The spring season is a wonderful reminder of the vitality of life! Nature wakes from its winter slumber and the days are warm enough to open the windows in your home. Take advantage of spring seasonal homemaking!
Spring has sprung!
What a fun way to celebrate nature waking up from its winter slumber.
What’s not fun? The extra maintenance that comes with the season. Luckily, we only have to manage these once a year!
Let’s dive into a few things you can do this spring to start your seasonal homemaking.
What is Seasonal Homemaking?
Seasonal homemaking is aligning your homemaking activities with the seasons.
In spring, a homemaker will open her home and clean away what’s left of the winter muck around the home. During the summer, a homemaker may make fresh salads and fruit dishes to revel in what’s fresh and available to them.
Autumn around a home may be warm and cozy, with throw blankets readily available and a warm beverage simmering on the stove. Winter demands the same coziness, but to fight off cabin fever, a homemaker may intentionally scatter activities around the house to keep loved ones entertained.
Of course, no matter the season, seasonal decor and recipes are sure to follow!
Spring Homemaking Tasks
Some of these tasks may mean a little extra cleaning. But that’s okay! As you maintain your home, you can know you’re being a good steward of what God gave you.
You can also make sure your home is in good shape to host friends and family, bless others, and comfort your own family.
Maintain Your Water Heater
Maintaining a water heater is similar to changing your smoke detectors. It’s recommended twice a year to clear out sediment that has built up.
If you have ever wondered why this is necessary, it’s to prolong the life of your water heater. As sediment builds up, it can begin to cause problems with your water heater.
Your biannual checks can also catch other issues, like faulty hoses and leaks. This is especially important if you don’t have a pan underneath your water heater. If you do have one, you can take a glance to see if there’s water in the pan or not. If there is, your water heater leaks.
Deep Clean Your Home
I love a clean house. And nothing brings me more joy than opening a window and letting some fresh air in!
While I’m wiping down baseboards and tending to necessary repairs, I’m also going through clothes and deep cleaning winter gear before I pack it away to use for next year.
Don’t forget about appliances! If you don’t run a sanitation cycle in your dishwasher or washing machine about once a month, now is a great time to do that.
You can also take a look at everything that has a filter in your home. Dishwashers, the air filter in your home, and dehumidifiers are all great places to start.
If you use smaller appliances like diffusers and instant coffee makers, be sure to quickly clean those, too.
For almost all of my appliances, baking soda and vinegar work great for me! Be sure to read about factory-recommended cleaning solutions, though. Care and maintenance will differ with every machine.
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Test and Replace Carbon Monoxide Detectors and Smoke Detectors
If you’ve read through my About Me page, you know my husband is a career fireman. We know how dangerous wintertime can be when it comes to house fires!
To keep yourself protected all year long, be sure to test and change any carbon monoxide and smoke detectors that are no longer working. A great reminder to do this is during a time change!
To test your detectors, refer to the manuals provided with them at the time of purchase. For more questions, see your local fire department.
Inspect the Outdoors for Signs of Damage
Winter storms can do a number on the outside of your home. Your roof could be missing shingles. Your trees could be broken and dead. For proper maintenance and longevity, it’s important to inspect the outside of your home for signs of damage from winter storms!
If you don’t see damage, consider spring cleaning the outside of your home. If you live in an area with snow, that probably means mud quickly follows those beautiful, winter wonderlands.
We will quickly have muck and grime build up on our home siding and vehicles. Since our area road departments will salt our roads in an ice storm, our vehicles are also prone to damage from that!
After you take your car through a car wash, consider pressure washing the outside of your home. Pressure washing is a great way to keep things tidy.
Don’t Forget Your Attic Space!
If your home is like ours, your attic space isn’t finished. This means we rarely go up there because it isn’t used for storage.
If we ever have a pipe on the roof come loose and rainwater gets in, we won’t know it! So before summer sets in and it becomes unbearably hot in the attic, we know we need to take a look and make sure everything is as it should be.
If we do have water damage, that’s a great way to introduce mold into our home. Not good! Just another reason to check on our attic space.
If you have heat problems during the winter, the spring may be a great time to check in on insulation, too!
Reverse Your Ceiling Fan
Ceiling fans turn in both directions because they create an updraft or a downdraft, depending on the season.
During the winter, you want the warm air in your home pushed down. During the summer, you want cool air pushed down.
A quick Google search (if you don’t have the operating manual for your ceiling fans) is a great way to set your ceiling fans to “cool.”
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Simple Spring Home Decor Ideas
Fresh Flowers
What better way to welcome nature waking up than by bringing nature inside? I love seeing daffodils find the sun alongside tulips and peonies.
Throw Pillows
Throw pillows are a great way to add a simple spring touch to your space. What’s better, they don’t have to be expensive!
Here’s a frugal, homemaking hack for you. Keep your seasonal throw pillows out year-round. Just cover them with a season-neutral pillow cover! You can easily do this by drawing on what has already inspired you to decorate your home.
Pops of Color
Do you prefer pastels or bold colors? I love a little bit of both!
Don’t forget pops of color when you’re decorating your home! Autumn calls for browns, oranges, and yellows. While Christmas dominates with reds, golds, silvers, and greens.
Draw on nature and bring in blues, pinks, and purples during spring! If you opt for pastel versions of each color, you’re drawing on that beautiful, soft spring look.
When spring hasn’t quite sprung yet…
Spring doesn’t mean we are out of winter’s grasp just yet. Sometimes, we still see a cold, rainy day.
If that’s the case, let a soup simmer on the stovetop for a bit. While you’re in the kitchen, try your hand at a few spring, seasonal recipes! (Have you seen this Easter-inspired vegetable tray?)
If you’re looking for a reason to get outside, go dust off your garden tools.
If you’re content with staying inside, this is a great time to grab a cup of your favorite coffee or tea and map out a spring cleaning routine.
The warm months are on their way!
When summer settles in, you’re going to have a sense of satisfaction at how clean your home is. Maintaining a home can be overwhelming! But you should enjoy your hard work. Be proud that you gave a little extra care to your home!
While you’re enjoying your summer nights, don’t let them slip by! This is the time to make memories with your family.
If you’re a frugal family like we are, you may enjoy visiting your local park, organizing neighborhood scavenger hunts, or going on a family bike ride.
If you are planning on taking a vacation this year, don’t forget that day trips are an option! You get the experience of leaving your area, but the cost savings of avoiding a hotel, gas, and many other travel expenses that seem to pop up.
I love how summer can bring a family together. For a list of 50+ free or cheap activities you can do with your family this summer, check out this blog post!
For more frugal homemaking tips, follow me on Pinterest! I share more about recipe inspiration, DIY crafts, and family activities there, too.
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