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There are some cleaning projects you simply have to stay on top of no matter how inconvenient they may be. Some projects aren’t on your regular, weekly schedule but they’re still super important to get to semi-regularly in order to prevent other mishaps and bigger disasters in your home. We’ll go over a few here. 

Our kitchen appliances work hard for us on a daily basis. Why not try to keep them operating in top shape for longer? A great way to extend the life of your appliances is to clean them thoroughly when needed. As far as the fridge, you (or a professional) should aim to clean the coils (usually behind or under the fridge) once to twice a year for optimal results. Don’t forget to unplug the fridge before doing any cleaning back there.

If you have a dishwasher and one with a filter that you need to manually clean, make sure you don’t forget about this! This should be done about once a month. 

To keep your oven working properly, do a deep clean inside. Spray down with an oven cleaner or solution, let sit for a few hours or overnight. Then wipe down with warm water to remove grime. 

As far as laundry goes, you’ll want to clean the dryer duct once to twice a year as well. Obviously, you should be cleaning the lint out after each load of laundry. But you also want to clean dust and lint buildup in the vent. This will include pulling the dyer away from the wall (don’t forget to unplug first), then removing the vent from the dryer as well as the wall. Next you’ll loosen dust and dirt from inside the vent and then vacuum it all up! 

If your washing machine isn’t self-cleaning, you’ll want to clean the lint filter and/or drain pump filter. You can check your owner’s manual to see if yours is self-cleaning or not. If so, feel free to skip this step. But if not, clean these filters out as regularly as once a month for prime functioning. 

In the bathroom, prevent clogging by cleaning out your shower drain often. For this task, you can try a DIY method if it’s just clogged with hair from showers. If there’s a strong odor coming out and/or other drains in your home are experiencing trouble draining, it could be a larger issue with the plumbing. In this scenario, it’s best to contact your plumber. But if it’s only mild clogging from hair, you could try to clean it out using a wire hanger and gloves. Bend the hanger into a hook on a pole shape to try to reach into the drain and fish out any hair and debris clogging the line. If this doesn’t work, of course contact your plumber. 

Lastly, one of the more important semi-regular items to check off your list is the gutters. You don’t want to skip this cleaning. It’s recommended to clean these at least twice a year. Most people do this in the Spring and Fall as it’s good to remove debris and leaves before winter and then again after the cold months. This is so important because if ice builds up, it could cause ice dams and lead to roof damage and other costly repairs. 

Keep in mind this refresher of what cleaning tasks to tackle semi-regularly to prevent larger damage.