Make Home Care a Breeze with These 12 Weekly Tasks
Every homeowner should treat their home like it’s their baby. After all, it needs constant upkeep and maintenance to stay in tip-top shape.
Regular maintenance checks once a week, monthly, every season, and every year can help you avoid more significant problems and expenses in the long run. If you’re worried that it would be too troublesome, don’t fret; these are simple and easy-to-do tasks that can help you ensure your health and your home’s cleanliness.
You don’t have to do heavy lifting or big tasks for weekly must-dos. In fact, you’d only need to give your home a once-over, vacuum, sort out the fridge, and the like. By doing these essential yet easy tasks, we’re optimistic you’ll be able to keep your home in excellent condition for decades!
Give Your Entire Home a Once-over
Before you do anything else, the most crucial step is to give your entire property a once-over. This will allow you to see which areas need more attention and which don’t require a lot of time and effort.
For example, you might need more time cleaning the bathroom this week than last. You may also need to spend more time doing a grocery run because you’ve run out of most of your items and supplies. Whatever it is, a once-over allows you to clearly identify and prioritize your tasks, helping you keep your home in tip-top shape.
Declutter Your ‘Drop Zone'
We all have our designated drop zones. Most of the time, however, they’re in our foyer, in the form of an empty chair or space where we, as the name implies, drop all the items we brought with us outside.
The drop zone is usually where we place everything we plan to clean up and organize later. However, life happens, and sometimes, we forget to care for whatever’s piled up in this zone.
Clutter, however, can affect your mood and how you function. Because of this, it’s crucial to allot some time to clean and declutter your space.
Clean and Sort Out the Stuff in Your Refrigerator
When it comes to the fridge, it’s usually just grab-and-go. You open the door, find what you need, grab it, and do whatever you need to do.
However, remember to clear out your refrigerator to avoid being left with rotting food. Worse, you might wrongly believe you have enough food for the next week or two when, in reality, they have already expired.
To avoid waste and to prevent hunger, go through the stuff in your refrigerator at least once a week. Say goodbye to old leftovers and anything past the expiration date. Aside from making you sick, spoiled food can also encourage bacteria and mold growth in your refrigerator.
Clear out Your Pantry
Like the refrigerator, your pantry is another part of your home you should check on nce a week. Though most of the items in your pantry are probably shelf-stable, there’s no denying that there’s a possibility that there’s still some expired food somewhere there.
Plus, you shouldn’t go grocery shopping without checking what you have and don’t have. If you do, you might end up with two or more of the same items and completely miss buying whatever it is you’re lacking.
Head Out For Groceries
Once you know what you need to buy and what you don’t, the next step is to do a grocery run. To avoid buying more than necessary or, on the flip side, forgetting essentials, make a grocery list and stick to it.
On the one hand, a grocery list allows you to adhere to a specific budget and make the proper choices regarding food options and nutrition. On the other, it also helps you save a lot of time.
After all, you won’t wander aimlessly throughout the grocery store if you have a list. It’s also a helpful guide that’ll help you avoid impulsive or unplanned purchases.
Organize and Disinfect the Bathroom
For many, the bathroom is where they can truly relax and wash away the stress of the day. However, it’s also one of the areas in your house where bacteria grow most.
While the kitchen and other high-touch areas are considered dirtier, there’s no contesting how much bacteria can also be found in the bathroom. Because of this, cleaning and disinfecting your bathroom weekly is a must.
Paul Horowitz tells WebMD that the inside of the toilet bowl must be scrubbed down a couple of times a week with bleach-infused products. Showers, bathtubs, and countertops must also be cleaned at least twice a week with bleach-infused disinfectants to help reduce the spread of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. He said, “Germs can line the walls of the tub, and you can easily touch the surface and then touch your mouth.”
Replace Your Bathroom Towels With Fresh Ones
In line with cleaning your bathroom, you must replace your towels with fresh ones at least once a week. A study conducted by Showers to You, a United Kingdom shower company, revealed that freshly washed towels already contain 190,000 counts of bacteria.
This then increases to 17 million after just one day of use. Shockingly, it can reach as high as 94 million counts of bacteria after one week.
Bath towels are the perfect breeding ground for bacteria, especially since they remain damp for long periods. Through this, it’s clear that bathroom towels must be replaced and washed at least once weekly. Better yet, you can replace it after every few uses.
Put on Fresh Bed Sheets
Our sheets come into direct contact with our skin for hours on end. This means they absorb bodily fluids, oils, sweat, and germs.
Pets and food are other factors that can increase the bacteria count in our bedrooms, especially on our bed sheets. These are major reasons you should change and put on fresh bed sheets every week.
However, interestingly, a survey by Sleep Advisor revealed that the average American only changes their sheets every 24 days. Going beyond 35 days without changing sheets is already considered “gross.”
Degrease Your Kitchen Exhaust Vent
Like your gutters and air filters, your kitchen exhaust vent can accumulate grease and grime over time. Grease and dirt can affect the efficiency of your range hood and increase your home’s vulnerability to fires.
Because of this, it’s essential to always keep your kitchen exhaust vents clear and tidy. To do so, you must add it to your weekly to-do list.
Vacuum From Room to Room
Vacuuming can be exhausting. However, you must make it a point to add it to your weekly to-do list.
It can remove dirt, dust, and other scattered debris from around your house. Vacuuming can also prevent the growth of mold and mildew, the top culprits in carpet and floor damage.
This is also an essential part of home upkeep for those with allergies. Even though people stay at home to avoid pollen, sometimes, they don’t realize that their home is already a breeding ground for dust mites and the like, which can trigger their allergy symptoms. A 2015 article by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America explains that vacuuming can help keep allergens low.
Disinfect Pet Bowls and Litter Boxes
Ensuring your home is healthy and clean isn’t just for the good of humans living there. If you have pets, it’s also essential that you keep their environment, toys, and other stuff clean.
Disinfecting pet bowls and litter boxes is so important. You might think you can go for weeks without cleaning these out, but responsible pet owners know that germs can quickly spread between pet items.
Make sure you take the time to clean these things out to avoid your pets getting sick. In the long run, you’re also protecting your family members, as some bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites pets carry can make humans sick, too, especially when they are scratched or bitten or come into contact with animal waste or saliva.
Mow the Yard
One of the first things we learn when we start a garden or a yard is that we must never mow every day or too often. However, though that’s the case, you mustn’t also let your grass grow too high.
When you mow once a week, you lessen the stress you put on your lawn’s health. It is, after all, made up of a variety of grasses and plants, and cutting them too often or too little can cause damage.
In addition, mowing weekly can act as a form of weed control. These are very active during the growing season, so to ensure they don’t take over your yard or garden, it’d be best to get them cut at least once every week.
