Fall cleaning?

[barkley]

we have a usual list of fall stuff we do to get ready for winter but cleaning generaly gets done as is needed. that said-my oldest decided to do a big purge of stuff and list it on facebook marketplace. i could not believe what people were paying for some odd not particularly valuable books and such so i offhandedly joked that maybe i should go through some of the banker boxes of old kid's books i had stored...so we did. GOOD GRIEF-old scholastic stuff, odds and ends of stuff we bundled by type/age group are selling at prices i never imagined. i've eliminated 4 banker boxes taking up space

 

[mjmgsssp]

I took my first suitcase of old clothes to Goodwill earlier this week. The 2nd and 3rd old suitcases will go next week.

Here's to fall!!!

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I kind of do maybe 3X a year

 

[clh2]

This year, nothing in my house has gotten done this year, as it relates to deep cleaning. Too much life is in the way this year. But the one thing I did get done in early January, on a frigidly cold day, was defrosting my freezer! Love using “natures freezer” while ours defrosts!

 

[Turn the Page]

I get in the mood to purge about twice a year, in the spring and fall. In the fall, I do get the additional urge to do the things to prepare for the (hopefully) long, cold winters we have here. We get a 1/4 cow and a pig every year to fill our freezer. This year's LeRoy, aka beef, was delivered last week so we have him stocked in the freezer now. I think I'm turning into Ma Ingalls. I get a distinct sense of pleasure and satisfaction by seeing my fully stocked freezer knowing I will be able to feed my family all winter.

I often schedule various household maintenance things for fall like filling the propane tank, pumping the septic, etc.

This year, however, I am not so much purging as I am demoing 2 of the 3 bathrooms in the house in preparation for remodels. We are SO excited for that.

 

[_19disnA]

We tend to do various cleanings all during the year so there isn't anything specific to the season. About the only seasonal activity I can recall is putting away the patio furniture once the weather is too cold to be outside.

 

[Southernmiss]

I have shelf in the garage for things for Goodwill.

Right now, I have a load in my car to take.

I take items to Goodwill about 6 times a year.

We are itching to remodel our 21 year old house from our needs when raising our family to meet our current needs.

And I'm ready to get rid of most all of our furniture and start over.

Lots of purging in my future. I'm hoping I'll be able to let go of the things I've hung on to ' just in case'.

 

[China Expat]

We just did a mid summer purge and organization of our home after having been mostly in boarding schools since 1991. Just have part of the garage to explore when it's not 110 degrees.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I mostly clean when the mood strikes, but yes, it makes way more sense to me to clean my house when I'm going to be stuck in it for several months than when I can just escape it.

Most of our donations go out at the end of July and beginning of August because we help with a big flea market then. But I still start a new box right after and throw things in it as I come across them.

 

[DanceDisney23]

I’m in the process of decluttering right now while life is somewhat tame. Spring is our busy season when I just try to keep my head above water and the house from falling apart. Now is the time to reduce clutter, organize and make it easier to find things. It will help when life gets crazy. I also like to make the house cosy for the cold season.

 

[Imzadi]

I was putting a lot of energy into trying to donate, and much of what we have nobody seems to want, but then I was holding things incase someone would need it... and it's pretty much how we got where we are. After this I hope it will be easier to donate little bits here and there because I hate how wasteful this feels, but nobody wants the broken down 15 year old boardgames or half dressed barbies with missing hair.

The airlines have a saying, "Put your own oxygen mask on before helping others put on theirs."

You have a right to save yourself (and your home) first before helping someone else. Plus, you CAN'T help someone else when you are gasping for air and can't get your own needs met. As you get better, you can then do more for others.

Almost all of the stuff we own will end up in a landfill. Whether one or two people are able to get one or two more uses out of it, it's still ultimately destined for there. Don't feel bad if it ends up there early. YOU got one use out of it. It's fulfilled it's purpose. Any extra owners/uses would have been a bonus.

For stuff that is harder to get rid of, I like to say a thank you before tossing it. "You have served me well and faithfully. Thank you for being here when I needed you."

 

[barkley]

I was putting a lot of energy into trying to donate, and much of what we have nobody seems to want, but then I was holding things incase someone would need it... and it's pretty much how we got where we are. After this I hope it will be easier to donate little bits here and there because I hate how wasteful this feels, but nobody wants the broken down 15 year old boardgames or half dressed barbies with missing hair.

you are right-nobody wants the trashed games and barbies so just bite the bullett and toss them. old broken electronics can go to whomever your local municipality uses-in our case best buy will accept them BUT i prefer a couple of local charities (like goodwill and such) that take them and get so much per pound from recyclers. for ongoing purging i have a box in the garage i put usable stuff that's just not being used. after 6 months it goes to charity (noone needed it it so it's not needed). i have another box marked 'seasonal' so anything in that box that did'nt get used in it's season goes (i purge holiday decor as i'm putting it up and taking it down to weed out what we don't use).

it was a big wake up call for us when we did a move that entailed having the bulk of our stuff packed for 10 months. so much of it we found we had absolutly no need to pull out so i purposely let it sit in the boxes for another 6 months at our final destination. at the 6 (actualy 16) month point it all went away.

 

[ronandannette]

No need for deep-cleaning or a big purge here; we moved and did a total renovation of the new place less than a year ago, and I've kept up with it all as needed ever since. The only big(ish) things that need doing are cleaning the floor-to-ceiling glass terrace doors and re-organizing the pantry. Those will get done between now and Thanksgiving.

 

[barkley]

No need for deep-cleaning or a big purge here; we moved and did a total renovation of the new place less than a year ago

the best ever cleaning of our bathroom cabinets occured when we did renos that included replacing the countertops. cleared out every drawer and cabinet-sooooo many odds and ends of stuff i was able to toss, several bags of brand new hotel soaps, lotions, shampoos, sewing kits....all those went to the local women's shelter.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

We just did a deep clean last week, and I'll probably do another of the downstairs and the finished basement between Thanksgiving and the first week of December when I put out the Christmas decorations. Christmas Eve my aunt's in-laws and her stepkids and her grandchildren have a party in the basement and exchange gifts so it will need to be done along with the 2 1/2 bathrooms at least. So I might as well do the living room and kitchen while I'm at it.

 

[ronandannette]

the best ever cleaning of our bathroom cabinets occured when we did renos that included replacing the countertops. cleared out every drawer and cabinet-sooooo many odds and ends of stuff i was able to toss, several bags of brand new hotel soaps, lotions, shampoos, sewing kits....all those went to the local women's shelter.

Knowing the space limitations we would have, we did a major purge when packing up the old place. We also never really unpacked at the new place until the reno was done; the entire kitchen, bathrooms and master closet were all gutted. 6 months living out of boxes, which was horrible, but once everything was finished, we truly settled in with a total "fresh start" and it's good; very good. The smaller space with very few nooks-and-crannies and (so far) no unnecessary accumulation of stuff is also easier to keep clean and tidy on the daily than our previous home was. I'm just about ready to tackle this week's major house work and I'll be done before supper.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

Twice a year I do a fairly big deep clean…. Pull out couches, fridge, buffet table, etc and clean and mop behind them. The big rug under the formal dining room table gets washed, cushion covers in the sunroom get washed, etc…. Started all of that this weekend. It will get finished next week.

 

[barkley]

The smaller space with very few nooks-and-crannies and (so far) no unnecessary accumulation of stuff is also easier to keep clean and tidy on the daily than our previous home was.

sooooo many brand new toothbrushes from the dentist's office still in the wrapping. a visual history of the cartoons my kids like via odds and ends of bandaids, old expired teen era facial stuff usable stuff i kept and it's visable in a small box so noone repurchaces.

few nooks and crannies makes me think of a friend who had his custom home built with the fewest closets and storage areas known to man-has family members with hoarder tendencies and is not entirely convinced it's not a genetic trait so he wanted to put up barriers for himself.

We also never really unpacked at the new place until the reno was done

we were 10 months in a rental between houses and i purposely put all the odds and ends in boxes marked 'misc/not important'. those same boxes were left in our new home's garage for 6 months after we moved-if the box went unopened it got tossed, whatever was left in the ones that someone had pulled something from got taped back up and went as well. if we had not needed/wanted/missed something in 16 months it was not needed or wanted.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I do most of my big cleaning/organizing projects in the summer because I am a teacher. Right when school gets out each year, I make a to-do list of everything I want to accomplish while I'm off and then try to do 1 thing off the list per day.

 

[ronandannette]

sooooo many brand new toothbrushes from the dentist's office still in the wrapping. a visual history of the cartoons my kids like via odds and ends of bandaids, old expired teen era facial stuff usable stuff i kept and it's visable in a small box so noone repurchaces.

few nooks and crannies makes me think of a friend who had his custom home built with the fewest closets and storage areas known to man-has family members with hoarder tendencies and is not entirely convinced it's not a genetic trait so he wanted to put up barriers for himself.

we were 10 months in a rental between houses and i purposely put all the odds and ends in boxes marked 'misc/not important'. those same boxes were left in our new home's garage for 6 months after we moved-if the box went unopened it got tossed, whatever was left in the ones that someone had pulled something from got taped back up and went as well. if we had not needed/wanted/missed something in 16 months it was not needed or wanted.

LOVE this! DH and I started this when we got married. When we both moved from our apartments to our new home after the wedding, we promised each other that any box we hadn't opened by the time of our next move, would be discarded, no questions asked. We've done it with each subsequent move (5 over the course of our 28 year together). Sure, it would ultimately be smarter to throw those things out without moving them, but somehow this makes letting go much easier, KWIM?