As the weather changes, the needs of our home shift too—warmer weather means those drawers full of sweaters need to be emptied out, while snowy seasons bring with them the need for shoe bins and doormats near entryways.
Because of this, a new season is a good chance to evaluate your spaces and declutter as needed. Here’s what to get rid of (or put away) at the start of each new season.
Why Seasonal Decluttering Is Important
Seasonal decluttering is a great way to ensure fewer tedious and lengthy year-end declutters. Regularly tackling spaces and items keeps those things from getting out of hand and makes your home more useful too—no more reaching for that expired bottle of sriracha or pushing past that thick wintry sweater in the heat of summer.
Things To Get Rid of (Or Put Away) Each Season
Ingredients
Don’t accidentally cook with or eat expired ingredients. Let the changing of seasons be a reminder to you to comb through your fridge and pantry to find—and toss—expired items. Check each item’s use-by, sell-by, or best-by dates to see whether they’re no good.
Expired ingredients are easy to miss, including egg or dairy-based condiments, powdered milk or spices (moisture can get inside them and make them nearly impossible to use), and hard cheeses. Keep an eye out for about-to-expire items, too, and make sure you use them in next week’s meal plan.
Makeup
Makeup also has an expiration date, and it’s easy to forget about when you’re not using certain products regularly. “I always suggest using the start of a new season as an excuse to go through your skincare, makeup, and overall beauty products,” says Cornetta. They go bad quicker than we realize, and it’s so easy to put off decluttering them.”
Want to extend the shelf life of a few rarely used products? Consider keeping them in a small container in your fridge. Refrigeration can slow down the degradation of certain products, keeping them good-to-use just a little bit longer.
How Long Does Makeup Last?
- Mascara or liquid eyeliner: Three months
- Liquid lip products or foundation: One year
- Powdered foundation, blush, or eyeshadow: Two years
- Lipstick: Two years
- Pencil eyeliner: Two years
Seasonal Clothing
As the weather warms up (or cools down), set an afternoon aside for a quick closet declutter. Look out for seasonal clothing that will no longer be wearable in the coming months, and set it aside for storage until next year if you still want to wear it.
Not feeling it? “If you recently bought something you changed your mind about and can’t return, consider donating it to a friend or even a women’s shelter,” says Cornetta.
You don’t need to toss all the seasonal things from your closet at once though—it can be helpful to keep an item or two of last season’s clothing into the new season so that you have something to wear in case of a cold snap or heat wave.
Papers
Papers of all sorts can pile up faster than you think. From children’s artwork to bills and notices to important documents, it’s easy for that small stack of papers by the entryway to quickly get out of hand.
The best way to fight against this is to go through papers and documents seasonally, filing away or storing important ones, and tossing the rest. If you’re wary of throwing away certain documents ‘just in case,’ take a picture of them before they head into the shredder.
Decluttering Tips and Tricks
Decluttering can feel overwhelming, even when it’s done regularly. But it doesn’t need to be. Here are three great tips and tricks for making decluttering (and organizing) a little easier.
- Start small. Begin with the smallest decluttering task on your list first, like tackling a hall closet or bathroom cabinet, so that you don’t get overwhelmed before you really even begin.
- Take everything out. It’s a lot easier to see what you need (and what you don’t) when you can actually see it. Make sure to take everything out of a space before decluttering, even if you know most of the items could end up right back in it.
- Finish the job. Don’t leave behind any decluttering loose ends. Make it a goal to declutter, toss, and donate within the same day to avoid leaving a pile near the door for the thrift store that you’ll get to “eventually.”
