“Fall” in love with Fall Cleaning 

We all talk about Spring cleaning with tons of tips about that time of year. But I had an epiphany in the  middle of the night, that my family needs to take a weekend to do some Fall cleaning. I know! I know! Who has time- between kid’s games, back to school activities, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas? Holy Monkey, right? I also found a lot of my clients will be thinking about getting their home on the market for the first of the year, so this is prime time to do some decluttering.

So, here are some Amy Tips- There are tons more out there but these ones came to top of my mind!

• Kids in Sports?- get rid of last years old ruined (smelly) socks, shoes & equipment that don’t fit. Now I do keep a box with the special jerseys when they won tournaments to make into a blanket when my youngest goes off to college.  Decide what to do with old gear bags- we play Club Volleyball so we get a new bag every year. The bags are super sturdy and large, so we use the old ones for travel bags for us for non-volleyball tourneys.
  • Update the first aid kits in their bags
  • Create scent baggies to go in their equipment bags to help with smells. **Take some Downy softener beads & put into a sachet bags**
  • Set up a shared family calendar for time management- Cozi app is great to use
  • Get rid of the expired snack items in your pantry. If there are ones your kids don’t eat, take to local food bank.
  • Water Jugs Galore- it seems like they breed like rabbits in our house or one gets left behind at a game. Sound familiar? They take up a lot of room and do we really need all of them?! ? Let me know b/c this is an on-going battle at my house.
• Trick or Treat – Let’s make it a treat
  • As you are pulling out halloween decorations, ditch the ones that are either: dated, have no memories, or   if you have been over-Pinteresting the Halloween deco.
  • Everyone wants new Halloween costumes every year ( adults included). Go back through Halloween costumes you have-see if you can exchange with neighbors or friends through NextDoor or Facebook to get a new “style” for this years Halloween parties. I have a rolling rack full of adult costumes (some I won’t fit into again-lol) but my daughters friends could wear this year, so I will de-clutter next year.
  • Kids Halloween costumes- If you have friends that have younger kids, ask them if they want them first, then donate them.
• Fall Cleaning outside of house- Now, I live in Texas so mine will be a little different than those that have to deal with snow.
  • We trim back trees that are too close to house
  • Add mulch to garden beds
  • Clean out your gutters (I know it sounds redundant since you will be getting more leaves in there but worth it)
  • Know how to empty your sprinkler systems for the times the weather will become freezing (my  Houston friends)
  • Check for rotted woods or small minor repairs because a lot of local handyman at this time of year will be looking for small jobs to fill the gaps.
• Thanks for all the “giving” Thanksgiving- Time to go through the generous items that friends or families have given us. So as you are pulling out the Turkey trays, look at what items you have not used in years. Are they really heirlooms, holding on to memories or are we just holding onto junk? Be thankful by ditching this before you “re-stock” your house on #BlackFriday. Did you get a bottle of wine that you won’t drink- take it to a dinner or party this season!
  • Clean out the tupperware cabinet for all those left over goodies from Thanksgiving feast.
• Christmas Time/Holiday season-Instead of Santa dropping down the chimney with gifts, I would like to shoot him back up the chimney with stuff I bought and never used! lol
  • Do you have the stash of Christmas gifts you bought last year, wrapped, hid in your nice hiding spot and then forgot to give to the people? Pull those out and see what should stay or go? I started keeping an #Evernote notebook with Christmas ideas & where I hid them so I don’t forget about them. I have that CRS disease (Can’t Remember Stuff)
  • Holiday Decor- see Halloween post above, but add to it the Christmas lights. If they are working and you can’t get them working then recycle, reuse or reduce them.
  • Because my hubby is normally off during Christmas and NYE, we have one big project we try to tackle. It could be cleaning out closet, cleaning icemakers/fridges, organizing work benches, etc. Try to find yours to tackle by the end of Quarter 4.