My family has been having a great time enjoying the outdoors now that summer is here, but July doesn’t just bring summer fun, it also brings summer cleaning! There are some chores that are best done when the weather gets warm and as much as I would rather be enjoying the sunshine, I know that I have to take some time to get important summer cleaning done too!
Creative Commons via basykes
Our biggest summer job is usually steam-cleaning the carpets. After the mud and muck of spring, our poor old living room carpet is always in especially bad shape so giving it a thorough cleaning is an essential summer task. Two big tips for steam-cleaning carpets in the summer? First, wait for a low-humidity day if possible. If not, plan on steam-cleaning your carpets in the morning and then leaving the house for the day while they dry. And to help ensure that any remaining odour-causing bacteria has been destroyed, give your wet carpets a good spray with a fabric deodorizer like Lysol Fabric Refresher after cleaning. When the carpets dry, they’ll look and smell fabulous!
Another job that tends to get saved for the summer is washing our windows. Always make sure that you wash windows when they’re not in direct sunlight; it’s virtually impossible to see streaks when your windows are reflecting the sun. And to get a great streak-free shine that’s also eco-friendly, use an old newspaper to wipe windows instead of paper towel!
Finally, we always save any household painting jobs for summer because we can leave the doors open to ensure that the paint fumes aren’t too strong. In our century-old house, there’s always something that needs to be painted. This year, we’ll be tackling our living room; the tan and burgundy colour scheme is horribly outdated and some of the walls need to be reinsulated. Even with the doors open while painting, it’s a good idea to stay out of the painted room until the walls have dried if possible. Fortunately, with so many fun things to do outside in the summer, that’s not usually very difficult!
I may not like having to tackle the big summer cleaning jobs every July but I sure do like seeing how fresh and appealing our house looks after the jobs are done. And luckily for me, my husband is always willing to chip in and help out with the big jobs too! Do you have any cleaning jobs that you leave for the summer months? What tips do you have for tackling summer cleaning?
Disclosure: I am part of the Lysol® Healthy Families Ambassador Program by Mom Central. I received compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.
I really need to clean my carpets. And I didn’t even think of the sunlight and streaks – good tip! thanks!
You’re welcome, Lisa Marie! It does make a big difference; my mom always used to bug me about it when I was a kid! LOL
Thanks for reminding me – you are right steam cleaning and windows need to be done! Painting well that can wait
LOL! I wish our painting could wait; I love how it looks after but getting everything ready is such a hassle!
Waiting for a non-humid day is truly key for painting in the summer. Believe me it’s a mess when the paint begins to drip down the walls…ughhh
Oh my gosh, thanks for the tip, Julie! It sounds like a mess! I think we may move into the camper while we’re painting; I like to be as far away from hassles like that as possible.
Great tips! Does painting in the summer cause any problems though? Does it take less or more time to dry? What about humidity?
It definitely does take more time to dry but we have TONS of fans to help! And yes, I’ll bet really heavy humidity wouldn’t help (though I haven’t tested that!). We usually wait for those perfect warm days for painting projects!