August is an opportune time to do a reset on your busy family’s home. Summer travel and activities begin to wind down, back-to-school emails start filling your Inbox, and you’re shopping for school clothes and supplies. Even the days are getting shorter—a bittersweet reminder! It’s the ideal time to clear out the clutter that has accumulated during the bustling summer months. Here are five key areas to focus your decluttering efforts on this August.
1. Summer Wardrobe and Sports Uniforms/Gear
As temperatures start to shift, it’s an ideal time to assess your family’s summer stuff before transitioning to fall wear. Go through everything with a critical eye—and resist the urge to keep items “just in case”.
What to look for:
- Swimsuits that have lost their elasticity or shape
- Summer clothes that no longer fit properly
- Pieces with permanent stains, holes, missing buttons, broken zippers, or just excessive wear
- Items you bought that were never actually used
- Now use the same criteria when evaluating sports uniforms and gear!
Pack away the summer items you’re keeping in storage bins (Bonus points if you label them!), and donate or discard the rest. This opens up space in the closets for fall items, while ensuring you only store what’s worth keeping.
2. School and Office Supplies
Before the back-to-school shopping rush begins, tackle the accumulated supplies from previous years. Kids’ desks, office drawers, nightstands, and supply closets often harbor things like broken pencils, dried-out markers, and notebooks with just a few pages used. And if you forgot to clear out the backpacks on the last day of school…cross your fingers there isn’t a container of soup in there from June!
Clear out:
- Dried-up pens, markers, and highlighters
- Broken or unusable school supplies
- Old textbooks and workbooks no longer needed
- Backpacks and lunch boxes showing significant wear
- Art supplies that have become unusable
This decluttering session will help you create an accurate shopping list for the new school year and prevent buying duplicates of items you already have.
3. Outdoor Recreation Items
Warm weather activities generate a lot of gear, and August is the time to sort through what’s worth keeping for next year. Camping equipment, grilling items, pool and garden accessories, and outdoor toys can quickly accumulate and take up valuable storage space in your yard and garage.
Evaluate these items:
- Outdoor furniture that has rusted or broken, or has tears or permanent stains on the upholstery
- Grilling tools and equipment that no longer work or you didn’t even use
- Camping gear that needs repair or replacement
- Garden tools that are broken, rusty, or no longer functional
- Pool toys with leaks or broken parts
Clean and properly store items you’re keeping, and dispose of anything that’s beyond repair or not needed. Duplicates? Keep one and donate the other.
4. Pantry and Kitchen Items
Summer is a super busy season for outdoor entertaining and kitchen use! August is an excellent time to clean out your pantry, refrigerator, and kitchen cabinets before the fall-to-winter holiday season begins.
Focus on:
- Expired condiments, spices, and pantry staples
- Summer-specific items you won’t use until next year
- Duplicate kitchen gadgets or tools you never use
- Mismatched or damaged food storage containers, and those with missing lids
- Appliances taking up counter space but rarely used
If you’re like me you may also have a small pile of random items people have left at your home—like cheese knives, food containers, platters. I take photos and send to my family and friends to claim; unclaimed items eventually go to donations. If you need a detailed guide on decluttering your fridge, we’ve got one.
5. Digital Clutter and Electronics
The end of summer often results in a buildup of digital clutter as vacation photos accumulate, new devices are added to the household, and older, unused devices collect dust. A digital and electronics declutter is great to do at any time of the year, but doing so before the busy fall season is key to keeping the clutter under control.
We’ve got two great articles that address this:
- Organizing Your Devices: Don’t Let Your Tech Be Your Clutter
- A Basic Checklist for Digital Decluttering
PCs for People in Seattle does free, secure, and sustainable tech recycling. Your used technology will be picked up, securely wiped, and put to good use in the community, all at no cost to you.
Don’t think you need to do all of this in one weekend! Break it up into chunks and it will be a much more realistic set of goals. Pick one or two areas to focus on and give yourself a deadline. Your reward? A calmer, less cluttered, and less hectic September.