Spring into home cleaning

Every year spring signals the perfect time to organize and freshen up your home before summer. Here are some organization and safety tips to help you make the most of the season.

Make a list
To get through spring cleaning as efficiently as possible, conduct a scan of each room in your house and note areas that will need the most attention. Go room by room and look through hidden areas you may regularly neglect, from closets and spare bedrooms to junk drawers and the pantry.

Invest in organization
After you’ve sorted through your clutter and identified what you want to keep, discard, recycle or donate, create a system to help you keep track of your possessions in the months to come. Shelving organizers, storage bins and file folders can work wonders.

Take stock of fire safety
Spring cleaning is a great opportunity to double-check your home safety devices, including smoke alarms and fire extinguishers. Fire extinguishers should be on each level of your home and in higher risk areas like the kitchen and garage. Make sure that they are easy to reach, accessible to every adult member of the household and that everyone who is old enough knows how to use them.

The Canadian National Fire Information Database reports that 80 per cent of fire deaths occur in homes without working smoke alarms, often due to missing batteries or expired alarms. As you’re refreshing your home for spring, check that you have smoke alarms on every level of your home and in every bedroom. Check the manufacture date on the back of the alarms. If they are older than 10 years, they need to be replaced.

Don’t forget about CO
Carbon monoxide (CO) is an invisible, odourless and potentially deadly gas that can only be detected with a CO alarm. Like smoke alarms, a CO alarm should be on every level of your home, including the basement and bedrooms, and batteries should be replaced every six months. For added convenience, consider a Carbon Monoxide Plug-in Alarm with Battery Backup, which allows for continuous monitoring during power outages.

Learn more about home safety at firstalert.ca.

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