Let’s not kid ourselves: Housekeeping is the opposite of alluring, especially on a warm spring day.
Yet the seasonal message that consumers should be cleaning up and clearing out arrives each year alongside the high pollen count.
“The concept of spring cleaning came from the days when households relied on wood-burning stoves and coal stoves for heat,” . “On the first warm day of spring, a thorough cleaning was conducted to remove all that ash and the dark soot” from woodwork or furnishings.
Among Martha’s “good things” for spring cleaning: , which is fitted with its own cleaning-supply carrying caddy.
The average American household spends about $650 a year on housekeeping supplies, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Home-improvement gurus concur on two ways to spend less and smarter on housekeeping: Green your cleaning solutions, and buy space- and energy-smart equipment.
One last note about spring: It really is the time for homeowners to take stock of what is likely their most valuable investment.
“You may do your own repairs, or pay to have them done, but there’s no way around (home) maintenance,” Terry Meany writes in “Home Repair & Maintenance: An Illustrated Problem Solver” (The Globe Pequot Press) This author’s spring checklist includes:
• Remove, wash and store storm windows, then install window and storm-door screens.
• Repair any inoperable windows.
• Check and clean the air conditioner (or swamp cooler).
• Remove outdoor furniture covers, then clean and repair as needed.
“A regularly maintained house,” Meany writes, “means you don’t get hit with much bigger deferred problems later.”
Elana Ashanti Jefferson: 303-954-1957 or ejefferson@denverpost.com
