When it comes to home maintenance projects and rigorous home cleaning, we tend to worry that we’re doing too little. However, there’s a good chance that we’re doing too much. We might actually be taking on tasks that either aren’t necessary or are actually damaging to our home in some way. Here are a few chores that should be filed under the title “Skip ‘em," and the list may surprise you.
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GETTING CARPETS PROFESSIONALLY CLEANED Unless your carpet suffers from a multitude of food or wine spills and heavy pet usage, you don’t need to do a deep cleaning more than once every 18 months. Carpets can be deodorized with baking soda every other month, and rubbing in a little bit of powdered Tide or Dawn dish soap with warm water is an inexpensive, easy way to treat spills and spots. |
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REPAINTING WALLS You might be tempted to do repaint your walls to make them look new again, but all you really need to do is vacuum them and wash them with an all-natural dish washing liquid every three months. |
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WASHING CURTAINS While curtains do accumulate a lot of dust and grime, they don’t need to be washed. Keep them tidy by dusting the curtains and regularly deodorizing them for a fresh and clean scent. |
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CLEANING WINDOWS Skip the window cleaning…at least in the summertime. Instead, spot-treat kiddie fingerprints and dog-nose smudges in the summer, and leave the intense, full window cleaning for the fall. |
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MULCHING While mulching flower beds in the front yard can certainly make them look nice, the effect may not be worth the effort. Instead, tidy up the beds with a rake, and pull out weeds as you see them rearing their ugly heads. |
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WEEDING You should only need to weed in spring. Instead, invest in good fertilizer and establish the right watering habit. If you buy top-grade fertilizer, you’ll have far fewer weed problems as long as you’re properly aerating the soil. While you’re at it, you can also water your lawn less, too, since that contributes to weed growth. Most lawns only need watering one to two times a week, depending on the climate. |
