spring chores and a spring bouquet
April 13, 2011 
Hope you are having a great week! Does the nice weather make the whole world a better place for you? It sure does for me. With the great weather comes a little work, and I couldn't find a "simple list of house upkeep tips" on the www, so now I'm making my own.
A little spring cleaning is GREAT therapy. Because we've only owned a home for 1.5 years—I wasn't privy the annual chores required to keep a house in working order. I wanted to throw together a quick list of some research I found. Some obvious, but others may be surprisingly helpful.
annual house upkeep tips
1 } REPLACE FILTERS
We purchased this reusable filter (located where air enters furnace). It was easy to disassemble and run through the dishwasher. Another really great idea is to clean vents and make sure that no furniture or other debris are blocking vents. Our vents are exposed in our dungeon basement, but many houses will be more difficult. *This is recommended every 3 months.
2 } CLEAN GUTTERS AND DOWNSPOUTS
Clear out all gutters of debris and check for any broken or loose pieces. Also, make sure all downspouts direct water away from the house. This spring we installed a rain barrel on a downspout that had inconvenient drainage onto our patio.
3 } ROOT KILL
Purchase some root killer and use on the main house drain (ours is next to our washing machine in the basement). This cleans out all the drain pipes going away from the home, killing all the root blockage.
4 } KEEP THE BUGS OUT
This is my favorite spring cleaning tip. I hate creepy crawlies. Home Defense is your best friend when it comes to unwanted house guests. It takes a little time to spray all along inside and out of every window, door, and floorboard but so worth the time and $$$.
5 } OTHER GOOD IDEAS
Change batteries on smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
Have fireplace/chimney cleaned
Clean vent behind dryer
Drain off sediment from base of hot water tank
Grind ice cubes to clean garbage disposal and flush with hot water/baking soda
Clean Ceiling Fans
And most important, add a pretty spring bouquet! My amazingly sweet grandmother-in-law made this PERFECT quilted table center as an Easter gift. I couldn't resist making a complimentary bouquet to show it off. Ranunculus (one of my favorite flowers) are in season and lemons make a good team.
I hope this list can be helpful to some. For more nifty cleaning lists, visit here, courtesy of Miss Martha Stewart. And please do share if you have some chores that you love (or hate).
Reader Comments (5)
Hi there! I think your ideas are awesome and was hoping that you might add it to my Easter and Spring Linking Party to share with my readers. If you are interested, you can go here http://bakedbyjoanna.blogspot.com/2011/04/easter-linking-party.html to enter. Thanks!
I love the citrus with the flowers, and ranunculous is SO pretty!!! I hate to clean....but I desperately need to spring clean my closet....one of these days I'll get around to it!
hello! i read mrs. meyer's clean home (written by the lady behind the super-smelling, natural cleaning products) over the winter. i loved the book and setting a 'schedule' for myself for spring and fall cleanings. i use a blend of real simple magazine's cleaning chart, martha's schedule & mrs. meyers to give me the kick in the pants i need to get ready for spring :)
Thanks for joining my linking party!
just wanted to say your site is very easy on the eyes. pleasant reading too. :)
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