Kissdesigna home by the calendar: a seasonal guide to home care and comfort

An independent guide to seasonal home care. We do not perform any work, do not sell products and are not affiliated with the former website on this domain. Leave gas, heating, electrical work and roofing to professionals.

Planning

Planning the work

Household jobs pile up without anyone noticing: a faucet drips here, a sash sticks there, a filter is due for a change. If you write them down and sort them by season, they stop landing on you all at once. A yearly plan doesn't have to be strict; think of it as a reminder of what's convenient to do now and what can wait for its time. Below is how to set up such a plan and how to share the work with the rest of the household.

Every household job has its own season, and at any other time it's harder going.

— Food for thought

How this section works: we describe a general order of things without dates, numeric intervals or costs. For how work is organized in an apartment building, ask your building management; for appliance service intervals, see their manuals.

A yearly home plan

  1. Spring: jobs with moisture and paint

    Once the snow is gone and the weather has turned dry, it's a good time to wash windows and the outside of the balcony, touch up paint, redo the grout in the bathroom and air out the house after winter.

  2. Summer: repairs that need airing out

    The warm months suit jobs that leave rooms needing a long airing afterward: painting, replacing flooring, putting up new wallpaper.

  3. Fall: getting ready for the heating season

    Time to inspect windows and seals, clear the radiators, check the valves, and clean the vent grilles and, in a house, the gutters.

  4. Winter: small indoor jobs

    Tighten up hardware, sort through the storage closet and appliance paperwork, keep an eye on humidity and make a list of what can wait until spring.

How to keep a household chore list

Start with a walk-through: go through your apartment or house and write down everything that needs attention, from a squeaky door to a darkened caulk line by the tub. Don't try to decide right away when and who will deal with it; first you need the full list.

Then mark each item with the season when it's easiest to do, and with "myself" or "pro". Keep recurring tasks, like testing smoke detectors or changing filters, on a separate line so they don't get lost among the one-off jobs.

The list can live on paper on the fridge or in a shared note on your phones. What matters is that everyone in the household can see it, and that crossing things off feels good.

Who does what

Household tasks are easier to share when you agree on them in advance, not at the moment something breaks. Talk it over as a family: who looks after the windows and the balcony, who handles filters and appliances, who takes care of textiles and seasonal items.

Kids can take on what they're able to: watering the balcony plants, packing summer clothes into a box, reminding the adults to test the detectors. Work at height and anything electrical stays with the adults, and gas, heating and roofing stay with professionals.

What's easy to overlook

  • Changing the filters in the range hood and other appliances on the schedule the manufacturer recommends.
  • Testing smoke detectors with the test button.
  • When your water meters are due for an inspection or replacement: it's in their paperwork, and it's better to know in advance.
  • Appliance paperwork and manuals, which you always need on the very day something breaks.
  • Checking the gutters and exterior sills of a house after the leaves fall.
  • A place to store seasonal items before you need them or they start getting in the way.
  • Care

    Caring for windows and doors, ventilation, plumbing, radiators, floors, the balcony, the roof and gutters, by season and by situation.

  • How-to

    How to get windows ready for winter, clean the range hood filter and vent grilles, and test a smoke detector.

  • Tools

    What to keep on hand for seasonal home care, from a stepladder and brushes to weatherstripping, a flashlight and a hygrometer.

What we rely on

  • Manufacturer instructions for windows, appliances and equipment
  • Kissdesign editorial materials

Everything on Kissdesign is general guidance based on manufacturer instructions for windows, appliances and equipment and on household fire safety rules. For the specifics of caring for your own window, appliance or detector, see its manual; check with your building management before any work in an apartment building, since rules differ by country; and leave gas, heating, electrical work and roofing to professionals.