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Get Ahead on Fall Cleaning

Say hello to the new season with a fall deep clean for your home. We'll take you room by room for everything you need to get your house feeling fresh and clean this season.

Get Ahead on Fall Cleaning

You’ve probably heard of spring cleaning, but fall is also a great time to get your home dazzling for the new season. A good deep clean helps you eliminate:

  • Debris, dirt, and dust
  • Germs, bacteria, and viruses
  • Pollen, dander, mites, and other contaminants
  • Pests, spiders, and moths

Properly cleaning your home can help improve air quality and even prevent illness and complications from allergies and asthma.

A clean home is associated with other health benefits, too. According to “Psychology Today,” people with clean houses are healthier and more active than those with messy houses. One study found women with cluttered homes also had higher stress levels. If you want to achieve a greater state of calm, bust out the cleaning supplies.

Plus, the changing season is the perfect time to reflect on what you want to hold on to, what’s no longer serving you, and what kind of home will make you happy to wake up in each day.   

Fall comes right before the busy holiday season, so prepping your home can help you stay organized and ready for the hustle and bustle of what’s to come. Get ready with this fall cleaning checklist, which you can get an early start on in the remaining summer months.

Assemble Your Fall Cleaning Supplies

First on the fall house cleaning checklist: get all the supplies you’ll need to get your house sparkling clean. 

It’s easier to clean when you store your cleaning supplies together. You can get a handy basket to carry them around from room to room.

Some good basic home cleaning supplies include:

  • Disinfecting wipes
  • Toilet bowl cleaner
  • Glass cleaner
  • Leather cleaner
  • Floor cleaner
  • Cooktop cleaners, including scrubbing pads and cleanser
  • Bathroom and kitchen foam cleaner
  • Duster
  • Stainless steel cleaning spray
  • Paper towels and/or cleaning cloths
  • Magic erasers
  • Wood furniture polish
  • Toilet scrubbers
  • Electronics spray/cloths

Get organized by first going through your supply cabinets or drawers. Pull everything out so you can take stock of what you have.

Then, go room by room to identify the surfaces and relevant cleaners and supplies you’ll need. Make a checklist so you can shop for what you don’t have. 

Don’t forget: to make it easier to clean, you can use a caddy to tote around your supplies. Plan to purchase one if you don’t have one yet.

Now may also be a great time to upgrade your vacuum and/or mop if they could use some improvement. Research highly rated models online. You’d be surprised at how much more efficient you could be with a more powerful vacuum with attachments.

Strategize a Fall Cleaning Schedule

You don’t have to spend a full day (or week, depending on how large your home is) doing all your fall cleaning at once. You might find it easier to do a deep clean room by room, so you can tackle your home in manageable chunks.

You may want to do the bathrooms one day, the bedrooms the next, the kitchen, then the common living areas. Since each type of room will tend to benefit from the same types of supplies, this can save you time.

Use the following fall cleaning tips for each part of your home.

Bathroom

Start by organizing everything that’s in the bathroom. Pull out all makeup, toiletries, and bathroom supplies, like toothpaste. Throw away anything that’s expired or that you haven’t used in several weeks.

Use bins and mini-organizers to group similar objects together. Add labels if that helps you stay organized.

Once you’re coordinated, you can complete the following bathroom cleaning tasks. Try to do these on at least a weekly basis.

  • Add toilet bowl cleaner to toilets and scrub.
  • Spray showers and bathtubs with a mildew-fighting spray.
  • Clean bathroom grout.
  • Scrub sinks, countertops, and all other surfaces, including toilet.
  • Wipe down all handles.
  • Clean all mirrored surfaces.
  • Wipe down baseboards.
  • Wash and replace all towels, washcloths, bath rugs, and bathrobes.
  • Disinfect the garbage can and toilet bowl scrubber holder.
  • Vacuum and mop the floor.
Kitchen

The kitchen is one of the germiest places in your home. You’ll want to clean it more frequently, like disinfecting countertops at least every other day, to prevent the spread of bacteria like E. coli and salmonella.

For your fall cleaning spree, like with the bathrooms, start with organizing your kitchen. Pull everything out of your pantry, freezer, and refrigerator and throw away any expired food.

Now’s a great time to organize your spice rack and pantry, too. Use bins and labels to easily group items together and maximize your space.

Do a deep clean in your refrigerator. Wipe down all surfaces, including the insides of refrigerator drawers.

For fall cleaning, now’s a great time to remove all your dishes, tools, and utensils out of drawers, as well. Wipe down surfaces inside each drawer and cabinet. Consider donating kitchen tools you haven’t used in the past month.

Once your kitchen is organized, check off the following kitchen cleaning to-dos on at least a weekly basis.

  • Clean your kitchen grout.
  • Clean under the refrigerator.
  • Clean the inside of your dishwasher.
  • Wipe down all surfaces, including handles, islands, and countertops.
  • Scrub the sink and stovetop.
  • Wash and disinfect garbage and recycling bins.
  • Vacuum and mop the floor.
  • Wash or throw away dish sponges.
  • Wash all kitchen towels and rags.
Bedrooms

Your bedrooms are prime organizing spots for your fall cleaning adventure. You won’t know all you have in each bedroom unless you pull out your items. You might be surprised to see more clothes and knickknacks than you even knew you had.

Go through every single item and decide if you want to:

  • Keep it.
  • Donate it.
  • Throw it away because it’s no longer usable.

When you’ve decided what to keep and are folding clothes in drawers, try this trick. Fold each garment so that it can stand upright in the drawer. That way, instead of digging through piles of T-shirts or pants to find what you want, you can easily identify each piece of clothing and easily pull it out. Watch this video by professional organizer Marie Kondo to see how it’s done.

Fall cleaning is also a good time to vacuum and flip your mattresses. You may be able to get more use out of mattresses by giving them a refresh at least a couple of times a year.

You can also move your bed and move furniture like dresser drawers away from walls to clean the baseboards behind them and make sure every inch of the floor is vacuumed and mopped clean.

Once each closet and set of drawers in a bedroom is organized, get to cleaning. Each week, make sure to do the following in each bedroom.

  • Dust all surfaces.
  • Wash bedding.
  • Clean electronics.
  • Vacuum and mop the floor if it’s not carpeted.
Communal Areas

Common areas like the living room, dining room, and family room also deserve some fall cleaning attention. You may have artwork, knickknacks, and objects like movies and video games to organize. Donate possessions you no longer use, like old DVDs or souvenirs.

If you want to simplify and declutter, decide whether each object and piece of artwork makes you happy to look at it. If you’re indifferent, it may be better to give it to someone or donate it. You’ll create more clean space that you can fill with something you’re more passionate about, if you want.

For rooms that have lots of gadgets in them, like remote controls, use bins or trays to keep them together and organized.

Fall cleaning is a good time to move furniture to ensure you’ve vacuumed up every single floor surface.

Each week, check these items off your common area cleaning checklist.

  • Dust all surfaces, including blinds and windows.
  • Clean electronics.
  • Carefully clean precious artwork and objects.
  • Vacuum sofas and under cushions.
  • Wipe down leather furniture.
  • Polish wood furniture.
  • Vacuum carpets and rugs.
  • Mop floors that aren’t carpeted.
  • Dust plants.
  • Disinfect all remote controls and video games.

Deep Cleaning Around the House

In addition to the tips for each area of your home above, use fall cleaning time to get down and dirty – and clean! – with these deep cleaning techniques.

  • Wipe down your walls, doors, and door frames.
  • Clean your washer and dryer.
  • Clean your oven.
  • Wash curtains or have them professionally cleaned.
  • Clean under rugs.
  • Remove and wash screens.
  • Wipe down all baseboards.
  • Dust ceiling fans.

Remember that a clean home is a healthy home. Tidying up, organizing, and putting some elbow grease into your cleaning efforts can make life at home happier and healthier.