For those of us who love spring cleaning, we often think of it as a time to purge ourselves of everything that we just didn’t have the motivation to get rid of over the winter.
But – and hear us out – what if you got rid of everything before the winter even started? By doing a little preemptive decluttering as fall rolls around, you could create a more comfortable home for yourself through the drearier months, and take a bit of the work off if/when you decide to clean in the following spring.
We’ve all heard about the benefits of decluttering, and how it can have a positive impact on your mental health to see less stuff everywhere. Since the winter (and some of fall) tends to be a bit more of a bummer than other seasons, decluttering now can have the added benefit of allowing you to enjoy a (slightly) more stress-free holiday and winter season, or at least one without the added stress of needing to clean all the time.
Here’s a few of our favorite ways to declutter your home as autumn approaches, and what they can do to help you:
Decluttering Your Home for Autumn
The first step in getting ready for your big fall decluttering project would be to make a list of everything you want to get done. There’s a balance to strike here – while it’s never a bad thing to dream big, you don’t want to bite off more than you can chew and stress yourself out trying to get it all done, and/or get bummed out because you don’t feel like you got enough done. A few manageable tasks to consider could include:
- Decluttering summer clothes: Taking all your family’s more seasonal clothes (shorts, sandals, anything you won’t want to wear after the leaves change colors).
- Putting up your beach gear: Let’s face it, nobody really hits the beach that often after Labor Day, so if fall is upon you, it might be time to deflate all your pool toys and give them a safe home.
- Decluttering the garage: Once the snow starts approaching, it might be time to think about giving your car somewhere safer to park when the temperature drops – and that means you might have to make some room in the garage!
- More space in the kitchen: Wintertime means the holidays, and for many of us the holidays mean more cooking! Take some time to clear out your old food and everything that’s expired (or that you’re not going to cook with) to make room for all the ingredients you’ll wind up amassing over the next few months.
- Declutter toys and games: If you’ve got kids (or maybe a partner that just never stopped playing!), they’ve probably started to outgrow a few of the toys they had when they were younger. Since the toy-buying season is right around the corner, this might be a great time to get rid of some stuff they don’t play with anymore so they can replace them with newer, shinier toys down the road!
Every home is different, and every decluttering project is different. While the steps you’ll need to take will vary from home-to-home, we can say that one thing a lot of homes are missing already is storage. As you decide what projects to take on, make a list of what extra organization supplies you could use: for example, does your garage need some extra wire shelving to get all those boxes under control? Could you use some kitchen carts and pantry organizers to help get ready for Thanksgiving? Do the kids need new bedroom dressers to hold their wardrobe?
While the actual decluttering will take a lot of imagination as you go along, having a plan (and the right tools) will make all the difference.