13 Things To Declutter In August To Be More Organized For Fall

Clutter has a way of sneaking into homes in a variety of forms; whether you realize it or not, the presence of these unwanted items can be slowing you down on a daily basis, disguised as crowded drawers, pinched walkways, and overfilled garden sheds. With fall right around the corner, many individuals are gearing up for a new school year and busier schedule overall. If you want to be organized and effective in the second half of the year, decluttering your inventory to achieve a tidier home is one of the best ways to do so. 

Not sure where to begin your decluttering efforts? There is no shortage of categories to consider. You can declutter old towels in your linen closet, last year's clothes that no longer fit your style, and your kids' worn-out sporting gear. In the kitchen, you can cut down on ketchup packets and pantry essentials that have passed their expiration date. Other items to declutter for a more orderly home are old cables for electronics, expired medication, and reusable grocery bags that you're struggling to store. With a little time and effort, your home can be operating more smoothly with a greatly pared-down inventory.

Everyone loves a fresh pool noodle during summer, but after a season of heavy use and UV exposure, they can begin suffering from deterioration and might just clutter up your garage. Instead of wasting valuable storage space, you can freely dispose of these once fun toys. Another option is to try some of these 31 genius pool noodle hacks and DIYs that will transform your home and garden for noodles still in decent condition.

While reusable grocery bags are great in theory, helping to cut down on single-use plastic bags, they can also accumulate in your home. Often shoved into drawers and cabinets or left hanging from hooks in your mudroom, decluttering these bags is a great choice leading up to fall. Use your extras as bags to hold items you're parting with, then deposit the goods — bag and all — to Goodwill or your nearest donation facility.

If your garage is feeling overpacked, some of it may be due to old sports gear. Baseballs, tennis balls, basketballs, old tennis rackets, and cones may have been fun and games during the summer, but now they are wearing out and getting in the way. In order to get ready for your kids' next season of sports practice, say goodbye to gear that is falling apart and no longer serving you. The same goes for soccer balls or basketballs that your kids have outgrown — you can likely find a neighbor who will happily make use of them.

A cluttered pantry does far more harm than it does good, causing you to lose track of ingredients that are set to expire. What's more, if your children are going to school and taking a lunchbox, you'll need an organized and streamlined pantry to simplify packing their lunches and snacks. Start by getting rid of expired items, followed by ingredients that you thought you'd use but realistically won't. You'll soon be on your way to an orderly and practical pantry.

Whether it's a duplicate shovel or worn-down garden shears, there could be garden tools worth getting rid of in your shed or garage. Similar to when you sorted your pantry, filter for items that are in poor condition or those that you purchased with good intentions but haven't used enough to justify keeping. Also, unless your family commonly does yard work together, you can likely part with duplicates that you don't love.

Expired medication isn't just clutter, it can also be dangerous. Go through your medicine cabinet and look for items that are expired, ruthlessly setting aside everything that is no longer fresh. Now is also a good time to identify prescriptions that you didn't finish taking and part with those. Remember to dispose of your expired medications safely — especially important for prescription medications.

Clothing can be a source of joy — allowing you to express yourself — but it can also cause mental fatigue if allowed to get out of control. With fall approaching and bringing a change in weather, now is the ideal time to sort through old clothes. There are a few rules that can help you declutter effectively and efficiently, such as the 90/90 rule, popularized by The Minimalists: if you haven't use an article of clothing in the last 90 days and won't use it in the coming 90 days, you can safely get rid of it.

Frugality can be a true strength, such as when it inspires you to make your own kombucha or to DIY your own bathroom renovation; it can also, however, lead to bad habits — like keeping cracked, chipped, and broken dishes. While you may feel like that chipped coffee mug still has plenty of life left in it, chipped dishes are not worth keeping, and they need to go: They can pose a health risk if you accidentally ingest shards of the material. Once you're rid of all of your damaged dishes, your kitchen will operate more effectively, too.

Digital clutter might not take up physical space, but it sure does contribute to mental overload. If you're nearing capacity in terms of email inbox storage or your phone's photo albums, you may also be left with no other option than to purchase additional memory to store your digital inventory. Clearing out trash from your inbox, duplicates from your digital photo album, and excess files from other archives can help you function more efficiently this fall when working on your phone and computer. Cutting down on memory usage could help your devices run faster, too.

Old cables and wires might not seem like they are massive offenders, but the truth is that they can quickly get out of control; since you're never using them, it doesn't take too many years before you have an entire drawer or bin of cables that belong to obsolete equipment. Sort through your cables collection, throwing out anything that doesn't fit with your current electronics (you can consider donating them if you have the energy to do so). It's also smart to get rid of excessive duplicates — you probably don't need to own seven USB cables.

If you're wondering when to throw away your plastic storage containers and declutter your cabinets, it's whenever you find stained items. Although these containers may still hold your food, they also look terrible. If your cabinets are cluttered with old containers that bear the mark of last month's pasta sauce, you owe it to yourself to let them go. Fresher containers will make it easier to see what's inside, too, so you can locate things faster and spend less time rifling through the refrigerator.

Take-out meals are super convenient, but if you order dinner in with any regularity, you probably have accumulated a collection of ketchup packets, plastic utensils, salt and pepper pouches, and more. Whether they're in a bin in your pantry or in a kitchen drawer, too large a collection of these items will clutter up your space. Determine to declutter these by putting them to use in packed lunches or family road trips. You can also simply chuck them into the trash, guilt-free, if you can't think of a way to use them up.

If you've been hanging onto old towels thinking that one day you'll put them to use, give yourself permission to part with them. Decluttering your linen closet will help you streamline putting away laundry. Sort in order of condition, saying goodbye to stained or ripped towels first, and keeping only those that are free from blemishes. To give your old towels a second life, reach out to nearby animal shelters that may happily accept them for pet bathing and bedding.