It’s not officially the end of summer yet, but it’s coming quickly. Fortunately, we still have one last weekend to go over one final fall checklist for cleaning. We’ve already taken a few turns at this–including a good cleaning out of the garden. But now we’re going to think about using the end of summer for a chance to remember to clean a few things that always need maintenance. You know, like we’ll use Daylight Savings Time to change out the batteries in the fire alarms. It’s a safety issue, but we’re mainly just terrified of that chirping starting up at 3 am. [image via wikimedia]
So we’re going to use this weekend as a good time to clean our window treatments and vacuum the drapes. Those windows have been open a lot over the past few months, and we’re going to regret not cleaning off the dirt and dust while it’s relatively fresh. Same with vacuuming the furniture. It’s cool in the house for the first time in months, so we’re going to put into the extra effort to pull everything out from the baseboards, too.
Now is also a fine time to turn our mattresses. We put them through a lot of wear in these hot summer nights, and the kids had a lot more time during the day to jump up and down on them. This is also a good weekend for laundering. (Hey, we just cleaned the laundry room!) We’re going to freshen up all the mattress pads, pillow cases, and even take a look at those comforters that are waiting for the chilly nights.
We’ll be getting the kitchen ready for the holidays soon enough–but for now, we’ll take advantage of the kitchen finally being cool to pull that refrigerator out and clean the coils. We’ll also swipe underneath it for a good cleaning. Light is also going to be very important in these coming months, so we’ll take down the covers from the fixtures and give them a good cleaning, too. Same with all of our heating appliances, from the portable heaters to the radiators.
And finally, let’s think about calling in the professionals for a few things. We’re ready to surrender on a few of these pieces of furniture, and it’s a really good time to look at cleaning the carpets. We should have enough sun in the afternoons to help do some drying. We’ve made the mistake before of sitting out a long wait when having the carpets cleaning in winter–and so have plenty of others, so call your professionals early. This is a busy time for them–and for us, too, it seems…
