January

Wild January’s storms shall shed their sting, Repelled by sun, as winter spins to spring, 

So kinder, temperate breezes gently blow

To melt the snow, that all the fields can sing                    

by C Richard Miles

New calendar year, 2011!!  Yeah!! bring it on.. let's all start the year right. I am nursing a mild back ache because this past two weeks I have been keeping Christmas decorations in my house, in my clients homes.. Oh yeah, we're back to ordinary times, bye bye holidays.
Activities this January? 
Keep your Christmas hollies and wreaths and lights and trees.. done once a year, prepare your boxes, containers, shelvings and vacuum cleaners to preserve the Christmas decors until next year.
January Quarterly Schedule

Rotate beds - In Spring - spin; in Fall - flip. It is recommended that matresses be rotated regularly- on a qarterly basis -  to achieve maximum usable life. So schedule this month to spin the matress in all your bedrooms so that the headboard part goes to the foot now.  

Send the heavy bedspreads for washing.

By the way, the other week, one of my clients was complaining her lanai sofa cushions look so tired and worn out. Reminder!! the sofa cushions follow the same rule to flip but on a more frequent interval - every week, especially those that are regularly used in the house. One note, be careful not to expose the zipper when you rotate chair cushions.  
Scrub garage floors to remove oil spills and moss - we do this also on a quarterly basis, and make use of a strong alkaline cleaner and high pressure washer to clean tiled garage and driveways. 

And some regular monthly tasks to keep in mind
It is best time to clean up all storage rooms and cabinets - sort items and dispose (sell, donate or dispose)  those that won't be used anymore. Wash your bag cloth covers to prevent molds formation. Re organize and win new space. 
Schedule fumigation and pest control service because it rains in January. We conducted an inspection with our pest control service provider and found some holes to be covered along the perimeter, ants crawling from neighbor's fence and windows and door screens to be replaced.
Clean aircondition and humidifier filters - This is done monthly.  
You have enough in your hands this month. Have I forgotten to mention anything, please feel free to comment. Happy New Year and whoah.. we seem to have a revised astrological signs.. I won't discuss that!