Here is your reminder of things you can do, right now, in February, to keep up on the basics of maintaining your major household systems. Since we’re in the Vancouver, WA  and Portland, OR areas, these tips will be applicable to homeowners in the Pacific Northwest. If you live in North Dakota you can return to your snow cave .

• Work on the home repair list you made in January – Do you remember the list we asked you to make in January? Well, now is the time to start crossing off some items. You don’t have to do them all this month. In fact, save some for March.
• Prune roses – This is the time of year to do it, as it spurs the rose to a more vigorous growing season. If you don’t know how, check out this article, which includes a great instructional video: Braving the Thorns Part 2: Pruning Your Dormant Roses.
• Start any seeds – Fortunately, here in Oregon and Washington we have a long growing season and a lot of variety in the plants we can grow. If you need some help deciding what you want to do this year, this is a good start: Plant Gallery and Growing Guide for the Pacific Northwest.
• Turn mattresses – Who wants to sleep in a rut? I don’t so I do this every three months. If you have a pillow-top mattress, beat it with the top of your hands to try to disperse the padding. Be careful when you turn these because they are heavy.
• Fertilize the lawn – Get a Winter fertilizer on the lawn as soon as possible if you have not already.  Probably should have done this sooner if you did not – but better late than never.  It will make a difference when the lawn starts growing…which with the recent warm weather is probably sooner rather than later.
• Pull weeds now! – Want to save yourself a lot of work later this Spring?  Now is the time to start pulling those weeds.  I noticed this morning while walking my son to school that they were already starting to grow.  Get them before they seed and spread!

January Monthly Household Checklist