built the thing I kept wishing existed. One place for everything about the house — what I bought, when it needs service, what it costs to run, who to call when something breaks. It syncs through iCloud and stays on your devices. There are no servers and you don’t need an account.
It’s free for one home. If you have more than one, there’s a premium tier that also adds cost analytics.