Home and Auto Spring Cleaning and Maintenance

The flowers are blooming, the birds are serenading, and the house still feels like it’s stuck with winter blues. Spring cleaning is a tradition that allows us to freshen up our homes and get a head start on the often-hectic seasons of spring and summer. It can feel like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. Here are six spring cleaning tips to get you started. If you have any questions, contact our office at 413.475.7283 or Complete our online quote form today!

Clean Room by Room

Approaching your house room by room is the most effective way to deep clean it. Create cleaning checklists for each room to help you get organized and to remind you of the areas that need extra attention. Feel free to skip the areas that have been cleaned recently, and focus on the parts of your home that were largely neglected over the winter.

Organize and Clear the Clutter

One of the biggest parts of spring cleaning is often getting rid of clutter. A systematic four-step approach can be helpful for this. Identify problem areas, analyze reasons for the clutter, determine solutions, and implement them. Sorting your belongings into four categories—trash, give away, store, or put away—can also be effective as you go through the spring-cleaning process. Move the clutter out as soon as possible, whether it’s bringing a donation box to a charity or planning a yard sale.

Get the Household Involved

Make spring cleaning a household endeavor. Even young children can be excellent helpers. Assign age-appropriate chores, so everyone feels included. Try throwing on some music as you all clean or establishing a household reward as an incentive to get the work done.

Tackle the Seasonal Chores

Many chores need to be done seasonally, especially in preparation for warmer weather. So incorporate them into your spring-cleaning routine to get them out of the way early. For instance, tackle outdoor chores, such as cleaning the grill, patio, and outsides of windows, as soon as the weather warms up. Also, store winter clothing, bedding, decor, and other items. And pull out your spring items to give your home a refreshed look.

Keep Cleaning Products to a Minimum

If you need to shop for new cleaning products for spring cleaning, keep your items to a minimum. Myriad cleaning supplies can create unnecessary clutter, and you probably don’t need all of them to keep your home fresh and clean. Opt for a good all-purpose cleaner and microfiber cloths. Those items will cover the majority of surfaces in your home. Then, purchase other specialty cleaning supplies only as needed.

Establish New Cleaning Habits

A thorough spring cleaning that covers the whole house is a great opportunity to establish ongoing cleaning habits, which can make the next spring cleaning even easier. For instance, don’t try to do all of your spring cleaning in one day or even one weekend. Instead, tackle items on your spring cleaning to-do list for just 15 minutes each day. That will help to get you in the habit of tidying up for 10 to 15 minutes per day even after you’re done with your spring-cleaning tasks.

YOUR 5-POINT SPRING CAR MAINTENANCE CHECKLIST

SCHEDULE AN OIL AND OIL FILTER CHANGE.

Regularly scheduled oil changes help maintain a healthy engine. As motor oil lubricates and cools the engine, it naturally picks up impurities. This is good! What’s not so good, however, is that oil becomes less effective as it ages. That’s why regular oil and filter changes are so important. If it’s too old, your motor oil can’t do its job and protect your engine. Schedule an oil change at the start of spring to help your engine purr all season long.

HAVE YOUR CAR BATTERY TESTED AND REPLACED, IF NECESSARY.

After winter, your car battery might be on its deathbed. Low temperatures forced your battery to work harder by slowing down its chemical reactions. Now, high temperatures are right around the corner, ready to evaporate essential battery fluids and speed up corrosion. There’s a chance that one hot day could leave your battery DOA. Avoid the inconvenience of a car that won’t start by getting your car battery tested and if necessary, replaced, before it’s too late.

CHECK TIRE PRESSURE AND TREAD.

Check your tire pressure in the morning before hitting the road for the day, and adjust your tires based on that reading. Your tire pressure should match the recommended tire pressure in your vehicle manual. Why bother checking tire pressure between winter and spring? Because fluctuations in temperature can also cause fluctuations in tire pressure. In general, tires lose or gain 1 PSI (pound per square inch) for every 10℉ change in temperature, and both under-inflated and over-inflated tires can cause problems on the road.

This is the perfect moment to check tire tread depth, too. Without sufficient tread, your tires can’t grip the road as they were designed to do. This could compromise your car’s handling in wet weather and your ability to come to a quick stop.

REPLACE YOUR WIPER BLADES AND REFILL WIPER FLUID.

Your wipers are probably looking worse for wear, especially if they spent months clearing away snow and ice. Perhaps they’re smearing water across the windshield, chattering, or just not doing their job. If a simple wiper cleaning doesn’t do the trick, then it’s time to replace your wiper blades to prepare for spring and summer rainstorms. Get ahead of the changing seasons (and the bugs that come with it) by topping off your wiper fluid, too.

DEEP CLEAN YOUR LIGHTS AND REPLACE THE BULBS, IF NECESSARY.

If you’ve found yourself squinting while driving in the dark, your lights might need a good scrubbing! Just like our cars get dirty, so do our headlights and tail lights. Polish hazy headlights with a soft toothbrush, baking soda and water to help them shine bright. If that doesn’t work, a quick bulb replacement should do the trick.

Freshen up your home and auto insurance policies this spring along with this spring cleaning/maintenance checklist. Speak with one of our agents to update and make sure you have the right coverage for your needs. Encharter Insurance is an independent insurance agent meaning we can provide coverage from many insurance carriers so you receive the home insurance for your budget and needs! You can reach us at (413) 475-7283 or online at https://encharter.com/personal-insurance/auto-insurance/.