With Spring just around the corner Lindsay wanted to share some tips for your home or yard. Thanks, Lindsay!
Whether you’re planning to list your home or not, spring is an excellent time to take stock of what needs to be done around your home to help shake off those winter cobwebs (and we could all use a little EXTRA of that this year, no?) and get your home feeling and looking its best. Is there any better feeling in the world than making space? I’ll spare you my armchair psychology bit, but I will say that cleaning and decluttering your physical space seems to help do the same for mental/emotional clutter as well. So that means we are running out of reasons not to take care of some of our Spring “to do’s”. Don’t know where to start? Here’s a little list to get you going!
House
1. Clean your gutters.
This is a biggie. I may or may not have had experience with letting this one slide a little too long…not good. If the idea of doing this yourself is just too offputting, hire it out! Get all the junk (technical term) out of those gutters before they start to warp and crack and you’ll save yourself a whole lot of headache. If you live somewhere with a lot of trees, this is especially important.
2. Replace your HVAC filter.
Did you know you’re supposed to do this every 2 months or so?!! Obviously this isn’t a “spring only” job but you might as well use it as motivation to make it happen. Once a year is better than zero times a year, am I right?
3. Check the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
Yep. This is important. For what I hope are obvious reasons.
4. Clean your dryer vents.
Cleaning your vent to make sure it’s free of lint, etc. is important and can help prevent fires related to mucked up vents (so much industry jargon). If you’re not going to do this job, then make sure you’ve completed #3 on the list, ha!
5. Clean and inspect your roof.
Hands up if you love to use a power washing machine? Me too! VERY satisfying. However, once you’ve cleaned up that driveway, should you use the power washer up on your roof? Nope. Unless you’re TRYING to blow your shingles right off. There are various cleaning solutions that can be used but I would recommend a professional because if you don’t climb up onto roofs all day every day as part of your job, it might be a good idea to keep your feet on the ground.
Yard
1. Powerwash driveway/sidewalk/walkways
It’s amazing how much grime builds up on these surfaces. Such a fun excuse to go out and play in the dirt!
2. Add/replace soil/mulch to garden beds.
Did you know that we get a lot of rain here on the coast? We do. And yet, despite living here since birth, I bought my first real rain jacket just last season. That’s right, 29 years (plus 12 more) without a proper rain jacket. Anyway, the point is that all of that rain erodes garden beds and you need to beef them up every year.
3. Prune dead branches from trees and bushes.
I love to garden, and every year I learn more and more but I’m still always paralyzed by pruning. I never want to do the wrong thing. This is when I start bugging my friends at Cedar Rim Nursery. I will often go down with pictures of a tree or bush I’m not sure about and ask them their advice for pruning. And they always smile and tell me what to do without ever getting annoyed. Isn’t that nice? You should go see them too!
4. Pull weeds in your garden beds.
There’s nothing funny to say about this job. Except that maybe it doesn’t matter how many dead lifts I do at the gym, a day of weeding kills my hamstrings like nobody’s business. I’m really selling you on this chore aren’t I?
5. Wash off your outdoor furniture.
This is a fun one! It means that a comfy seat outdoors with the sun on your face and a frosty beverage in your hand are in your imminent future.
Ok, I think that’s a good start! If you’re into lawn maintenance (and if you have one, you should be) keep your eyes and ears open for when Cedar Rim Nursery rolls out their lawn care information. They hold seminars, post videos, create pamphlets, etc. Of course, the seminars will depend on what’s happening with COVID but there’s still a tonne of helpful information that you can get your hands on.
Happy spring cleaning!