The chore calendar: Your monthly guide to maintaining your home

You’ve written your New Year’s resolutions and made plans for 2010. But have you taken the time to calendar your household chores? It may not sound as exciting as a summer getaway in Palawan, but mapping out a home maintenance plan for the whole year is a critical task to tackle early on. Dr. Eleanor Malicdem, associate professor in the College of Home Economics in the University of the Philippines Diliman and an expert in household resource management, says it’s important “to determine assigned household tasks to family members… [and help you] complete the chores necessary, so you can also schedule other activities.”

To help you plan your monthly tasks, here’s a schedule you can use as a guide:

January

Take down the Christmas tree and other décor and put them back in storage.
Remove all lights and ornaments from your Christmas tree. Sort out ornaments by kind—all Christmas balls in one box, all figurine-like tree ornaments, all ribbons, and so on. Put Christmas lights back in their boxes as close to their original packaged state as possible so the bulbs won’t break and the cords won’t get entangled.

Check if the areas you tidied up during your year-end cleaning frenzy are still well-maintained.
Dr. Malicdem says December is a good time to have a general cleaning in your house—with the holidays and New Year approaching, most homeowners feel inspired to greet the coming year with a clean abode, in addition to the need to have the house ready for various Christmas parties. Come January, after all the gatherings you hosted for the holidays, see to it that each area of your house is still in its clean pre-holiday state.

February

Clean up your kitchen.
Since it’s still cold in February, Malicdem says you have to check your pipes, pans, utensils, and other kitchen equipment for molds, which build up when an area has been exposed to moisture for a long period of time. Creative Homemaking suggests spraying some vinegar on the surface with molds, leaving it for 10 minutes, then rinsing with a detergent and bleach solution.

Organize your pantry.
Arrange the items on your pantry shelf according to their weights. The heavier ones should occupy the lower shelves while light, seldom used items should be placed on top. Put frequently used items at eye level. Check out Real Simple for more pantry organizing tips.

March

Check the wires of audio-visual equipment and appliances like your television.
“Because of the heat, some of our big equipment [might have trouble with their wires],” says Malicdem. To prevent electrical malfunction, have your appliances checked and damaged wires repaired by your trusted electrician. Don’t know one? Check out Constructionph.com Builders’ Directory for service centers near you. Since March is fire prevention month, it’s a perfect time to make sure your house doesn’t get burned down because of faulty electrical wiring.

• I just listed this in my table calendar..thanks for sharing!
  by val on 2010-01-15 16:57:38
• thanks for sharing! great guide in our home :) will share this also to my friends.
  by angeLmina on 2010-02-19 03:10:08
• These guides are helpful for someone like me who is busy.
  by prettylass8831 on 2010-02-20 09:43:25
• thanks for the tips.it really helps to prevent fire.
  by Aizen on 2010-02-23 02:31:56
• Now i'm guided,coz when it comes to household chores,boo me!
  by Melanie Esponilla on 2010-03-08 11:06:06
• great tips! i'll remember all these. thanks
  by AiDiSan on 2010-03-08 22:33:04
• I can't wait for May, I wanna try getting flowery!
  by meeeow18 on 2010-03-09 19:31:40
• i think this is very useful
  by katiyay on 2010-03-11 17:09:18
• Hmmm..Won't the vinegar make the kitchen stink? I'll try this out next weekend. Great tips!
  by Laurie on 2010-03-14 12:07:57