Fall Cleaning Checklist

The leaves are falling, the snow is coming and Fall is upon us! You know we love a good change in seasons for the best excuse to organize or re-organize your home to welcome in the fresh start. It’s time to say goodbye to Summertime clothing and breathe breathe life back into your Fall/Winter clothes (hello, camel coat and cute scarfs). Follow our Fall Cleaning Checklist to make the most out of your clean up. We’ve broken the process up into a step-by-step, location-specific checklist but take or leave what suits you personally. Print the checklist, put it on you fridge or mirror to remind you daily to cross off your finished tasks as you go!

Indoors

It’s time to deep clean your home and get into the nooks and crannies of your windows, light fixtures and carpets.

Your windows likely haven’t gotten the love they deserve, so wash them from the inside out. Take your blinds/curtains and either vacuum them clean, send them to the dry cleaners or throw them in the wash if you’re able. If you have blinds, wipe down each one separately.

Your floors and walls need a good washing, whether they’re painted or carpeted. Vacuum and spot clean your carpets, fill in any scratches on your hardwood floors and touch up any spots on your walls that need a new coat of paint.

The things you decorate your home with do very well by giving life to the room, but boy do they know how to collect dust over time. Dust your light fixtures, wipe off any of your countertops and give those decor items a good lovin’.

Time for the kitchen! Wipe down your cupboards of dust and old food drippings (this happens to all of us, trust us), deep clean the fridge and throw away anything expired, and clean under, behind, and inside your appliances (toaster, oven, microwave etc.). Don’t forget about the inside of your cabinets and purge and organize them by getting rid of anything you don’t reach for often. We love moving around some appliances that you might be using more often now with the changing of the seasons like your pressure cooker, crockpot or even that waffle maker. Soup weather is calling your name! Adding a few labels won’t hurt, either!

Give some love to your room and flip over your mattress for a new lease on life, or sleep…however you look at it.

For some (necessary) safety checks, test your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, change your furnace filter and clean your chimney. If you don’t have any of these things, time to move on to the great outdoors.

Outdoors

Just as much as the inside of your home, the outside deserves your love and care as well.

It’s important to keep on top of the outside of your home because if not, it can end up costing you a lot of extra time and money.

To get started, check your weather stripping. No need to spend the wintertime freezing and spending extra money on heat when you don’t need to and all it takes is a simple check.

Next, check your gutters. Even in warmer climates, the temperature can drop low enough for the water to freeze inside of them and then cause harm to this important part of your home.

If you have any outdoor furniture, give it a good rub down and store it either in your shed, garage or storage. No room for storage? Invest in some good covers so that all you have to do when the time comes is remove them and enjoy. While you’re at it, drain any of your garden hoses and storm them as well.

Pile up any extra leaves or debris and clean it from your yard to tidy where possible. No need to go into too much detail, as you’ll be heading into a season where your yard will be less of a priority.

Time to give the outside of your home a washing. Clean the exterior of your windows and if necessary, wipe down the siding of your house. Lastly, check and clean your lighting fixtures to keep from having to change out a lightbulb in the colder weather temperatures.

Last but certainly not least, here are some general things to check when going through your Fall checklist.

General Organization

If you’re lucky, you’ve never had to use your home insurance policy. Either way, it’s important to make sure you’re still covered for the unexpected. Take it out and give it a look through to make sure you’re comfortable with your coverage and make the necessary edits if needed.

Go through your closets and organize your clothes by swapping out your Summertime and Springtime clothing for Fall and Winter clothing (see our tips for closet organization). Take a moment of silence for all of your beautiful days spent outdoors enjoying the Sun.

Set a day to sit down with your computer and go through it from desktop to the deep archives. Delete old files, clean out your inbox (yes, down to 0 unread) and back up your computer to an external hard drive. As much as this seems like hard work during, you’ll be grateful once it’s done and done seasonally.

If you have a family filing cabinet or command center, update everything accordingly. Emergency contacts, allergies, schedules. If you have a family and this isn’t something in your home, time to create one! It doesn’t have to be anything grand, just the important information that you would want a close emergency contact to have should anything happen. Additionally, adding a family calendar will give everyone some welcome (and easy) organization.

Congratulations! By now, you’ve cleaned your house head to toe and are ready to welcome in the Fall and Wintertime with welcome arms. We love when the seasons change, especially for this reason - a fresh start with the possibility of new beginnings and inspiration. Was there anything we missed? Let us know how your clean up went in the comments below!