Fall is finally here. The air smells of crisp leaves and Pumpkin Spice lattes. I don’t know about you but Fall is by far my favorite season, even if I was born in the summer. I love spending days out with my kids to go apple-picking, take pictures of them at the local pumpkin patch, or even prepare some meals in the slow cooker. But with Fall comes the very important Fall cleaning of your home to make sure you can get cozy when winter hits. Learn how to tackle your Fall cleaning without feeling overwhelmed.
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Before we start, the essentials
Important note: don’t do everything in one day. There is LITERALLY no emergency in sight! It’s okay to do only one room at a time and spread the chores over several days, or even weekends!
Read this article to learn how to spread your regular chores over the week.
Essential items
Here’s a list of the essential items you’ll need to go through everything. I always focus on eco-friendly products, even DIY recipes when possible.
- Vacuum
- Upholstery cleaner
- Mop (this one changed my life!!!)
- Window cleaner (check out the DIY recipe below)
- Floor cleaner (make sure it’s appropriate for your type of flooring)
- All-purpose cleaner (check out the DIY recipe below)
- Bathroom cleaner
- Swiffer duster
- Air duster (for your computer; that keyboard needs some fall cleaning too)
- Storage bins (fancy bins to add some flair to your room and regular bins to store your summer clothes)
- Wand sponge
- Blue Dawn dish soap
- White vinegar
- Baking soda
Donate stuff you don’t use
This needs to happen in every single room. If you have items that you never use, not even once a year, donate them. Consider donating items to a women’s shelter in your area.
Go full Marie Kondo!
Kitchen
I strongly believe that the kitchen is the biggest part of fall cleaning.
On top of cleaning up the messes, washing the dishes, and mopping the floor, here are a few things you could do.
Cabinets and drawers
- Clean the cabinet doors, shelves, and tops.
- Clean the drawers (in and out), handles too.
- Reorganize your setup if it is not optimal or if it doesn’t meet your needs.
- Reorganize the cabinets full of containers. Match the containers to the lids. If you can’t find the container or the lid, get rid of it.
- Reorganize your pots and pans cabinet. Check out this great article by a blogger that I like, Functional Beauty with Alicia Larie.
- Reorganize your cabinet full of cleaning products.
- Reorganize the pantry and throw away any expired food items.
- Consider donating non-perishable food if you have too much (looking at you, cans of chick peas that have been in my pantry for at least 6 months!)
- Store the clutter on your countertops.
Appliances
- Clean your coffee maker, or any other small appliance that involves water.
- Move the appliances in the kitchen to clean the sides, then dust, vacuum, and mop their location (i.e. fridge, stove, dishwasher, microwave, etc.)
- Clean your microwave. The glass plate should be dishwasher-safe.
- Clean your toaster (yes, there is a tray under it).
- Wash your trash can and recycling bins.
Windows
- Clean the windows and windowsills.
- If possible, put the curtains in the washer and give them a good wash.
Living room
The living room is by far the most important room in our home. This is where my husband and I work, since we live in a 2-bedroom apartment, but this is also where we relax at the end of the day, play video games with the kids, binge-watch our favorite TV shows, and so on.
Since this is the most used room, it’s also the one that will need more attention to keep it cozy and warm during the long winter months (we live in Canada, remember!).
On top of tidying up your living room on a daily basis, here are a few actions you should take to continue your fall cleaning.
- Move furniture to clean under them (you don’t want to see what’s under my couch, trust me).
- Clean the windows and windowsills, and wash those curtains if you can.
- Pick up and store items that don’t belong in the living room
- Consider buying toy storage for your living room if your kids use your living room as their playroom! Read this blog post to get some trendy ideas of toy storage.
- Dust everything. From the TV to the shelves, and don’t forget inside drawers, if there’s furniture with drawers in the living room.
- Wipe the TV screen.
- Tidy up the cables at the back of your TV, and consider improving your cable management with this cord management organizer kit.
- Consider moving your furniture around to meet your needs and have an optimal setup (and don’t forget that your Christmas tree will be there soon!)
- Clear any clutter, donate it or recycle it.
- If you have any fabric furniture, grab that upholstery cleaner to give a good deep-clean to your furniture. Brace yourself, the water will turn brown!
- While you’re at it, give a deep-clean to your rugs as well.
Bathroom
Definitely another very important room!
Let’s start with the obvious:
- Clean the toilet inside and out. My friends from Mini Riches have an awesome life hack to keep your toilet cleaner, longer. Check it out here!
- Clean the sink, tap, handles.
- Clean that mirror and all the toothpaste stains.
Then, tackle the rest:
- Reorganize your cabinets, from the medicine cabinet (check the expiration date and get rid of any expired medication by bringing it to your local pharmacy) to the storage cabinets, including the drawers.
- If you have the world’s smallest bathroom, like I do, consider buying an over-the-toilet bathroom organizer with shelves, and cute storage bins.
- Get rid of the clutter. You don’t need 18 bottles of almost-finished shampoo bottles.
- Replace torn towels and washcloths with new ones. It’s okay to let go of a towel after 25 years of use!
- Grab that wand sponge, get in the shower and scrub everything, from the walls to the bath, with the brush.
- This is gross but you do need to clean the bath drain. You got this. You’re strong and independent.
- Vacuum and mop the floor, even around the toilet (if you can reach behind)
DIY section!
You don’t need to buy products full of harmful chemicals to clean your house. While I strongly recommend Lysol (we’re still in a pandemic, y’all), there are some products that can be easily be replaced with low-cost ingredients you most likely already have at home.
Before we get started, I recommend these glass spray bottles and a funnel to pour your eco-friendly cleaning products in!
Window cleaning spray
I got this recipe from the blog Mom4real. I take no credit!
In a nutshell, mix equal parts of water and vinegar, add 3 drops of dish soap. Learn more on Mom4real here.
Drain uncloging mix
Pour some baking soda into the drain. Cover it with white vinegar (about the same amount). Let it sit for 5 minutes, then run the hot water.
All-purpose cleaner
I also learned this through Mom4real. Learn how to make all-purpose cleaner here.
Shower/Bath cleaner
Grab that wand sponge and fill half of it with the Blue Dawn dish soap, then fill the second half with white vinegar. Shake it up a little to mix the products, then it’s ready!
You can find more DIY recipes for homemade cleaning products on Pinterest but these are the products that I use the most!
In How to tackle Fall cleaning – Part 2, we will look at cleaning your home office, your bedroom, your kids’ bedrooms, closets, and more!
I hope these tips will help you tackle your Fall cleaning sessions so you can enjoy the coziness of your home in the winter!
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Yes. We need to donate so much stuff. Our mudroom has become overfilled with “stuff” that needs to go. Hopefully, our fall calendar will slow down so we can get in there and clean it out.
I feel you! I need to tackle the closets sooner than later!
I need to start my fall cleaning and your post is a great inspiration for me. Love all the DIY suggestions for cleaning products. We use so many chemicals, it is nice to stay away from them. Donating to women and children shelter, for me, UMOM, is one of the best feelings as most items are used.
Exactly! By donating items you don’t use to women and children shelters, you KNOW the items will actually be used and you’re truly helping someone else 🙂
I love this “how to adult” topic! So many of these things I never thought about when I was a kid, so I had no idea to clean the windows and wash the drapes one a year or so. Whopse! Thanks for the great tips!
Thank you! It’s crazy how dirty windows get after 6 months! You’ll feel like you’re seeing the outside in 4K HD 😛
Cleaning can be so rewarding but overwhelming at the same time. I frequently go back to the Konmari method but sometimes I need to just go room by room because I never progress past the clothes stage! I think finding a method that works for you is the best thing.