Builds a watering and feeding schedule for your houseplants and keeps it honest through the seasons.
Tested in Museskillinstructionsworkflowschedule
by Muse Skills editors · Written for this directory
Home Maintenance Calendar
Builds a year-round home maintenance schedule for your home type and climate: what to do, when, and what to skip.
by Muse Skills editors · Written for this directory
Ready to copy.
Before you install
- A shared skill carries somebody else's instructions. Read the source before you install it.
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What it does
Home Maintenance Calendar exists for the moment you realize the house has quietly needed attention for months and nobody wrote it down. Furnace filters, gutters, dryer vents, detector batteries, hose bibs before the first freeze: individually trivial, easy to forget, and expensive when ignored. You describe the home once, type, age, climate, which systems it has, and the skill builds a 12-month calendar of tasks with the month or interval, a one-line what-and-why, and an honest effort level.
The calendar separates safe DIY work from hire-a-pro work with no gray area. Electrical, gas, and anything on a steep roof are always pro jobs, and the skill gives a rough cost range so those can be budgeted. A never-skip list of five tasks carries the real weight: smoke and CO detectors, gutters and drainage, the furnace filter, the dryer vent, and the main water shutoff valve. For each, it says what skipping costs, so the list reads like prevention instead of nagging. Renters get a reframed version: what is your job, what is the landlord’s, and what to put in writing before you call.
The schedule is tuned to the climate you give it. Freeze protection appears only where it freezes; humidity and storm tasks only where they apply. It proposes a reminder cadence for the repeating work but creates nothing on its own: no calendar events, no contractor calls, no parts ordered. It gives advice, stops there, and never tells you to touch an electrical panel or a gas line.
What it includes
- A home profile template: type, age, climate, and systems check
- A 12-month seasonal calendar with effort levels and one-line what-and-why
- DIY vs hire-a-pro callouts on every task, with rough pro cost ranges
- A never-skip list of five items with the consequence of skipping each
- A suggested reminder cadence for repeating tasks, with a renter reframing
Example
Input: single-family home, 1990s build, New England climate, forced-air gas heat, central AC, gutters, no sump pump.
Output:
- Oct: clean gutters (DIY, 1 hr) - water over the fascia rots it
before winter. Hire-a-pro if the roof is steep: $150-300.
- Oct: shut off and drain hose bibs (DIY, 15 min) - a burst pipe
floods the basement in January.
- Nov: test smoke and CO detectors, replace batteries (DIY, 20
min) - furnace season starts now.
- Dec: check furnace filter; replace if gray (DIY, 10 min) -
clogged filters kill efficiency and crack heat exchangers.
- Never skip: detectors, gutters, furnace filter, dryer vent,
main water shutoff test.
- Reminder cadence: monthly nudge for the filter in winter,
quarterly for detectors, seasonal for gutters.
What this one touches
Gives maintenance guidance, not licensed advice. It never tells you to touch electrical panels, gas lines, or steep roofs; those are always flagged as hire-a-pro work. It never invents product recalls or code requirements for your area. It never schedules anything in your calendar, contacts a contractor, or buys parts on your behalf.
Install
Copy this block and paste it into your Muse chat. Muse does the install and confirms when it's done.
Install prompt
Full source
This is the exact text Muse installs. Read it. That's the whole trust model.
SKILL.md
---
name: home-maintenance-calendar
description: Turns your home's details into a year-round maintenance calendar: seasonal tasks, frequencies, DIY-vs-pro calls, and the items you should never skip. Trigger phrases: "home maintenance schedule", "what should I check on my house this season", "build my home maintenance calendar", "home upkeep checklist".
---
# Purpose
Do one narrow job: keep a house from quietly falling apart. The
skill takes a short description of the home and produces a
12-month maintenance calendar: which tasks, when to do them, how
hard they are, and which ones you should never skip. It separates
safe DIY work from hire-a-pro work, and it flags the high-stakes
items (water, safety, HVAC) that cost the most when ignored.
# Workflow
1. Ask for the home profile: home type (single-family, condo,
apartment, townhouse), age of the home, region or climate,
and which systems it has (forced-air heat, central AC, gas
fireplace, sump pump, septic, chimney, gutters).
2. Build the 12-month calendar from seasonal tasks plus
frequency-based tasks (monthly, quarterly, yearly). For each
task give the month or interval, a one-line what-and-why, and
the effort level (15 minutes, an hour, half a day).
3. Mark every task DIY or hire-a-pro. Electrical, gas, and
roof-slope work are always hire-a-pro. For pro work, include a
rough cost range so the user can budget.
4. Name the never-skip list: the 5 tasks where skipping costs
real money or creates real danger (smoke and CO detectors,
gutters and drainage, furnace filter, dryer vent, water
shutoff valve check). Explain the consequence of skipping
each one.
5. Suggest a reminder cadence: which tasks pair well with a
monthly or quarterly nudge. Do not create any calendar events
or reminders; just propose the schedule and ask before any
action.
6. If the user rents, reframe everything: what is the tenant's
job, what belongs to the landlord, and what to document in
writing before calling.
# Output Contract
- A month-by-month calendar of tasks with effort level and
one-line what-and-why
- DIY vs hire-a-pro callout on every task, with rough pro cost
ranges
- A never-skip list of 5 items with the consequence of skipping
- A suggested reminder cadence, no reminders created
- Renter reframing when the user rents
Keep the whole answer scannable: the calendar as a list, then the
never-skip list, then the cadence.
# Operating Rules
- Never advise touching electrical panels, gas lines, or walking
a steep roof. Those are always hire-a-pro, no exceptions.
- Never invent local code requirements or recall notices.
- Tune the calendar to the stated climate: freeze protection
only where it freezes, humidity tasks only where it applies.
- Never create calendar events, reminders, or contact a
contractor without being asked explicitly.
- Keep tasks concrete. "Check gutters" is not enough; say what
to look for.
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