Routine Maintenance
And planning ahead
It is that time of year again. I have found, and bought, the dayplanner for the upcoming year, and for some reason the ones they had were starting last month and running for fifteen months? Oh, well, that means I can go ahead now and copy over what I had in this year’s planner and transition now-ish instead of stashing the new one until January.
As part of the planning, I was wondering. There are tasks that need to be done around the house, with the garden, with my car, with… you know what I mean. Those recurring chores which should be done to maintain the important things in life, lest the lack of a small time investment become a major headache and expensive repair bill.
What would you suggest to help me plan ahead? What do you do? What have you forgotten which later snuck up to bite you on the behind after you left it undone?
I’d rather learn from someone else’s mistakes than my own, thankyouverymuch! If I can jot things into the dayplanner now, to execute over the upcoming year, I may actually remember to do those things. If I don’t lose the planner (I was good about this last year, so perhaps I’ll keep the streak going!), and if I keep in the routine of checking it regularly (daily may be more than I can ask of myself).
Paying the cat tax!
I used to keep several 3x5 index cards in my khaki shirt pocket as a cheap and portable "Things to do" list. One item per line, used the front and back. Tried to never exceed 5 cards. Complete the task, mark through it. If I was about to use up all the spaces on my last card, it'd scare me that I was either slacking or was overwhelmed (if so, delegate to a subordinate, with a due date). Then it was time to recopy the uncompleted things onto new cards to give me more space, to evaluate whether the item really needed to be done (if it's been on the list for 18 months and nobody was yelling at me, it'd go off the list.) Busy, busy, busy on a ship. Knowing that space was finite on just 5 cards gave me incentive to do things NOW so it wouldn't have to go on the list and I'd never have to go to a 6th card. Those cards being in my left front shirt pocket every day for 20+ years worked fine for me. I was forced to notice them (and read them) every day. Heh. When I retired, I gave my relief my small stack of cards.
HVAC filter depending on conditions might need to be changed every two months during summer and every three months rest of the year.
Filter on dishwasher weekly. Easiest to do after a wash so everything is soft and not dried out. Depending on your water quality running vinegar or one of those lime descaler once a month or bi-monthly to keep build up off the heating element.
Fall - cover air conditioner with a tarp. Come spring hose it down and clean.
Every 6 months clean coils on fridge and freezer just by vacuuming the dust bunnies off. Timing might not be quite right depending on local conditions.
Take large pot of really hot water and pour it down kitchen sink once a month or two to really keep build up down. Yeah I know you’re not pouring grease down the drain but little bits collect. I wouldn’t recommend boiling water. Pot because it’s one large flush at once.