6 seasonal tasks to keep your home in order
For some, spring cleaning is a satisfying ritual that freshens up a home, making it feel lighter and more organized. But for others, it can be intimidating and time-consuming. No matter which group you’re in, this list will help you get started without feeling completely overwhelmed in the process.
By doing a seasonal declutter and organization of these 6 spaces your home will be easier to maintain year round, and the best part, each task is designed to take 10 minutes or less to complete.
If you’re looking for daily and weekly tasks to keep your home organized check out this blog post
Kitchen
Tackle the expiry dates. From spices to canned food to condiments in the fridge this is a quick task to get rid of the things that have passed their best buy date.
When you’re in the pantry or the cupboards look for food you’re not eating, maybe you tried a new snack and no one loves it- donate them. Store your food by category, breakfast, baking, meal prep and snacks. It doesn’t have to be complicated but you should be able to see everything at a glance.
Grocery bags- We’ve all got more than we need so take what you’re not using and donate them along with the food.
Take a look for tupperware that is missing lids, you can either repurpose it as drawer organizers or just let it go.
Donate some of the water bottles that no one is using
Look through the jars and containers you’ve saved to use later. Let go of the ones you won’t use
Finally, look through your utensils and dishes to make sure you’re using everything and don’t have too many duplicates. If you’re not using it or you have many of the same, let it go.
Bathroom
Tackle the expiry dates. Go through makeup, sunscreen, medicine and other products to see what has expired
Go through your products, donate the things you won’t use and group the items you do use by category and contain them together.
Replace toothbrushes
Wipe out the drawers and cupboards and group what you’re keeping in categories to put it away in a way that makes sense to you. You could sort by daily items vs. rarely used items or you could do hair care, skin care, oral care etc.
Seasonal Decor
As you put things out each season, donate the things you’re not using. Our taste and style changes over time so it's okay to let go of the things you no longer use. Someone will find it and love it!
Whether it's in your garage, in your basement or in a closet keep things organized by using bins for each season, use the vertical space by hanging wreaths
Closets
Try on the things you don’t wear often to figure out why.
Either donate or store the items that don’t fit. It’s okay to keep things if you’re not ready to let them go but get them out of your main space
Remove things that aren’t in season either move them to another closet, into bins, or to the back/ side/ top of the closet. Front and centre should be reserved for the in season, currently fitting pieces.
Depil any sweaters or items that have started to pil to make them last longer.
Make a list of the things that are missing so you can buy what you need.
Put everything away sort by type of clothing then style, then by colour so it's easy to find what you need when you need it.
Garage
Take the boxes to the recycling- I don’t know about your household but we get lazy over the winter and seem to accumulate more boxes.
Remove broken toys, tools, furniture or decor that have ended up in the garage.
Be realistic about what you’re really going to use. Donate some of those things you’ve kept just in case.
Use the vertical space- add pegboards and shelving to create effective storage in the garage.
Toys
No matter what you do, toys and craft supplies seem to multiply; between holidays and birthdays there's always new things coming in. The best way to keep it manageable is seasonal decluttering.
Get the kids involved. I know this is easier said than done but it's important for them to be responsible for their own items. Empower them to make decisions and try you best not to influence them. Many things hold more memories for us than them so if they’re ready to let something go, let them.
Get rid of broken toys and things they’ve grown out of.
Get rid of markers and paint that are dried up, colouring books that are full or donate ones that are unused etc
Keep your systems simple. Create generic categories so its really easy to find what they need and also put it away with little help.
Give each category a home so it’s easy- the simpler the better
Remember it doesn’t have to be perfect, it needs to be easy for them to keep tidy so you can do less.
To keep things simple you can download this seasonal declutter checklist. And if you’re struggling to declutter, download these questions to ask yourself.
If you’re local to kingston here is a master list of where to donate and consign.
Happy organizing
Jocelyn