Top Ten Tips - Getting Ready For Summer
By Tip Diva | May 05, 2008
Categories: Activities, Chores, Clothes, Clothing, Drinks, Food, Garden, Home, Household, Nature, Outdoors, Party, Pests, Pets, Plants, Safety, Services, Shopping, Stores, Tips, Websites
Temperatures have finally started creeping up and flowers are blooming everywhere. They can only mean one thing - summer is coming! Make sure you’re prepared before the season comes:
- Buy Necessary Summer Items Early - Whether clothes, pool toys, fireworks (of course, if legal), or other seasonal items, make sure you buy early. Once you hit July or August, you may have a harder time finding things you need. And stock up on sunscreen and bug spray -these tend to be other items to forget until you actually need them.
- Schedule Landscaping And Pool Cleaning Early - Call your landscaper and/or pool cleaner now to schedule your service for the summer, whether weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or one-off. Everybody else will demanding their services soon, so the earlier you get in there, the better chance of getting the times you need.
- Take Your Pets To Be Groomed - Like landscaping and pool cleaning, pet grooming also needs to be scheduled, because once the hot weather comes around, pet owners will be taking Fido and Fluffy in for their summer shavings and it will be harder to make an appointment.
- Make Sure Your Air Conditioner Works - Before installing your air conditioner after it’s been stored for the winter, make sure it works. Take it in for service if need be. Do it before the hot weather hits, or you’ll be sweating and cursing yourself.
- Clean Up Your Yard - Prime your yard for the summer by rototilling gardens, weeding, raking up messes, washing the patio, cleaning gutters, hosing down chairs and tables and whatever it needs to make it look spiffy again. You’re going to be spending more time outdoors, so why not make it look good?
- Plant Your Flowers On Time - If you have gardens, make sure you plant any flowers, vegetables, fruits and other foliage according to planting schedule. Farmers’ Almanac gives you the best days to get your hands (and plants) in the dirt.
- Refill Propane Tanks - If you have a propane barbeque, get your tank or tanks refilled. If you’re like Tip Diva, you forget until you have to light the barbeque, only to find that you have no flame.
- Ready Your Barbeque - After getting your propane tanks filled, turn the grill on without opening the top. If you have a charcoal grill, open the top carefully. Insects like to nest underneath the grill top, especially hornets and bees, so make sure to smoke them out before you get stung.
- Stock Up On Emergency Supplies - Summers also mean thunderstorms, hurricanes and blackouts, so make sure you’re ready by stocking up on emergency supplies.
- Stock Up On Barbeque Supplies - One of the best parts of summer is impromptu barbeques. But make sure you have necessary supplies, such as charcoal, lighter fluid, matches, condiments, and paper goods, ahead of time. You can even stock up on foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, and rolls, which can be frozen easily, as well as soda.
Other Tips To Check Out:
Appreciate all of the pre-summer posts here but it’s already blazing here in Florida.
Tony - I seem to forget that your first barbeques happen around Easter, haha.