Home Maintenance: Spring To-Do’s

There has been so much “tidying up” going on around here and I thought I would share what happens around the house when spring hits since we are going through it!

Upkeep on a home is no joke – especially with a lot of outdoor space – whew. Honestly, I can’t even believe the amount of to-do’s we have going on and some of the things we never even get to! It doesn’t help that I am the type of person dealing with this internal battle, “Why should I pay someone when I can do it myself?” (my husband, exact opposite).

First and foremost, one of the first things I do in early spring….

SPRAY FOR BUGS!

Twice a year we spray our house with Ortho Home Defense – Fall and Spring. Honestly, I am convinced that this stuff helps us BIG TIME with bugs.

At our old house, we had a major stink bug problem when we first moved in. Once we started spraying this consistently (bi-annually) we noticed a MAJOR improvement.

I spray this outdoors around the whole perimeter of the house (where the foundation meets the ground) and all around the windows and doors.

Trees and Sticks Clean Up

Winter can take a toll on our back woods – knocking down trees, so we have been trimming up fallen trees and completely removing some so they don’t hurt others.

The kiddos stopped by to check things out!

Stick clean up crew!

Stick clean up has made for some nice fire nights!

Thorough Vacuum Cleaning

In the spring particularly, I like to take apart the entire vacuum and THOROUGHLY clean the filter, basket and remove the bottom rollers to cut off any hair that is stuck on it. It feels so refreshing having the vacuum reset!

Pool Opening

Ugh, our pool cover can be annoying, but we cleaned as much as we could, removed it and the water was looking pretty good!

I set up all the equipment and will get all the chemicals going to get this looking crystal clear! I wish they could come up with better winter covers for above ground pools…

I can’t wait!

Siding “Power wash”

Last year we noticed a green residue on our siding that just looked sloppy. Instead of hiring a power washer to come out and take care of it, I thought why not use our pool brush and some soap and water to scrub it off?!

It worked perfectly and we plan to do this if the issue comes up again!

Actual power washing

We borrowed our parents power washer last year to clean up our patio concrete. Between the leaves, tree debris, pollen and foot traffic – his area gets pretty messy!

Mulching

We do this every other year.

Weeding and Garden Bed Tidying

The garden beds needed cleaning so I have been making sure to weed almost every day (weather permitting) to keep them at bay during this time! The sooner you can tackle them before flowering and spreading their seed, the better.

Last year, I made the mistake a raking all the pine straw and probably spread a bunch of weeds along with it, so now I just leave the pine straw! Mulch gets covered in them anyway, we won’t win this battle!

Planting Flowers

This is on my list for this upcoming weekend! I will start planting flowers in my annual cut garden and purchase some annuals to put in my containers and herb pots.