Fall is the time to De-Clutter

9/13/2016 (Permalink)

Breath in the crisp air of fall and open space in you home

We have all heard of Spring cleaning and while it is nice to open the windows let the air circulate and remove the cobwebs of winter, But a fall cleaning???? The leaves are starting to fall, the weather has turned cooler and gone are blistering days in the sun. So what do you.. You De-clutter of course!!! Fall is not just for yard debris and leave raking. The fall is a perfect time to de-clutter, Why?

 We are so glad that you asked. Attics and basements have started to cool off making it more manageable to get things done.  With the holidays coming up organizing what you have to make the holidays less chaotic. If you have less stuff there is less cleaning that needs to be done daily and there is  less to worry about.

Just like any project it is important to not get overwhelmed and stay organized. Take it one room or section at a time. Create an area where you can set up 4 sections to create a donate, sell, keep and trash pile.  Make sure you are prepared to have a yard sale and once it is over everything that did not sell will not become donate or trash.

Making decisions can be daunting especially if money has been spent on a item. A good rule of thumb for many items is have you used it in the last 3-6 months, if it is not holiday or seasonal items and the answer is no chances are you do not really need it. With clothing if it does not fit, or in your eyes is out of style and you just will not wear it let it go.

Once you have gone through everything tackle the pile of trash, call a company that does junk removal . This will allow you to free up space immediately so you can sort through the sell pile. Organize and price the items you want to sell. A few noteworthy bits of advice, once you set the date for the yard sale call a donation company to come within the week following the yard sale so you do not delay the process. It is always advisable to keep your donation pile until after the yard sale so that they only have to come out once. Many places will come out for free so do your research and check out the dates that they have available try and coordinate your yard sale within the same week.

Your keep pile will be the last pile you put away as you could change your mind as you go and will not have the best view of how much space you have until the rest of the stuff is gone. Once you are done and have only the keep pile you can best assess where to put it all. However there are still steps to take before you put it all away.

The next phase is cleaning and no I do not mean sweeping the room. A good solid deep clean washing ceilings, walls light fixtures, switches, fans, floors anything in the room and yes  you should move any remaining furniture and clean all around it. Windows and window sills are often overlooked but are as important to the total cleaning process. If this is too daunting or time consuming many companies are out there that can take care of this for you. While some companies come weekly there are companies out there that will do a once over from time to time, such as SERVPRO’s.

If you are starting to feel overwhelmed already its fine breathe look at one room make a checklist and start organizing your piles. You will be amazed at what happens when you get going.. Happy fall and say tuned for our next update.