Everyone’s heard of Spring cleaning, but Winter cleaning? Yup, a lot of cleaning needs to be done at least twice a year. Winter brings with it it’s own set of cleaning and preparations. Today I’m going to go over some of the steps I take to get winter clean and ready.
Car Winterizing
Sadly I’m not much of an expert in this field. Car’s were never much of my thing. Being a broke guy though I have done my share of car repairs, It’s just not something I enjoy. I will tell you the steps I take though to get winter ready.
- Get an oil Change
- Fill up antifreeze reservoir
- Change washer fluid to winter formula
- Check tire tred depth and replace if needed
Those are the big steps I take. In addition to making sure that I have my cold weather sleeping bag, spare coat, gloves, Blanket, water, food. Check the condition of your window scraper. I keep a can of window defroster in my car. I have plenty left over from last year actually. Keeping extra fuel would be a good idea. I have a hatchback and am iffy about gas being in my back seat.
Tool Maintenance
Winter is a great time to check on all your tools. Every few months I like to make sure that my knives/ multi tools are rust free and sharpened. The grim that can get into a multi tool is pretty amazing. I like to coat my leatherman wave in WD40 working it into the moving parts. I use cotton swabs to get the dirt out and sand paper to remove any rust spots. One My mora knives I prefer to coat them with olive oil keeping them food safe. same thing with my skyline pocket knife. Since I use it for food prep all the time. I will usually spend a day sharpening all my knives.
Home Cleaning
I also spend this time deep cleaning my apartment. I clean and organize everything. getting rid of anything I no longer need, fixing or replacing broken items. I pack up all the summer clothes and get out the wool and winter clothing. Check the condition of the items being packed and the ones getting unpacked. Cabin fever is a lot nicer with a clean place. Being slow when it comes to cleaning this is probably a two week process. Last year I spent a whole week on the bathroom, I replaced all the caulking. This is a great time to check you pantry and make sure nothings expired or about to. Anything that is about to go bad needs to be eaten or given away.
Cleaning is not just for Spring! People tend to spend more time inside during the winter so you have more time to clean and maintain your tools for spring. I just started my winter cleaning and preparations. I’ll be bust over the next few weeks cleaning and doing maintenance.
What do you do to get winter ready? What should I be adding? Let me know in the comments
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Wd 40 is vegi oil.
Sorry but WD40 is not vegetable oil. If it was people would buy veg oil instead. WD40 is a proprietary blend including 25% petrol (gasoline)
You should also think about storing a can of your defrosting fluid in your home. Especially with newer cars and their door seals the doors can freeze closed and then your means of getting into the car is locked inside as well. Also handy if you are in a super hurry to grab it as you walk out and spray the windshield before you ever step in the vehicle. Just have to remember to take it back out later.
thanks
One thing alot of people neglect on cars and trucks is changing the transmission fluid and filter. It seems daunting at first but it is not much different than changing the oil in your car. Also keep a check on tire pressures. For me I am in a house, so gutter maintenance is imperative.
Very true, James. WD-40 is a petroleum product. In the food industry we stayed away from petro products when lubricating our big dough mixers and sausage equipment. That included WD-40. Any area near the food, we sprayed vegetable oil to lubricate after each cleaning. I’ve found that WD-40 is better for cleaning old dirty grease off things and breaking loose rusted bolts than a lubricant.
Also, here in Tennessee with our high humidity, we have to clean our vinyl siding most every year since our house is shaded by trees. Mildew gets to making the vinyl look bad fast. And we put the cheap gutter guards in place that work very well for the price. With all the Hickory and Oak (acorns) trees overhead, they are time savers, Bigtime!
Thanks for the info and reminders. We live on a hillside, so your pantry advice is a must for us. We also added a chest freezer this year for stocking up.
You might want to consider something other than WD-40 to lubricate your tools since it wasn’t designed as such. It works decently for a short time, but will dry out after attracting gunk. With regular maintenance you might not notice it, but if you can’t for some reason it will eventually be a problem. Personally I use one of the various CLP oils. Another good choice would be good old fashioned 3-1 oil.
@Mike I use WD-40 alot to clean tools, but do what you suggest. 3-1 is a good all around Machine Oil that I really like!
@James You were right on using Olive Oil on your food knives. Sorry, I said Vegetable oil but meant we used Olive oil.
Great! I think it will be a good idea to gather all the junk you have and then ask a junk removal company to help you.