The sun is shining, the flowers are in bloom and the birds are chirping. It must mean that it’s springtime. Another sign that its springtime is the feeling that your home may need a thorough cleaning. Let us help you in this follow up to our outdoor spring-cleaning article. This time around we have compiled a list of a few spring-cleaning tips to refresh and renew the interior of your home.

Declutter – getting rid of unwanted or unused items in your house is a great place to start. This will give you more room and makes things easier to organize, and a less cluttered environment can help de-stress your mind. Having a garage sale, donating to places like Goodwill or other charitable organizations are useful solutions to getting rid of stuff you no longer need.

Deep clean the bathroom – you’ll want to make sure you have some good and durable cleaning supplies for this one including a toilet brush, scrub-free shower and tub cleaner, a sponge, glass cleaner, paper towels and rubber gloves. Spray and soak your tub shower and let it soak in for bit before wiping everything down. Spray the inside of the toilet with cleaner while scrubbing with the brush and then wipe the exterior with disinfectant wipes. Clean the mirror with glass cleaner and then wipe down the sink, faucet, and counter.

Deep clean the kitchen – the best equipment for cleaning the kitchen would be disinfectant wipes, sponges, a mop, vacuum, and broom. Use a wet sponge to wipe down the sink and counters as well as the exterior and interior of your appliances such as the stove, refrigerator, and microwave. Sweep the kitchen floor with a broom and use a vacuum with a nozzle attachment to get to those hard-to-reach areas in the cracks. Next, you’ll want to mop the kitchen floor to give it that clean and disinfected look and feel.

Dusting the entire house – using feather dusters and dry cloths to get rid of dust might not be the most effective way to go about it. This method can send the dust into the air you breathe inside your home and will eventually find its way back to the areas you dusted. Instead of the old-fashioned way of dusting, try using damp washcloths, microfiber cloths and a vacuum cleaner to trap the dust, so it doesn’t stay floating in the air. Another useful household item can help reduce dust in the home would be an air purifier so you can trap airborne particles.

For more home care tips, follow us on social media @westernmutual or visit us online at http://www.westernmutual.com.

Springtime is a time of renewal and refresh. That’s why it’s the perfect time of year to get started on a revitalizing your living space by cleaning and organizing. Balancing busy schedules with work and family might make you feel overwhelmed when trying to figure out a productive cleaning session. Having an organized list can go a long way to having a productive and orderly spring home cleaning session. Today we are going to give you a helpful list that focuses on the benefits of cleaning the exterior of you home.

• Inspect & clean out gutters – this is a great way to prevent serious water damage. Also, cleaning your gutters helps protect your roof because heavy blockage can cause them to break and damage your roof.

• Clean & organize garage – an organized garage space is obviously more aesthetically pleasing, but this creates a safer environment by reducing tripping hazards.

• Power wash siding – this is a great way to rid your siding of dirt and grime as well as harmful substances like fungi, mildew, bacteria. These substances can be quite harmful to the health of the occupants and can cause permanent damage to the house.

• Clean windows – the benefits of this one might seem obvious. Of course, your home will look better with spotless windows and being able to see out your window better because of removing smudges, dirt, stains, bug splatters etc. However, this cleaning task has safety and health benefits as well. Some of these benefits include decreasing allergens and unhealthy mold in your home, being able to spot window problems, stopping insects from entering and making nests in the home via the window.

• Power wash driveway – an often-overlooked cleaning task when it comes to long term benefits. A consistent power washing routine removes dirt and grime, stains, stops the spread of weeds, mildew, mold and other growths can cause long term damage.

For more home tips, follow us on social media @westernmutual or visit us at http://www.westernmutual.com.

Maintaining a clean home can be a challenge in general. Especially, if you have kids or pets. Adding on the rainy and stormy season can bring a new set of challenges. Being prepared can help with this daunting task.

Designate a spot to place shoes, rainboots, coats and umbrellas close to the front door – Removing wet or muddy items that you bring in from the rain, before going too far into the home will help leave some of the water and elements out of the rest of the home and help mitigate dirty or wet floors. Keep a shoe rack, umbrella holder, and a place to hang raincoats upon entry.

Clean with disinfectant regularly – Dampness in the home can increase the chances of mildew growing. Moisture is where microbes and bacteria tend to thrive. It’s important to disinfect the wet floors and surfaces as well as making sure to dry them.

Maintain clog free drains – Make sure your exterior drainage system is allowing for rainwater to pass and not collect around the outside of the house will help prevent flooding and excess water or mud around the home.

Check for leaks – Doors and windows can develop small leaks especially during heavy wind driven rain. Thoroughly inspect the area around doors, windows, skylights during and after rain storms for wet spots or stains.

If you found these tips helpful, please share with friends and family! For more rain and home tips, follow us on social media.

Cooking and heating the home are the two top causes for house fires, and as we head into the cooler months and the holidays, numbers of house fires increase dramatically. While safe cooking and heating practices are your first line of defense, having a plan of action when it comes to a home fire escape plan is an important step to ensuring the safety of you and your family. Here are some simple but important actions you can take to ensure your family’s safety:

1. Check your smoke alarms regularly!  If your alarm has regular batteries they should be changed once a year and tested monthly by pressing the test chirp button.  Smoke alarms should be installed in all sleeping and living areas, and it’s important to educate everyone in your home on what a functioning smoke alarm sounds like and what to do when it goes off. 
2. Have at least one fire extinguisher in the home in an easily accessible location and have all family members trained on how to use it. 
3. Keep flashlights in key spots around the home in case of a power outage and difficulty seeing at night. 
4. Plan and practice a home fire escape plan. Your children might be very familiar with a fire drill that has been implemented at their school. Taking the same initiative at home to plan out a quick and efficient escape plan at least twice a year can go a long way to ensuring every family member’s safety. Pick a designated escape route along with an outside meeting place and practice until all family members get it down.   A contact outside the home area is also recommended that everyone knows and can touch base with in case of a regional disaster.
5. Have a grab bag ready and easily accessible with necessary items such as medications for a few days, a change of clothes for each family member, pet needs, and important documents. 

If you want to review your coverages or policy information, visit our Customer Service Center at https://www.westernmutual.com/policy or call us at (800) 234-2103.

Here comes the rain! Is your home as prepared as it could be to handle the rain and storms of fall and winter? Here are a few easy tasks that can help protect your home from damage during heavy rains.

1. Clean out your gutters and downspouts. All those falling leaves from the year can clog up your gutters and prevent your home from successfully draining away excess water, potentially leading to leaks.
2. Take a look at skylights, windows, doorframes for any noticeable water entry or deterioration. if necessary reseal any window or doorframes. These will fare much better if addressed before a big storm!
3. Have a licensed roofer take a look at your roof for any potential leaks and replace any missing or damaged tiles. This could save you from a time consuming and costly roof leak or water loss.
4. Trim away any overhanging trees or shrubs that could cause house damage in winds an rain.
5. Always have an emergency kit including flashlights on hand in case of loss of power.

If you want to review your coverages or policy information, visit our Customer Service Center at https://www.westernmutual.com/policy or call us at (800) 234-2103.

How do you know if you have one? Look at your main gas meter for a small device that looks like the one in the photo above. If you don’t have one and want to install one, you must only install a state approved device and it must be done by a licensed plumber for safety.

While anti-virus technology is constantly evolving, email phishing scams and online identity theft has increased dramatically in recent years. Here are a few ways to help spot a phishing scam.

1. Look at the email address sending. Misspelled or uncommon domain names, or numbers inside the domain. Ex. john@miss10n.com, john@mission.nexx, john@missionnnn.com
2. Suspicious attachments asking you to click from email addresses you don’t know. Always double check you know who the email is from before you click an attachment.
3. Emails requesting login information, credentials, or sensitive and private data.
4. Urgent calls to action or threats.

If you receive a phishing email do not open any links and report to your email provider.

It’s officially August and we are officially slow (or fast) marching towards fall and the new school year. Time to make those last minute summer plans and start or finish checking off your summer fun must dos. While we may have the summer heat a few more months, here are some ideas for the last glorious weekends of official summer.

• Backyard Grill and Chill – Family, neighbors or friends or all of the above, one of our top summer musts is the backyard grilling and chilling with our favorite people and community.
• Beach Day – or Lake Day Pack up the car with your favorite beach games, boogie boards, snacks, an umbrella and beach chair and don’t forget the sunscreen.
• Summer Roadtrip – Don’t forget to lock up the house and ask a trusted neighbor to keep an eye on your home.
• Me Day – Lounging around the home, reading, hitting the spa, whatever recharges you
• Outdoor Community Event – Summer outdoor concerts, movies in the park, Community picnic – there are always outdoor summer local events that are can’t miss.
• Ice Cream – It’s cold, sweet, and delicious, if you haven’t had an ice cream cone by now is it even summer?

Tell us, have you already filled your summer and enjoyed all the fun? Or are you still scrambling to enjoy these last few weekends?

Unfortunately hail is one of the most common and costly weather hazards in the US. While it is not possible to completely avoid and protect from hail damage, there are a few things that can be done to help stay safe and prevent further losses.

First, if you safely can, move your vehicle, and any major outdoor appliances or furniture (bbqs, lawn chairs, anything breakable but easily moved) under coverage or cover furniture with a thick blanket. It’s helpful to also be prepared for a potential power outage, and have your emergency kit stocked (see “Emergency Supplies” blog from July 7). As always, keeping shrubs and trees cut back so they are not hanging over your home, and making sure gutters are free from debris can help prevent further damage in hail, rainstorms, and fires.

During a storm, make sure your windows are securely closed as well as any blinds or drapes to help keep broken glass out of the home.

After the storm take note and photos of damage to covered property and your home. Contact us to open a claim and get immediate claims assistance.

Summer of 2022 is one of the busiest travel summers yet! With most of the world open to travel again, and everyone itching to get back on the road, there are many adventures at the ready! When going through your final checklist for your vacation – suitcase is packed, airport ride set, hotel reservations lined up – there are steps you can add to help keep your home safe while you’re away.

1. Don’t forget to lock up! Seems easy enough but do one last check of all entryways (windows and doors) for any accidentally left unlocked. This should include pet doors and mail slots as they can be an access point for someone to unlock a door, and making sure your garage door is secure.
2. Remove any spare keys you have hiding around the outside.
3. Let a trusted neighbor know, so they can keep an eye on anything out of the ordinary and collect your mail for you so that you don’t have mail or packages build up, a sure sign someone is out of the home.
4. Make it look like someone is at home! Leave a light on a timer, blinds as they would normally be, have a car parked in your driveway,
5. Unplug any unused appliances in case of power surge, and make sure your smoke alarms are in working order before leaving.
6. Try to avoid public social media updates that you are away, at least until you return.