You’ve probably heard of spring cleaning. Maybe you even do it each year. (If you are a regular reader here, you know I encourage it!)  But fall cleaning? What’s that?

We have to start with a little history lesson. Until fairly recently, spring cleaning was essential. When people heated their homes with wood or coal fires and used candles and gas lights, soot ended up everywhere. Since these forms of heat are relatively inefficient compared with the methods used today, the house was kept tightly closed to keep the heat inside. That just made the soot stick closer. Despite regular weekly cleaning, by the time spring arrived, everything in the house (including clothes and people) was covered with a layer of soot and desperately needed a good cleaning. Once the weather turned, windows could be thrown open, fabrics and furniture could be taken outside, a good cleaning  was possible.

Today, we have cleaner and more efficient methods of heating and lighting our homes, so we don’t need an annual scraping away of soot. But, during the summer months, we tend to spend more time outside — gardening, doing yard work, grilling, playing, and just relaxing. We also tend to track more dirt inside with us. Things get even worse in the fall when every trip outside brings the fallen leaves into the living room. (How an 8 pound dog can carry 10 pounds of leaves into the house boggles my mind.)

Before we shut ourselves in for the winter, it’s a good idea to do a good deep clean.

In addition, the months ahead are prime entertaining and hosting time for many people. If you’ve already done a deep clean, getting ready to host Thanksgiving dinner or a Christmas party is less daunting. Also, a tidy, uncluttered house is way easier to decorate.

In our next blog post, we’ll look at the tasks you should complete as fall settles in.