Every year, before I can fully get into pumpkin spice season, I always make fall cleaning a priority. Here are some important things to check off your list to get your apartment ready for the change in season.
De-clutter And Store Away
Before doing any cleaning, take a couple of days to de-clutter and store summer items away. This includes clothing, shoes, decor, etc. Plastic storage bins can be easily stacked in a storage room or closet for safe keeping.
Kitchen Cabinet Check
Remove everything from your kitchen cabinets and give the inside a good cleaning before taking stock of what you have. Throw away any expired or stale food and make a grocery list of items that need replaced or bought. If you have any summertime dinnerware, you can now store it away and bring out any fall or winter items you may have.
Safety Check
Before turning on the heat in your apartment, vacuum out all of the registers and check to make sure nothing has fallen inside of them. Also check all of your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors to make sure they are in working order. If you have a fire extinguisher, it’s also important to check to make sure it has not expired.
Deep Clean
Summer is a season that shoes get worn in the house much more often, and no matter how much you clean, dirt makes its way across the apartment somehow. Giving the floors and carpets a good deep clean will help get rid of that summertime film that tends to settle from wearing dirty sandals inside all season. Most of us also spend much of our summer covered in sunblock, and thinking of how much that stuff makes its way into our furniture is enough to make anyone want to deep clean that too. Also wash all windows, walls, mirrors, base boards, doors and appliances.
Patio Check
If you have a patio or balcony, get rid of any dead plants and flowers, or replace them with fall foliage and hardy mums. Towards the end of fall, don’t forget to bring in any chair covers, umbrellas and mats.
Take Care Of Bedding & Linens
It’s time to bring out the cozy blankets! Give your current bedding a good deep cleaning and store any summer items away before bringing out your fall bedding. Wash all sheets, blankets, pillows, bed skirts, curtains, slip covers and throws, and flip the mattress if needed.
Clean Out That Junk Drawer
For some reason, our junk drawer always seems to be more full after summer. It collects random bottles of sunblock, season passes, bug traps, tent pegs — you name it, it’s there. Fall is a great time to clean out the junk and prepare the drawer for all of the miscellaneous items that will accumulate over the next season.
Comment below and let us know what is your least favorite seasonal cleaning chore and how you tackle it.
