Fall cleaning?: Clutter cleanup goals for September

I’m getting a late start, but I decided this past weekend to set a new goal for myself. We have a ton of clutter that’s built up in every nook and cranny of our apartment. Drawers in the guest bedroom, closets, the bookshelves … basically everywhere that is capable of accumulating stuff.

I tend to get motivated to clear clutter in the fall instead of the traditional spring cleaning for a few reasons:

  • With colder temperatures and bad weather coming up, I know we’ll be spending more time indoors.
  • We might be getting some visitors in October or November, and I want to be ready for them.
  • We’re heading out to Seattle to visit my sister the first weekend in October (more on that later), and I’d like to get everything cleared away before we go. Don’t you just love coming home to a clean house? It makes the end of vacation not so bad.

So here’s the rundown of everything that needs to be done in the next three weeks:

  • Massive wardrobe overhaul – I want to donate everything in my closet that I haven’t worn this summer. My husband and I share a closet, so I like to do this every season to clear up some space. Because we don’t have a lot of room, we put seasonal clothing into storage at the beginning of each new season. Clearing out my closet now will ensure that I’m not wasting space by storing things I don’t wear, and it will make it easier to transition to winter clothes.
  • Empty out the drawers – I have a really bad habit of stuffing things into drawers without organizing them. Extra drawers become a depository for things that I don’t really need or want. The drawers I use on a daily basis are pretty organized, but if I don’t see it, then I have a bad habit of letting it get out of control. When I do need something (like batteries for the flashlight last weekend), I open the drawers to find nothing but a big old mess. So I periodically need to clear everything out, organize what I’m going to keep, and throw away the things I’m not.
  • Organize the closets – Like the drawers, the closets we don’t use regularly are a big mess. We have three extra closets, and they’re all full. Ridiculous. Time to purge and organize.
  • Organize our kitchen cabinets – We’re usually pretty good about keeping these in order because we use them every day. But the space under our sink has gotten pretty cluttered, and the inside of the cabinets could use a good cleaning. There’s also some nonperishable stuff in the pantry that, although it’s “nonperishable,” has been in there too long.
  • Assess our book and DVD collections – We’ll probably always be book collectors. My husband is going to be a literature/creative writing teacher, so it kind of goes with the territory. I don’t mind a large book collection. There’s always something to read! It needs to be monitored in the same way that a wardrobe does, though. We haven’t been buying many books for the past year, but our may tastes have changed. We may still have books/DVDs that we bought a long time ago and don’t like enough to keep. It’s time to go through them, dust the bookshelf, decide what’s staying, and sell what’s going.

These are some pretty big goals for me, especially since I’m notorious for making big plans to be productive over the weekend and getting nothing done. My husband is always willing to team up with me on projects like this, so I won’t be doing it alone. Hopefully we can get it all done!

Does your home need a good fall cleaning? Why don’t you join me! Tell me your goals for getting your home clutter-free and ready for winter and the holiday season!

2 thoughts on “Fall cleaning?: Clutter cleanup goals for September

  1. Pingback: A productive weekend in the fight against clutter « Living Well on Less

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