Your Home Maintenance Checklist: What to Do Monthly, Quarterly, Bi-Annually, and Yearly (Part I)

Part I: Interior Checklist

For most Americans, your home is your biggest investment. Just like your car, boat, and heck, your body, you need to invest time and care into its upkeep. Sometimes this will cost, if you need to hire a professional, or buy/replace something. This upkeep goes beyond just changing your air filters (though that’s important, too). There are many other things that need to be done regularly. It all sounds so daunting! However, if you schedule it and keep on top of things, you don’t need to spend every Saturday doing home maintenance. Use our schedule and keep your home safe, functioning, and wonderful for many years to come. We recommend actually adding these as repeating appointments to your calendar.

home maintenance

All the Attic Cleaning Tips You Need to Know

by Jamie Forbes
August 22, 2022
on RedFin Blog

Attics are the perfect place to store things you might need someday, especially if you live in a large house in Nashville, TN, or a fixer-upper in Las Vegas, NV. Regardless, all attics can become too full. If yours is similar to most, it’s probably full of boxes, old furniture, and other items you no longer need or use. When did you last take the time to clean it out thoroughly?

attic, cleaning

How Cleaning and Organizing Can Benefit Your Mind and Body

by Elizabeth Bacharach
April 7, 2022
from Shape.com

Dusting, disinfecting, and decluttering on a regular basis can boost your mood, increase your focus, and double as low-intensity cardio. Read on to learn the secret to scoring these perks.

There’s nothing quite like coming home (or maybe just closing your laptop) after a long day of work and…cleaning.

Yes, you read that right.

While some people may exercise to destress or turn to meditation when feeling overwhelmed, I channel my inner Monica Geller and get to work dusting, discarding, disinfecting, and reorganizing my apartment. But I don’t need to be in a mental funk to start reorganizing my kitchen drawers with enthusiasm. I’ve actually been very into cleaning and organizing since an embarrassingly young age. Only now as an adult, however, have I realized that it’s actually my favorite form of self-care.

While that may seem surprising to some, it actually makes a lot of sense according to mental health pros. Just take it from Clea Shearer, co-founder of The Home Edit who says, “I don’t think that many people understand that organizing is really a form of self-care, and it does so much for your mind and your whole body.” Plus, research backs this up. Ahead, all of the science and expert insight you need to feel good about taking the time to clean and declutter your home (and your mind).

Read the whole article here.

cleaning, decluttering, Mental Health, organizing

How to Properly Clean and Disinfect Your Bathroom

After the kitchen—which should be the cleanest, most germ-free room in your home—the bathroom should come as a very close second. After all, it’s where you clean yourself up! Because of the presence of steam, unpleasant odors, bacteria, and water, your bathroom is susceptible to invisible, deeper levels of uncleanliness and germs that will take more than just basic spray-and-wipe cleaning. Read on for the lowdown on how to properly clean and disinfect your bathroom.

cleaning

7 Easy Habits to Keep Your Home (Almost) Germ-Free

While most of us have never dealt with a global pandemic before, we are all widely experienced at cleaning our own homes. It’s not just about using disinfecting cleaners—though it is definitely important to use these regularly to sanitize surfaces. We’re talking about simple things you can do to keep germs from entering and proliferating in your home. If you get your family to make a habit of following these steps, you’ll keep those nasty germs at the minimum (c’mon, you know no one can achieve 100% germ-free status!), for now and for the future.

cleaning

Quick and Easy House Projects To Do During Quarantine

With the current “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order extended to May 4 in Washington State, professional organizing services (along with many other services) have been temporarily halted. While we can’t come to your home and help you organize right now, we can still give you some quick and simple tips on cleaning, decluttering, and organizing! Think of these mini projects as the precursor to your spring cleaning, as most can be done in less than a day. Do you have kids at home doing remote learning? Let them take a recess and give you a hand; it may earn them some extra screen time or the chance to pick this weekend’s takeout dinner!

cleaning, home organizing, spring cleaning

De-Summer and Clean Out Your Car

School is now in full swing, and the long, lazy days of summer have given way to the regularity of school, work, after-school activities, and early bedtimes. You’ve transitioned your home and schedule to autumn’s rhythms. But have you done the same with your car? If it’s still full of July and August’s evidence, then it’s time to de-summer and clean out your car with these five steps.

car, decluttering

Cleaning the Cleaning Appliances

What’s not to love about your cleaning appliances? They don’t need payment, they don’t need to be fed, they don’t complain, and they do their job when it’s convenient for you. The least we can do is give them a bit of love. Besides, keeping these guys clean helps them run better and last longer, and even save energy.

Dishwasher

For a quick degreasing and odor removal, place a cup of white vinegar in a dishwasher-safe container on the upper rack of your empty dishwasher. Run the machine using the hottest water cycle available. If it still smells musty after this, sprinkle a cup of baking soda over the bottom of the dishwasher, then run for a second cycle. If you’d prefer to use a dishwasher cleaner, Good Housekeeping has a list of recommended ones that handle food and grease, as well as hard water minerals.

appliances, cleaning

Making the Summer-to-Fall Transition: Prepare Your Home Before Winter Sets In

The end of summer is all about change. Leaves are starting to fall, the weather’s just beginning to cool (okay, at least it’s less hot). The kids are back in school, and everyone settles into familiar and busy daily routines. Soon, you won’t have as much time for those little household jobs that’ll pay off later – or cost you some money if they’re neglected – so do yourself a favor: put down the TV remote, pull on your sweatpants and t-shirt, and get ‘em done now.

home maintenance