Kathryn Weber's Cleaning Articles

Prepare Your House for Fall

Get your home ready now

so holiday time is a breeze

Even if it’s still hot here in South Texas, fall

is definitely on its way, so it’s time to get

your house ready for the change of seasons.

Getting some this preparation done in advance means you can spend time on outdoor projects when the

weather finally does turn cool. Besides that,

once all this work is done, you can

concentrate on decorating projects for the

holidays – maybe a new makeover for your

dining room?

A pretty house is nice, but a functional,

well-maintained home is a real joy. It’s also

safer for you and your family. Clip this

checklist and post it on the fridge (ahem, I

mean the new corkboard you’re going to

install!) to help keep you on track for all your

fall home preparations.

• Do important maintenance.

 Call your heating and air conditioning company to come out and light your heater pilot and check your heating unit. Don’t wait until it’s cold or you’ll be in line with everyone else.

 Check seals and weather stripping around doors. This will help stop drafts and keep bugs out.

 Have your chimney cleaned and inspected if you have a wood-burning fireplace to prevent chimney fires or smoke back-ups.

 Do paint touch-ups outside and inside your home.

• Make necessary changes.

 Purchase new batteries for smoke detectors and have them ready for the Daylight Savings time change on October 30th.

 Install smoke detectors if you don’t have them.

 Consider adding a carbon monoxide detector if you have a gas heating unit.

 Change household filters, such as water filters, whole house water filters, and air conditioning filters. Buying a three-month air filter will take you into the winter season. Try to change these at marked times, such as change of seasons or when we change our clocks to help you remember when to make the changes.

• Organize closets, cabinets, and garage.

 Install organizers in spice cabinets and pantries to make holiday cooking easier and create more storage for baking and cooking needs.

 Buy and install closet organizers to straighten out messy closets.

 Purchase 10 sets of plastic hangers and then replace as many wire hangers as possible. Wire hangers bunch up your clothes and make them hard to find.

 Organize the garage and get ready to bring all the outdoor things like patio furniture indoors for the winter. Install shelving and purchase tubs to hold miscellaneous items in the garage.

• Clear out excess.

 Go room to room and clear out excess clutter and unused items and then schedule a garage sale.

 Donate items to your favorite charity and get the tax deduction before the end of the year rush.

 Make a space for holiday purchases now before you start bringing them home.

• Clean up .

 Clean light fixtures and chandeliers before holiday parties and family dinners. (See instructions below)

 Get silver polished and china washed and it will ready for your holiday dinners and will be one less thing you have to do then.

 Schedule to have your carpets and upholstery be steam cleaned.

 Turn mattresses, and then take comforters and bedspreads to the cleaners for dry cleaning or laundering.

 Wash silk plants while the weather is still warm and they can dry outside.

 Clean the surfaces in the kitchen. Make a corkboard area close to a phone or desk area where pizza coupons and fridge art can go to clean off the refrigerator. Next, clear off the counters of anything you haven’t in the past week. This will give you more space and look neater, too.

 Clean exterior surfaces and wash sidewalks, front porch, and windows before the weather turns cold and you can’t get them cleaned.

To clean a chandelier:

To clean a crystal chandelier, turn power off at the electric box and tape over the power switch on the wall. Move the table and place a plastic drop cloth below. Cover bulbs with small plastic sandwich bags and secure with a rubber band. Following the instructions on an ammonia bottle, make a cleaning spray of ammonia and distilled water; (this won’t leave a residue on crystal like tap water does). Or, you can purchase a special chandelier cleaner from a lighting store. Spray the chandelier thoroughly to clean off dust and dirt and allow cleaner to drip off. Follow up by spraying the chandelier with plain distilled water to rinse. Some crystals will need to be wiped by hand. Let dry for one to two days before turning the light on again.

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Kathryn Weber is the publisher of the Everydayclean.com Cleaning Calender, that calender that puts you in control of your home by ending the power struggle. For more information log on to http://tinyurl.com/d9rh5.

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