Prepare Your House for Fall

Guest Author - Kathryn Weber

Buy this Beautiful Fall Art Print at AllPosters.com

Even if it’s still hot where you live, fall is definitely on its way, so it’s time to get your house ready for the change of seasons. Getting some this preparation done in advance means you can spend time on outdoor projects when the weather finally does turn cool. Besides that, once all this work is done, you can concentrate on fun projects for the holidays – maybe a new makeover for your dining room?

A pretty house is nice, but a functional, clean, and well-maintained home is a real joy. It’s also safer for you and your family. Clip this checklist of tips and post it on the fridge (ahem, I mean the new corkboard you’re going to install!) to help keep you on track for all your fall home preparations.

Do important cleaning and maintenance.

Call your heating and air conditioning company to come out and light your heater pilot and check your heating unit. Don’t wait until it’s cold or you’ll be in line with everyone else.

Check seals and weather stripping around doors. This will help stop drafts and keep bugs out.

If you have a wood-burning fireplace, have your chimney cleaned and inspected to prevent chimney fires or smoke back-ups.

Do paint touch-ups outside and inside your home.

Make necessary changes.

Change household filters, such as water filters, whole house water filters, and air conditioning filters. Buying a three-month air filter will take you into the winter season. Try to change these at marked times, such as change of seasons or when we change our clocks to help you remember when to make the changes. Purchase new batteries for smoke detectors and have them ready for the Daylight Savings time change on October 30th.

Install smoke detectors if you don’t have them.

Dust your smoke detectors and used canned air to clean dust out from the inside of your smoke detectors if there is any build-up.

Consider adding a carbon monoxide detector if you have a gas heating unit.

Clean out the pantry. Throw away old or unused food items and clean or replace shelf liner. Consider using a plastic coated shelf liner that can be cleaned as needed.

Organize closets, cabinets, and garage.

Install organizers in spice cabinets and pantries to make holiday cooking easier and create more storage for baking and cooking needs.

Buy and install closet organizers to straighten out messy closets.

Purchase 10 sets of plastic hangers and then replace as many wire hangers as possible. Wire hangers bunch up your clothes and make them hard to find.

Organize the garage and get ready to bring all the outdoor things like patio furniture indoors for the winter. Install shelving and purchase tubs to hold miscellaneous items in the garage. Give the garage a good cleaning by washing the floor, wiping down the walls with a broom to remove cobwebs and cleaning the windows.

Clear out excess.

Clear the clutter. Clutter collects dust and it makes it hard to clean.

Clear off the tops of everything you can – kitchen counters, dressers, bathroom counters, etc.

Go room to room and clear out excess clutter and unused items and then schedule a garage sale.

Donate items to your favorite charity and get the tax deduction before the end of the year rush.

Make a space for holiday purchases now before you start bringing them home.

Clean up.

Clean light fixtures and chandeliers before holiday parties and family dinners.

Get silver polished and china washed and it will ready for your holiday dinners and will be one less thing you have to do then.

Schedule to have your carpets and upholstery steam cleaned.

Turn mattresses, and then take comforters and bedspreads to the cleaners for dry cleaning or laundering.

Wash silk plants while the weather is still warm and they can dry outside. You can spray these with a hose or you can spray them off with a nozzle in the shower.

Clean the surfaces in the kitchen. Make a corkboard area close to a phone or desk area where pizza coupons and fridge art can go to clean off the refrigerator. Next, clear off the counters of anything you haven’t in the past week. This will give you more space and look neater, too.

Clean exterior surfaces and wash sidewalks, front porch, and windows before the weather turns cold and you can’t get them cleaned.

DON'T FORGET: Join this newsletter to have cleaning ideas delivered right to your email in box!

Kathryn Weber is the publisher of the Everydayclean.com Calender -- the calendar that helps you end the power struggle with your house. Keeping a clean home is about knowing what to clean when. Virtually everything that needs to be cleaned is on this calendar in a year-round cleaning schedule that helps you keep your house clean easier and faster. Click here for more information.