BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Cleaning What are you tackling before winter?

People make a stink about spring cleaning because it refreshes them after a winter locked up in the house. But what do you do to prepare for BEING locked up in the house!?! LOL!

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If you need help with this topic, take a look at my article "What is Fall Cleaning and Why Do I Need This?"

In our house, we're spending the last few warm days preparing our tools for the winter. So we scrape off the crud, wash them, sand/Brillo them if needed and then dip them in a bucket of sand that has some lubricating oil in it to "seal" them for the winter.

We also took all the plants out of the planters, cleaned them (with a touch of bleach so that fungus and soil-borne issues get killed!) and put them in the garage loft.

Now I just need to spend the coming weekend on the cleaning. I'll have the dogs sent to the groomer on Friday to rake out all that shedding change-of-coat and start that day!!

I wash the windows so the most sunlight possible will come in during those short winter days. For the same reason I take the screens off the windows that have them. I have nearly 40 house plants that spend the summer outdoors and just came in for the winter last week, and we all need as much daylight in here as we can get.

Well I have to pick up leaves and mow every week yet so I've been trying to keep at it as much as I hate it. My dog was a giant hairy ball of fur to which I anticipated mug and snow coming in on her so I took her to get a short hair cut. She's mad at me because now she's cold during chilly mornings. Thanks for reminding me that I need to wash sunroom windows if I want to see out of them when snow comes. I dug out all my winter clothes and traded places in my dresser with summer clothes I put away my sandals in the back of my closet (boo hoo). And swapped my summer robe with my big heavy winter robe because nights are already getting cold. Lastly, we put our draft stoppers back under the doors again.

Fall gardening is big for getting ready for winter and next spring and I didn't really realize it until this year. I've definitely spent time getting my garden and veggies ready. I've also never done a fall cleaning of my closet until this year. There's a scott common sense article that tells why you should do this and I've adopted the "out with the old" philosophy and given so much to goodwill. It's great!

Well don't forget to clean the inside of the house, too! Remember, you're about to be couped up there for a few months with no fresh air. I'd argue that fall cleaning is probably more important than spring cleaning.

ScottyGirl--don't forget to disinfect your tools and pots. Soil-borne pests and parasites will overwinter and kill next year's stuff as they increase in number!

That's very true - it's a wonder that more people do not talk about fall cleaning like they do spring cleaning. And thanks for the tip about disinfecting tools and pots! That is not something that I normally do but I will this year.

Before winter we are going through all the clothes in our house and getting them ready to give away to Red Cross or Goodwill.

We've had clothes sitting in boxes down in our basement for years that we've just never gotten around to, and they just keep piling up!

And I've been reading that Goodwill is really in need of clothing right now, because since the economy is down - they have A LOT of people coming in and buying stuff there instead of going to the mall or even Walmart.

Plus, this will help us out on our tax return at the end of the year.

People don't talk about fall cleaning because 1) they're too busy with back-to-school and then the impending holiday season; and 2) people are DRIVEN to freshen up after being couped up all winter.

But yeah--healthwise, fall cleaning is key. And hey--it's ready for company!

I also like the donations that come with cleaning out because not only do you get the deduction for the tax year, but you're donating when it's really needed--going into the cold weather.

I don't fall clean "the house". Spring seems more appropriate to do that kinda' thing. However, I do fall clean my garden. The only thing I do in the fall is prep the garden, plant in the garden and decorate the interior for each appropriate holiday over the next few months. But I have to say, looking through the closets for clothes for others who may need them, doesn't sound like a bad idea.

I'll take it into consideration. Helping others is always a reason year round. happy harvest!

I have been watching Clean House. As a result I got motivated to pick up and discard. In the mornings I have been tryhing to do at least one thing to help de-clutter and clean up. I do need to do some heavy house cleaning and hope to get to it next weekend. If I can get stuff put away, the cleaning will be easier.

I love, love that show. Ms. Niecy is crazy but the designer is to do for. He's so cool!

It's amazing how brutal they can be to get rid of everything. I do not think I could go that far. However, I do have a problem with paper, books, and magazines. I'm better about the magazines - I try not to buy any and then I get rid of what I have. The longer you keep something, the harder it is to get rid of it.

I'm a genealogist and as result I tend to have piles of things I am working on and need until that part of the project is finished.

That's why my husband said he waited until I was out of the house and had his parents come over to do most of the unloading of the basement without me, LOL! He knew if I was down there I'd be going, "Ohhhh, but we can't get rid of that..."

I'm also a genealogist. I think the key is to get a good system going. My genealogy system is probably overkill, but it works. And my papers WERE a problem, but I got the JOYS filing system, followed the instructions (took me easily a week--I was REALLY bad with paper stuff) and now it's MUCH better.

I got over the magazine thing when I saw how much money I was spending on them. Now I go to the library for them and ask for 1-2 gift subscriptions for the stuff my library doesn't carry. Of course, I ASKED them to carry 1-2 new ones they didn't have AND THEY DID!!!