Low-Waste Autumn Cleaning Checklist

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Last updated on May 11th, 2021

Autumn is the best time of year. Who else is with me?? Do sweaters, apple cider and crisp leaves make your heart sing too? It may be the end of summer, but I see autumn as a time for beginnings and making new habits. I keep my home in tune with this autumn cleaning checklist.

There are some undeniable less favorable traits of autumn. Sunlight lessens by the day, temperatures drop, and we spend more and more time indoors. This change gives a lot of people the winter blues, but I see this as an opportunity to enhance our indoor environment.

That’s why autumn is the most important time to reinforce or enact cleaning routines.

Spring cleaning tends to get all of the hype, but there’s a serious opportunity to develop

Have a question, comment or thought to add? Leave a comment at the bottom and I’ll reply right away 🙂

5 Weekly Autumn Cleaning Checklist Items

Doing each of these items may sounds taxing if you’re already overworked keeping up with your home, but you’ll have less work in no time. Maintaining your autumn cleaning checklist tasks instead of waiting until you absolutely need to do something will give you more control over your time, and less stress.

1. Go over your home with a microfiber dust cloth every week

If this sounds like overkill to you, let me assure you: there’s always more dust. Somehow. Even if you do this every single week in your home, you will find spots that have clearly not been touched in some time.

It’s an anomaly of dusting.

I live in a tiny home (a studio apartment in a converted old school), and the weekly dusting is never unneeded.

Skip the chemicals, cost and waste of commercial duster for a microfiber dust cloth. Dust and dirt collect on the cloth, and then wash right off in the washing machine.

Walk through all the rooms in your home whipping down bookshelves, tables and windowsills as you go. The microfiber dust cloth will collect everything. When you’re done, even if the cloth isn’t completely dirty, just toss it in with your kitchen laundry and start fresh the next week.

This autumn cleaning checklist item is my favorite! Dusting is very therapeutic, and you get instant results.

Machine washable microfiber dusting cloth on Amazon

2. Wash kitchen cloths every week (including reusable paper towels)

Autumn means the beginning of cold and flu season. At home, this means the beginning of more diligent cleaning: whipping down counter tops, the kitchen table and doorknobs more often.

Instead of using a paper towel and tossing it, choose reusable cloth paper towels. You’ll save money, have less work (imagine never needing to buy paper towels again!) and will minimize your home’s landfill contribution.

A paperless kitchen will change your life. I know that’s a big statement, but imagine never running out of paper towels again. Never BUYING paper towels again.

It’s low waste, toxin free, money saving, and glorious.

• Cloth paper towels (also called un-paper towels) save you money – buy once for only a couple dollars, and reuse over and over.
• They’re also faaaaaar more durable and handy for cleaning than disposable paper towels
• You’ll reduce your home’s landfill contribution by choosing reusable products over disposable

By washing things routinely instead of waiting to run out, you have more control over your time, and less stress.

Make washing your kitchen cloths every week a part of your autumn cleaning checklist, and you’ll have a cleaner and less stressful home.

Long Swedish Dishcloths, Set of 5, Eco-Friendly 100% Biodegradable on Amazon

3. Wash your sheets every week

This is a safe space, so I’ll say it: there are times where I can’t remember the last time I’ve washed my sheets. I know that’s gross.

This autumn cleaning routine has solved that problem for me.

Now, if you’re not much of a laundry person, this may feel overwhelming. Personally, I’m a laundry lover. I’ve been finely honing my laundry routine so that it makes my life easier, saves me money and drastically reduces waste. I dive deeper into this in my blog post: 6 Sustainable Laundry Ideas That Will Save You Money In The Whole House.

Okay, but back to the sheets!

You know that feeling of climbing into bed with freshly cleaned sheets? That fresh, clean feeling is something we need to extra of in winter.

Or least I surely do, with the lack of fresh air indoors and overall mustiness that builds up when the windows are always closed.

Washing sheets weekly helps minimize the building up dust, bacteria and dead skin cells left in your bed.

4. Vacuum the whole house

Colder, shorter days means more time spent indoors. This also means a messier a home (at least it does for me).

Vacuuming is one of the best tasks on your autumn cleaning checklist:

• You get instant results.
• It’s probably the quickest task on this autumn cleaning checklist to complete.
• By making vacuuming a part of your weekly autumn cleaning routine, you’ll avoid that “oh gosh this place desperately needs vacuumed” feeling that we all have when we clean from a place of demand instead of routine maintenance.

5. Wipe down bathroom surfaces

A quick wipe down of the surfaces in your bathroom will keep your home feeling so fresh this autumn. It also means less stress before guests come over. Does anyone else immediately think “how does the bathroom look??” before inviting company over?

Weekly routine maintenance will remove bits of dust, hair and soap that seem to accumulate so quickly. With your washable paper towels, do some weekly cleaning upkeep on these surfaces in your bathroom:

• Counter top
• Mirror
• Faucet and tap
• Shelves

A great natural cleaner to use for this weekly wipe-down is this natural, homemade, low-waste lemon vinegar cleaner from Old World New. I have a batch of this cleaner brewing in my home as we speak!

Low-Waste Autumn Cleaning Checklist Conclusion

I hope these low-waste autumn cleaning checklist items help you to maintain a well-balanced home this autumn! What cleaning routines do you have in your home?