Zero Waste Living

Disclosure: This post contains my personal affiliate links. All opinions are mine alone.

With the kiddos back in school and the autumnal equinox only one month away, now is a good time to start preparing your home for fall. By spreading these necessary home tasks over the next few weeks, you’ll ensure your home is ready for cooler weather when it happens. And more importantly, you can plan how to do these tasks in as zero-waste a way as possible.

With that in mind, here are 13 Zero-Waste Steps you can take to Prepare Your Home For Fall:

Declutter

Before you haul out your best throws, blankets, and fashionable fall finds you should always start by making sure everything that you already have out is in its rightful place.

This is where decluttering comes into play. Clearing clutter from your home makes deep cleaning easier and will give you cleaner surfaces for fall decorating, baking, entertaining, and the like. Remember my minimalist mantra at home: Evaluate, donate, and everything will be great!

Start High

Whenever I start a seasonal clean I make sure to tackle all the big, hard-to-reach surfaces in this order: ceiling, ceiling trim, ceiling light fixtures, walls, chair rails, and lastly, the baseboards. This will allow any falling dust and allergens to be cleaned as you go, without the need to re-duct surfaces later on.

Tackle Your Light Sources

Next, tackle your light sources. Including windows, lamps, sconces, and outdoor lighting. It’s not that bad, and the payoff is huge. Start by vacuuming the sills and tracks. Then spritz the window with cleaner from top to bottom. Let the cleaner sit for a minute to disinfect your glass surfaces. Instead of opting for paper towels, try a reusable cloth or a squeegee to wipe your windows down.

You won’t believe the mold, dust, and allergens that get stuck to your glass surfaces. Contaminants that could remain trapped in your homes until spring!

Pro Tip: Remove light fixture covers, including domes, mason jars, and pendulent lights and run them through the china, crystal, or delicate cycle on the dishwasher to get sparkling clean fixtures.

Seal Up Your Windows

Save yourself the aggravation of removing your blinds and shades this fall. Opt to vacuum your window covering instead of using your brush attachment. And instead of laundering and ironing curtains, just fluff them in the dryer for a few minutes or shake outside, sprinkly your drapes with witch hazel, and let them sun bleach on a clothesline. Once dry, just hang them back up! Including your shower curtains too! Finally, make sure to seal any potential air leaks you may have, indoors or out.

Don’t forget to seal your windows to prevent drafts. Due to preventable drafts, money would literally fly out the windows as heat costs escalate each cold-weather season and you would be left with drafty windows on cold winter nights. To do this, just grab a tube of color-matched interior or exterior caulk seal around your home’s inner and outer windows.  Just remember to caulk your windows on a day that’s above 50 degrees so the caulk flows easily!

Refresh Your Floors

Start this process by moving each room larger furniture out from its natural, usable home. Then vacuum under each piece. If you have hardwood floors, clean them with a microfiber mop head and an all-natural, zero-waste cleaner, such as my Zero-Waste Floor Cleaning Recipe. I use my homemade cleaner along with my Pure Cane Home Microfiber Mop with Telescopic Handle. I love microfiber mops for tile and hardwood floors as they allow me to clean dirt and grime while maintaining a natural shine to my floors at home.

If you have carpets, disinfect your floors with a mixture of 3 cups baking soda to 30 each of clove and orange drops essential oils. Add your blend to a mason jar, making sure to shake well. Apply to carpets before going to bed and wake to sanitized carpets. To finish up, just vacuum floors as you normally would! Remember, everything your vacuum picks up can be composted!

Stow Your Mower

Once you’re finished mowing your lawn for the year, it’s time to give your mower a good clean. Wipe down your mower and if you’re not familiar with fuel stabilizer, get to know it.

If your mower sits for months with gas in its tank, the gas will slowly deteriorate, which can damage internal engine parts. Fuel stabilizer prevents gas from degrading, so be sure to add stabilizer to your gasoline tank. Finally, run your mower for 5 minutes to make sure the stabilizer reaches the carburetor.

Be sure to also check your mowers spark plugs. Finally, ensure your mower’s bottom deck is free of grass and debris before retiring your unit for winter!

Address Your Water Sources

Start by removing garden hoses from outdoor faucets. Leaving hoses attached can cause water to back up in the faucets and in the plumbing pipes just inside your exterior walls. If freezing temps hit, that water could freeze, expand, and crack the faucet or pipes.

Make this an early fall priority so a sudden cold snap doesn’t cause your home unnecessary property damage. Next, turn off any shutoff valves on water supply lines that lead to exterior faucets. That way, you’ll guard against minor leaks that may enter the faucet.

Drain and store your hoses, smaller outdoor fountains, and solar fountains for winter in a shed or garage. Finally, drain your irrigation system. And, of course, if you have a pool, now is the time to winterize it for the season.

De-Gunk Your Gutters

Clogged rain gutters can cause expensive repairs. After the leaves have fallen later this fall, clean your gutters to remove leaves, twigs, and gunk. Make sure your home’s gutters aren’t sagging and trapping water. Making sure to tighten gutter hangers and downspout brackets.

Replace any worn or damaged gutters and downspouts before the start of winter. Remember to clean off and recycle those replaceable parts, where applicable!

Check Your Heat Sources

Before the chill of winter sets in, be sure to your heating system checked. Change your furnace filter. If your HVAC includes a built-in humidifier, give that filter a change too! Give your fireplace a once over. Also, make sure to check your home’s heaters to make sure they are properly working.

Finally, weatherize your patio gas heaters, chimineas, and fire pits to make sure they are working well for the upcoming cooler months ahead.

Prune Your Perennial Plants

Late fall is the best time to prune plants and trees. Your goal is to keep limbs and branches at least 3 feet from your house so moisture won’t drip onto roofing and siding. This can also help prevent damage from winter ice storms. This is also the time when you can turn under gardens, flower beds, and plant spring bulbs too!

Make sure to compost any trimmings and turn your leftover leaves into zero-waste mulch. The perfect way to winterize your flower beds before winter!

Create A Seasonal Capsule Wardrobe

The end of the summer season is a great time to pull out your cool-weather duds. But before you return everything to your closet, take the time to declutter your closets at home. Look for pieces that can be donated.

Take the time to mend pieces that may need addressing. Launder pieces that are going into storage and refresh clothing that needs to be used within the next season ahead. Make note of gaps in your wardrobe and replace these pieces with slower fashion that is organic and sustainably made.

Each season I create for myself a functional 33-piece minimalist capsule wardrobe. A wardrobe where each piece makes me feel like a million bucks each time I have them on! To see my past capsules, click here.

Clean Your Compost Bins

Before the start of Autumn is a great time to make sure that both your indoor and outdoor compost bins are in working order for the colder months ahead. This is particularly important for your countertop compost bins.

While flies and insects getting into your produce may not be as big an issue each winter, having a secure, sealed bin to collect cold and flu-related items, the influx of tea, coffee, and beverage items, and a place to put the larger scraps from fall produce, including pumpkins, butternut squash, and spaghetti squash is a must!

I have recently switched to the Cooler Kitchen Oversized 1.3 Gallon Kitchen Compost Bin with EZ-No Lock Lid. I love that this compact is easy-to-clean, dishwasher-safe, and fits in well with my minimalist kitchen at home. I also appreciate that it came with two thick activated-charcoal filters to trap and absorb odors and the bins carbon steel that will not rust, stain, or retain odors like plastic or stainless steel bins.

The best part? The Cooler Kitchen came with a 45-day Money Back Guarantee, for savvy savers like myself. This bin is as zero-waste and practical as it is beautiful in design. A must-have for zero-wasters and plant-based eaters at home this fall season. To find out more about this bin, click here.

Finalize Your Indoor Cleaning

You’ll want to finish up your indoor cleaning with a few seasonal must-dos. Start by sanitizing your cabinet handles and doorknobs. This is also a great time to vacuum refrigerator coils, clean out your oven before fall family feasts, and flip and rotate all your mattresses at home. You’ll also want to wash your bed pillows, vacuum any pet beds, and change out your bathroom shower curtain liners if needed.

This is also a great time of year to properly rid your home of caustic chemicals and to replenish your home with a stock of awesome DIY Fall-Scented Cleaners! A few of my favorites include:

It’s also a great time to invest in good zero-waste cleaning cloths. I’m a firm believer in using the right tool for the right job. This is especially true for fall cleaning. You should always invest in good cleaning cloths to clean, polish, and sanitize your home. You will also need a few to get started.

• Bar towels: Great for drying dishes without lint.
• Drying mats: Used to air dry non-dishwashable items.
• Shammy towels: Used to clean electronics without scratching.
• Microfiber towels: Used to clean heavy spills, countertops, general cleaning, and more.