Switch out these 7 things before summer starts. And when it’s done – well, you can simply sit back and enjoy your sunny, summer garden while your home runs like a well-oiled machine. Taking time for a declutter before summer starts will allow you to enjoy those idyllic hot months without wading through items you don’t need or want anymore – so even though it may feel like a job for earlier in the year, you’re missing a trick by not organizing your space before the summer!

1. Declutter your winter clothing

Though it might feel like you have only just put your jumpers, scarves, and coats away, the days before the summer heat kicks in are the best time to organize the clothes that you only wear in the winter. In fact, there’s no better time to declutter your winter items than when they are fresh in your memory.

Anything you did not use this winter you likely will not use next winter. Go through hats, gloves, scarves, coats, boots, sweaters; anything you didn’t wear this year, or no longer love – donate now! Otherwise, you will forget by Fall. And it’s so much harder to part with things when you convince yourself you will wear them sometime soon.

Also address any issues with your remaining winter clothes as soon as possible, so that you don’t even need to think about them when the weather gets cooler. Send out the things that need dry cleaning or repairing now, when you don’t need them, so they are ready for the next winter.

2. Organize Your Kitchen / Pantry

Whether you have a built-in pantry, a standalone pantry, or keep your canned goods and the like in your kitchen cupboards, inspired by your favourite pantry ideas – pre-summer is the perfect time to declutter this area to keep it as sanitary as possible.

To declutter the space, take everything out of the pantry and place every item into a category – be it sweet treats, baking supplies, or canned goods. Once you’ve done this, throw away all and any expired or stale products. Review the remaining items and consider if you’ll ever use them – odds are, if you haven’t used that bag of wholemeal flour in the last year, you never will.

In addition, summer is the insect season, so you would want to keep the ants and fruit flies where they belong – outside! Keep your pantry airy and tidy so you can see, and therefore use, what you have, before anything goes bad and attracts pests.

3. Tackle Your Children’s School / Home Items

Take advantage of a break at the beginning of your children’s school holidays, and address their school items before class is back in September. If your little ones have been bringing home a mountain of letters and schoolwork throughout the year, it’s likely that you haven’t had time to sort through it all. As such, set aside an hour or so to go through letters and make a note of any important dates or school information. Stash away items you won’t need for the next few months. For example, backpacks and lunch kits. And of course, keep any of their precious artwork you really love!

Go through the clothes your kids have outgrown ahead of the summer camps (and before all the back-to-school chaos of the fall), in order to lighten up their wardrobe space.

4. Clear out the Garage

Pre-summer is a fantastic time for organizing and decluttering your storage space – be it a garage, summer house, or other kinds of backyard storage space – especially if this is where you store your seasonal items. Decluttering these areas is all about making room for summer items.

Remove any items you’re no longer using, and make sure the winter items are not taking up prime real estate.

The garage is where most of the outside gear is stored, and you want to have easy access to these items. For example, if you have a pool, or spend a lot of time at the pool, you should evaluate your pool floats and let go of items that need replacing.

Declutter any gardening items in time for better weather. Pull out all the outdoor garden supplies, wipe everything down, and take stock of what you have and don’t have, so you’re not overbuying on that first trip back to the nursery!

5. Prioritize Summer Clothing

Summer clothing and accessories, such as sundresses, bathing suits, cover-ups, sandals, sunglasses, etc. should all be decluttered before summer begins. Edit, donate, or sell anything you don’t need, and neatly organize the items you want to keep by category.

6. Sort Toiletries

Summer tends to be the time when we reach for more products in our bathroom cabinets, be it sunscreen, insect repellent, hair care products or self-tanning items. As such, the ideal time to declutter this part of your home is ahead of summer. Find your sunscreen and bug spray from last summer and check the expiration date. If it’s expired, remove it and replenish the stock. In fact, it’s well worth noting that as soon as you open a product, the clock is counting down on its expiration date. If your toiletries are unopened, they’re probably good for use this summer.

7. Consider Your Car

It may not have crossed your mind, but decluttering your car before the hotter months can make for a much more relaxed and organized summer, especially if you love getting out and about. When you think of summer, you may think of getting outside to parks, parties, beaches and traveling. As such, now is a great time to declutter your car.

Clear out any old winter items in order to make way for summer essentials. Replace the snow brushes for the picnic blanket, throw away all those old receipts and food wrappers, and remove all the contents from your car console. Keep a bag of summer essentials in your car too, to avoid packing each time you leave the house.

You may even want to get yourself a storage box for your car, to prevent chaos from reigning once again. Put anything that enters your car (other than a human being or an animal!) into a trunk organizer. This helps create an “inbox” for your car, and prevents too much junk from entering the space.

Now you can say hello to the Summer and enjoy it to the fullest with your love ones.