Week 19 & 20: May 7 & 14, 2023
Welcome to the first full week of May! May is National Electrical Safety Month, as well as Clean Air Month, so we will be focusing on our home’s electrical and air safety. Having good interior air quality can make a big impact on your quality of life. Electrical safety is for both convenience and safety. Older homes especially might need tuning up on electrical needs, such as updating plugs to modern, grounded ones. We will be carving out time this month to do one of the most tedious one-time tasks a homeowner can do: label a fuse box.
Spread out these tasks over the next two weeks. Copy and paste each bulleted item into your calendar. Set the recurring task based on the time frame in parentheses (monthly, weekly, etc). The weeklong schedule is a template to get you started. Set each of the home maintenance tasks on a day that works best for you, or ignore the ones that don't apply to your home.
Sunday:
Clear expired food and to-go containers out of the fridge & check your fridge’s temperature, airflow, and inside water filter. (weekly)
Update old light bulbs: properly dispose of incandescent and fluorescent bulbs in exchange for LEDs (onetime)
Take time today to familiarize yourself with your fuse box: search the make and model online for any recalls; make sure no fuses are tripped; note any (in my case all) unlabeled fuses; note any damage; if you see any sparks or smell a burning or popcorn scent, call an electrician immediately.
Monday:
Take a break! *
You can choose a day that is right for you, but a rest day from home maintenance is important to keep from burning out. I choose Mondays because let’s face it, work takes a big chunk out of all of us on Monday.
Tuesday:
Good interior air quality starts before you even enter the house, so deep clean your front steps/porch and door. Get into all the grooves, windex any glass, hose down any screens, remove spiderwebs or other bugs, lube up hardware and polish doorknobs (twice yearly)
Take a look at any power strips and outlets in your home and make sure none are overloaded (yearly)
Wednesday:
Check your water heater’s pressure release valve (twice yearly)
Clean your bathroom’s exhaust fan(s) (yearly)
Thursday:
Check gutters for any damage or blocks (seasonal)
Walk through your home and add up all the following electrical points to create a shopping list for any items in need of replacing:
All the ungrounded, rusted, damaged, or simply dated outlets
All outdated or damaged light switches
Any light fixtures that can’t carry modern capacity needs
Next week is Week 2 & 3 of Brush & Bulky item collection in Dallas.
Brush and bulky items may be set out beginning on the Thursday prior to your collection week through Sunday prior to your collection week. Please see the My Schedule app here to find your week and find what items are accepted.
Friday:
Clean your range hood filter(s) and deep clean the exterior of the hood (yearly)
Clean the rarely-cleaned tops of all the lightbulbs in your home. I’m always surprised how much dust, bugs, and even grease end up on top (yearly)
Empty all trash bins and take the trash bins outside*
*Assign this to the day trash is collected at your home.
Saturday:
Do your monthly exterior home inspection: Check for animals or pests, storm damage, wet spots in the yard etc (monthly)
This time of year the plants can grow fast! So trim back any bushes or trees from the house weekly for the rest of the growing season (weekly)
And that’s it for week 19/20! Happy Spring and Happy Home Health!