Refresh Your Home: A Seasonal Decluttering Guide
Whether decluttering is a regular part of your daily routine or something you procrastinate doing, seasonal decluttering is likely something you do without even thinking about it. When the seasons change, it’s the perfect time to clear out a few things. This is not about deep cleaning but some simple steps to break a big task into small ones and give you control over your living area.
Why should you declutter seasonally?
Follow your natural ebb and flow of energy. After a long winter, you may find yourself energized by the natural light and warmer weather. (There’s nothing like that fresh breeze through an open window in early spring!) Similarly, your energy might be lessened as the weather turns cooler in the fall. You know when your energy peaks, so plan accordingly.
Carve out time when it’s most convenient for you. If you know winter will be super busy with the holidays and kids’ winter sports, fall might be a great time to tackle your indoor spaces.
Work where you naturally are. In the summer months, when you are spending more time in your outdoor spaces, the last place you want to be is surrounded by storage bins in your basement or sorting heavy sweaters and jackets in your closet. Some spaces are more accessible in some seasons; a garage can be far more comfortable in summer or fall than in winter.
Less overwhelming if you only want to focus on decluttering four times a year. Seasonal decluttering offers an easy way to break your physical space up and not have to work on the entire house at once. You can work on one section, like your living room or basement.
Know what you use or don’t use. The transition between seasons is the perfect time to eliminate unwanted items. You know what you didn’t use in the winding down season. You can sort items and remove the broken and worn-out ones instead of wasting valuable storage space, keeping them to throw out later.
The less you have in your home, the easier it is to keep it clean. You can’t organize clutter. When you stop storing items you won’t use again, your home will be less crowded, and you will have more room to put things away. That saves you time when you know where to find what you are looking for in your organized space.
What Items Are Well Suited to Seasonal Decluttering?
While there are some things – like paperwork – that you want to declutter more often in your daily life to keep them under control, there are some things that are better suited to seasonal decluttering.
Clothing, including footwear.
This is one of the decluttering tasks you are likely already doing without thinking about it.
It’s even easier if you have a capsule wardrobe (https://minimalisthome.ca/minimalist-fashion-capsule-wardrobe/) and to switch out your clothing seasonally.
Also, check your children’s clothing and footwear as the seasons change.
You should also check your own clothing. That jacket that has been waiting to be mended for three months either needs to go to the tailor this week or be added to the outgoing clothing bag.
Let go of the worn-out sandals you’ve ignored for the past few summers. If those heels no longer match your lifestyle but are still in good condition, put them in the donation bin. When shoes and boots are spread among multiple closets, you can lose track of what you have and forget the ones you don’t wear.
And, always let go of clothing that makes you feel bad about yourself (nobody needs to put on a sweater and feel like a lumpy pillow). Consider letting go of what doesn’t fit or doesn’t fit well.
Bedding, Including pillows.
When changing bedding with the seasons, it’s a good time to assess the condition of your sheets, blankets, duvet covers, and pillows. Don’t tuck away those worn-out flannel sheets for yet another summer. Reserve your shelf space for useful bedding you will reach for next season.
While putting the off-season bedding in your linen closet, look quickly to see if there are any sheets for beds you no longer have or any unwanted blankets. Your linen closet doesn’t have to be overcrowded. (If you need help with your linen closet, check out this. https://minimalisthome.ca/organize-linens/).
Experts recommend replacing pillows every one to two years, although that obviously depends on the filling. Pillows lose their loft and start to be less supportive, which can affect your neck, shoulders, and upper back. That’s not good for your sleep. Dust and pollen can also be an issue if you haven’t washed them.
Duvets are similarly affected by dust and pollen, so they should be replaced every five to seven years.
Sports & Leisure Equipment including bicycles.
The start of the season is a better time to eliminate sports equipment that doesn’t fit or isn’t used anymore. Every Mom knows this one. Kids have outgrown their cleats, their ball gloves, their helmets or skates. Their teammates may be looking for it; check with their leagues to see if they have an organized equipment swap or place to list gear for sale or donation.
Keep in mind that bike helmets, hockey helmets, and other head protection have expiry dates. They need to be replaced every five years.
Consider why you haven’t used that equipment in the appropriate season. Don’t keep the tent and other camping gear if your family has outgrown it. Maybe you’ve moved, and things moved with you to the new place because you didn’t have a chance to deal with them during the busy moving time.
Medication.
It is better to get rid of expired medication and buy new when you are feeling well than to be scrambling when you or a family member falls ill. At the change of season, check your medicine cabinets or wherever you keep your medication. In spring and summer, you may need allergy medication, while in the fall and winter, the priority may be cough drops as your children return to busy classrooms.
Ensure you also check any medication that family members carry that you may not see often. Think Epi-pens for allergies and inhalers.
Expired medication can be taken to your local pharmacy for proper disposal. Pharmacists will take both prescription and non-prescription medicine. Do not flush old pharmaceuticals down the toilet or sink.
Cosmetics & Hygiene Products.
We’ve all bought products that didn’t work for us: hair conditioner that didn’t do what the label promised, foundation that wasn’t the right colour or a lotion with a fragrance you don’t like. You didn’t want to throw it out after spending money on it, so you stuck it in the cupboard. Maybe you thought, “I’ll try it a few more times to see if it gets better.” It won’t get better. You still don’t like it.
Maybe you’ve got some containers that are nearly empty, and for whatever reason, they weren’t used up before the new one was opened. Or the container is sitting there, waiting for someone to take it to the recycling bin.
If you are having trouble parting with your old makeup and lotions, consider how long you’ve had them, whether they’ve been opened, and when they expire. Mascara expires three months after opening, while water-based foundations last up to a year. Lipstick is good for one to two years. Powder products last the longest, at two years. Many have the container labelled with the expiry date or an icon with a time limit like 6m or 1y.
At the end of a season, it’s time to say goodbye those beauty supplies before it becomes a crowded mess.
Seasonal decorations
You may have bought seasonal decorations or celebrated the holiday, but now you have nowhere to store these seasonal items. Maybe you set them on a dryer in your laundry room or at the end of the kitchen counter. We all have hotspots in our high-traffic areas where we dump things “temporarily.” Before long, we don’t see the pile anymore.
This doesn’t just apply to big holidays like Christmas. Maybe it’s decorations for Easter, a birthday or graduation. Do not store items you won’t use again.
Digital Clutter
In your everyday life, you are likely collecting a lot of digital clutter on your smartphone, laptop, or computer. It’s e-mails, texts, photos, PDF files from scanning restaurant menus, and apps that you downloaded but don’t use anymore. This all adds up. (Check your smartphone right now. How many photos do you have? Um, I have 18,754!)
The first step with your phone is to delete the apps you do not use and hide the less frequently used ones. You don’t have to delete all your photos, but discard the poor or duplicate pics and back up the good ones in your cloud storage. Cloud storage is an easy way to back up your files, free up storage space, and not slow down your phone. There are free and subscription-based options for cloud storage.
With your email, consider whether you are reading the incoming newsletters and unsubscribe from the ones you do not have the time or interest to read. Clean up your inbox and delete the information you don’t need anymore. Do not forget to clear out your Sent items and Trash folders.
Make time to clean out your contact list as well. There is no need to keep the email for your child’s grade 6 baseball coach when your teen is in high school or the phone number for your doctor’s office that you don’t use anymore. It’s also a good idea to check your designated emergency contact on your cellphone to ensure it is correct and up to date.
Cleaning Supplies
When you finish cleaning, throw the microfiber cloth into the laundry, return the cleaners to the shelf and tuck the broom or vacuum away. Done!
Also, have a look at your cleaning supplies beyond whether you will run out this week. Dispose of the ones you don’t like (your city or town may have a hazardous waste drop-off for safe disposal). Yes, cleaners can be expensive, but you don’t get your money back by keeping that one you don’t use anymore because you’ve switched away from harsh chemicals to more environmentally friendly options. And cleaners do expire as well.
Brooms, mops, and microfiber cloths wear out. (Did you know it’s cheaper to buy replacement microfiber cloths from the automotive department than the cleaning aisle?) If you no longer have carpet and have gotten rid of your vacuum, make sure you also let go of the carpet cleaner and didn’t store it in the basement.
Don’t make housework harder than it needs to be.
Your Donation Pile
A key part of decluttering is finishing the job by removing unwanted things from your living space.
For those going to donation (and anything you haven’t been able to sell), give yourself a fresh start and, at a minimum, haul these boxes or bags to the donation centre or local charities that take secondhand goods.
Don’t Limit Yourself to the Four Calendar Seasons.
When you think of seasonal decluttering, don’t limit yourself to spring, summer, fall, and winter. Transition points in your life can also be the perfect opportunity to go through your possessions and see if you have more than you need or want. The natural seasons of your life mean changes to what you deem necessary and important.
After the baby years, start decluttering some things you won’t use anymore. I know you already think those are sentimental items, but they’re not all sentimental stuff. When you know your youngest will always be the youngest, plan to gift, sell or donate the crib and the changing table. It is much more manageable if you do it sooner than later.
There are similar stages when your kids become teens, after they graduate high school, after they move out, and when you retire or downsize. These seasons allow you to make small and big changes in your home. By decluttering along the way, you make it more manageable. You won’t regret starting decluttering sooner rather than later.
Seasonal decluttering complements the ongoing process of decluttering your home in the same way your spring cleaning journey assists your regular cleaning routine. It doesn’t mean you must empty your storage rooms or adopt a minimalist lifestyle. It’s a way to give your home special attention to create a comfortable, organized home where you want to be. You’ve got this!
Related Resources
How to Declutter Start to Finish
Create a Capsule Wardrobe
Autumn Declutter & Organize