Why We Created a Monthly Home Maintenance Schedule
Like a weekly chore list, having household maintenance tasks that you complete at specific times throughout the year will keep your home running smoothly. Investing your time in regularly scheduled home maintenance will not only maintain the value of your home but also provide you with a boost in sanity!
As you’ve noticed by now, I like a schedule to keep me on track, mostly so that I don’t forget what’s supposed to be happening! By setting up a home maintenance schedule, I’ve laid out all the annual maintenance that our home needs and spread it out throughout the year. No longer are we wasting perfectly good summer weekends cleaning behind the refrigerator or worrying about flushing our hot water tank at Christmas time.
Every month & season has a short list of activities to complete that will keep our home in tiptop shape and running efficiently. By spreading it out throughout the year, we no longer feel like we are missing something, or worse yet – actually forget something crucial that’ll end up costing us tons of extra money to repair down the line.
What Should Be a Part of a Monthly/Yearly Home Maintenance Plan
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- Major Systems Maintenance – especially the mechanical systems of the home
- Washing Walls, Shampooing the Carpets, Deep Cleaning Bathrooms & Kitchen
- Landscape Management: Fertilizing Lawn & Trimming Shrubs especially
- Washing Windows
- Safety Tasks: Changing Air Filters, Smoke Detector Batteries & Baking Soda Boxes; Cleaning the Dryer Vent
- Clean the Garage, Donate Clothing/Unused Items
- Wash Pillows, Comforters, Blankets; Flip Mattress
- Garden Preparation or Maintenance
- Whatever is important to you that you don’t want to forget!
How You Can Create Your Own Home Maintenance Schedule
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- Make a list.
- Determine priority.
- Be prepared.
- Stick with it!
Step 1: First step is to determine what annual jobs your home requires to stay clean, safe and comfortable to line in. Make a list.
Your list won’t look like mine – and that’s perfectly ok. Feel free to use mine as a starting point, but customize your list based on YOUR family’s needs.
Step 2: Then determine when each of those tasks would be not only easy to complete, but helpful.
Maybe you have a pool and every year you need to scrub the lining. Performing that in the winter makes no sense – it would be so difficult to do in the cold weather plus it would help no one. You’d want to schedule that shortly before you plan to open the pool.
Same goes for if you have an extensive garden – when do you prepare the soil, start your seeds, plant your seedlings, fertilize, etc.
Walk around your house and think about all of the times you’ve said, “If only I had extra time to do this….” Make the time – put it on your list.
Maybe you like to wash your walls once a year, but every year passes, and you’ve forgotten to do it. Add that to your list. Personally, I’d schedule that for a boring, nothing happens month. Like February. That month takes forever. Maybe washing the walls can help speed it along.
Step 3: Next, get prepared.
Make sure that each month or season (or however else you dole out the tasks), you have all the materials you need.
For example, if you like to replace the smoke detector batteries every time change, make sure you are stocked with enough batteries to cover every detector in your home. Ahead of time. Place a curbside order a week or two before and set them aside.
Or maybe you like to swap out the Arm & Hammer boxes every month like I do. Add those to the grocery list too. Or maybe stock up enough for the entire quarter, then reorder.
Whatever you need to complete the task efficiently, be sure to have on hand when you are ready to check it off your list.
Step 4: Finally, make it a routine.
Starting anything is the most difficult part. But once you are on a roll and you see how efficient your system is, you’ll never go back to the old way! There’s too much on our minds these days. Make a list, share it with your family and attack it together.
Here’s a look at how we break down our home maintenance schedule seasonally:
Spring (March-May)
This season we focus on getting our home ready for longer days and outside living. In March, I’ll contact our local HVAC professionals to schedule an AC inspection. We purchased an annual plan that covers 2 yearly inspections and a few other bonus features throughout the year, should something need to be addressed.
When we adjust our clocks, we’ll also change our smoke detector batteries.
We change our furnace air filters every quarter, so this happens in April to catch the last little bit of furnace activity for the year.
During the odd years, we will flush our hot water heater. This is not something we routinely did in the past, until our hot water tank leaked all over our basement! The benefit of flushing the tank regularly is the prevention of sediment forming along the bottom of the tank, which often affects the relief valve. This allows corrosion to develop more quickly. Flushing your tank improves the heater’s efficiency and extends the lifespan. Ours was expensive to replace, and I don’t want that bill again. Flushing in the spring is way easier when we can open up the doors to snake a hose out to the yard to keep our interiors dry.
As we emerge from the cold winter, we start paying attention to our lawn/landscaping. The lawn is given its first deserved feeding of the year in April.
The following month, we’ll swap out our winter cloths & turn on the exterior water sources. Whatever landscaping needs to be trimmed, is trimmed.
Lastly, I’ll clean the interior windows myself and hire a company to handle the exteriors for me. If we are going to have curtains wide-open and fresh air coming through, I want to make sure everything is sparkling. I’ll also rinse off the screens at this time too.
I find getting ready for summer and recovering from summer are my 2 busiest home maintenance seasons. However, I’m far less enthusiastic completing the list when we’re closing up for the fall/winter!
Summer (June-August)
The tasks of summer are largely outdoors.
First up, clean up the garage from winter. Pressure wash off the salt, if necessary, scrub garbage cans as needed, throw out junk we’ve accumulated over the year and get rid of dead bugs, dust and debris.
Make sure everything is tidy and there’s easy access to whatever we’re using throughout season.
The lawn gets its second & third fertilizations during these months too. We’ll also replace the air filter to our HVAC once again in July.
Fall (September-November)
Time to close down the house in preparation for winter – boo! This is another busy season.
Inside every September, we’ll swap summer clothes for winter and get the windows cleaned in & out once more. We’ll also schedule our furnace inspection to make sure we’re ready for winter.
Outside, we’ll get one good seeding done to the lawn, as needed.
In October, we’ll focus on replacing the furnace filter indoors. Everything else is outdoors: we’ll turn off all exterior water and insulate the faucets properly. Before it gets too cold, we’ll aerate (as needed) and fertilize the lawn one more time to prepare it for winter (& hopefully a productive spring).
In November, before the rush of holiday entertaining begins, we’ll move all the kitchen appliances and clean out the dust and debris that found its way under there throughout the year.
I’ll also polish the kitchen cabinets & wipe down interior windows (again!). I know this seems like a lot, but it’s a quick task. We have 17 windows and I can complete the job in < 40 minutes, even when I’m pokey. I scheduled this in November, instead of December to lighten an already hectic month.
We’ll also make sure the carpets are cleaned before the busiest visiting time of the year begins.
Winter (December-February)
In December, I keep it simple – it’s already a busy month. This is when I’ll take the time to properly clean all the bathroom exhaust fans, as well as the shower heads and sink faucets. We have hard water, so removing the mineral deposits is important for efficient operation. But this step is super easy – a little distilled white vinegar does the trick every time.
In January, I’ll complete my first interior window cleaning of the year since we’ll be opening up the curtains more consistently to let all of the growing daylight back into our home. Now’s the time to get rid of any cobwebs or dinge after a long winter’s hibernation. Although, if you’re keeping up with my schedule, you’ll notice that your windows are never awful. That makes for a quicker job. Also, beginning of the quarter, we’ll swap out air filters.
In February, the shortest month also has the shortest list – clean out the dryer vent.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, U.S fire departments responded to over 15,000 structure fires from 2010-2014. 92% of those fires involved clothes dryers! Roughly 34% of home dryer fires are due to failure to clean the dryer (according to FEMA). Dryer fires occur primarily in the winter months and peak in January.
Note: The professionals recommend dryer duct/vent cleaning every 3 months or even more often. Use your judgement.
Routine Monthly Tasks:
We take it a step further and plan for a few extra (& easy) tasks throughout each month. You’ve ready about my weekly cleaning schedule, but there are a couple home maintenance items we have to perform each month also. Along those lines, there are a few tasks we complete each month to improve our lives.
On the first of every month, we’ll clean the garbage disposal. Think about all the food waste you throw down your disposal…now imagine that sludge, bacteria and germs building up year after year. Gross. All you need are lemon rinds & ice cubes. Or if you are looking for a DEEP clean, try baking soda, white distilled vinegar & hot water. Or Plink disposal tablets for the super quick route. No matter what you use, it’s a quick and easy process. Do it.
We’ll also swap out our fridge/freezer baking sodas. I’ll be honest – the fridge always gets done, sometimes we skip and month or two in the freezers. Outta sight, outta mind. 😉
Then we’ll water our indoor plants. Once again, if this task is not attached to a specific day of the month, we’ll forget about it. So we water on the 1st & 15th every month. We’ve had far fewer plant burials since adopting this strategy!
Every 5 Years:
Every 5 years, we’ll have our air ducts cleaned. We’re a pretty clean household, so we don’t necessarily expect a lot of dust/debris to develop. But after 5 years, it’s good to get everything flushed out. We are a household with sensitivity to environmental allergens, so all steps we can take to avoid any respiratory illness are worth the time and expense.
Conclusion:
So there you have it – a year of home maintenance tasks in review. Some seasons are busier than others, but you’ve got plenty of time to tackle everything. And nothing is difficult.
The goal is safety for your family and proper care of your home. Your home is the largest investment you’ll likely ever make. If you can do something simple to increase the value of that investment, why wouldn’t you?
Hopefully you find value in this little peek into our routine – and maybe encouragement to create a list of your own. Every home is different. Determine what yours needs and get to it.
Good luck with your home maintenance!
