Spring Cleaning In Fall, Part I: Introduction

While spring cleaning is wonderful and cathartic, sometimes it proves useless when summer comes.

Summer is chaotic, especially if you have kids at home. Toys pulled out of every drawer, shoes scattered in every room, and dirty footprints from the bare wet feet that were just outside playing in the water… It can feel like your spring cleaning didn’t really happen at all, right? Well, let me ask you this. Why not do your spring cleaning in the fall?

After all of the craziness of summer it probably looks like a tornado hit your house (at least on the inside). And now that school is in session, they’re spending less time destroying the house – and hopefully more time on homework! Which means fall is the opportune time to really get some spring cleaning done.

If you’re like me, you might go on your cleaning and decluttering rampages two or three times a year.

I’ve found that the best times to do it are right after winter ends and right when fall begins. As the seasons change, we tend to switch our wardrobes. So why not go ahead and declutter a bit at the same time? You get to eliminate junk you no longer need and make some space for new items. This is great for those of us who are shopaholics. 😉

Recently I went through and did a bit of what I call my “fall spring cleaning.”

We had a small yard sale to try to get rid of the stuff that was still in good condition, and the rest is awaiting the next trip to Goodwill. Want to know what I found while cleaning? Tons of baby items that Elsie has outgrown, excessive amounts of Tupperware we don’t need/use, and a heck of a lot of clothes that I bought and never wore or wore once and didn’t like.

And I’m guessing I’m not the only one who has this kind of stuff boxed up and hidden in a closet so they don’t have to look at it every day.

Don’t be embarrassed – I totally get it. I used to be a hoarder until I started moving frequently (I’ve moved 15 times in the past 8 years). But now that I’ve been settled in my current home for a year and a half (longest I’ve lived in one place since high school!), I’ve started to accumulate things again… And I kind of hate it.

While I am thankful and feel blessed to be able to have so much stuff, a lot of it is unnecessary and a total waste. I’ve working on mindfulness when purchasing items, and minimizing the things I do have. So for this month I want to walk you through my process of cleaning and decluttering each room.

First, we will start with the kitchen.

Let’s face it – the kitchen is probably the most cluttered room in the entire house. That’s why I’m taking it out first.

Some people like to start with the low hanging fruit when it comes to big tasks. Me? I prefer to tackle the biggest fish and get the heavy lifting done early. Honestly there is nothing worse when you’re cleaning than starting small and burning out before you get to the big stuff.

Then we will hit the closets.

Your coat closet, linen closet, bedroom closet, all the closets! It may be the most painful week, but we are going to Marie Kondo the shit out of your closets.

On the third week, we will focus on paper clutter.

I know I’m not the only one who opens mail and leaves on the kitchen table for weeks. Right now my paper clutter is stacked crazy high, so I’ll be tackling this task right alongside you guys.

Finally on week four we are going to clean the share living spaces.

Typically shared spaces are the most cluttered, but easiest to conquer. So even if you feel low on energy, I’m saving the easiest room(s) for last. And guess what? We aren’t even going to spend much time on the bathrooms, because I’m lumping that in with the shared spaces week.

It’s gonna be a busy month for me and you, so mentally (and maybe even physically) prepare yourself to knock out some fall spring cleaning!

Turn on my Instagram Stories notification so you can see me in action cleaning and decluttering my own kitchen this weekend. Then follow me on Facebook so you can keep up with the weekly posts as they go live. Now tell me in the comments, what is your biggest cleaning and organization struggle?

P.S. I have a surprise giveaway! Make sure to watch my Instagram Stories this weekend if you want to know more. 😉