Your Fall Cleaning Checklist:

What to Tackle in October

As the leaves begin to fall, the change of seasons is a great time to tackle big cleaning tasks to prepare your house for the winter.
Read below for what you should do make sure both the inside and outside of your house is in good shape once the weather gets unpleasant!

Inside Your House

Windows: Use All-Purpose Cleaner, or add a bit of One Soap in a spray bottle filled with water, and wipe down with a microfiber cloth. Pick a cloudy day so you can better see any streaks.
Vacuum: All those spots you’ve been neglecting. Yes, we mean take off your couch cushions and get right in there. Vacuum your drapes, vinyl shades, light fixtures, too. Spray your drapes with Wrinkle-B-Gone for that crisp, clean, wrinkle-free look.
Closets: Go through all your clothes and donate whatever you can. While homeless shelters see donations spike during the holidays, they are in need of items year-round. Donate what you can before it gets cold, and be sure to make sure it's washed well (with Laundry Soda, of course)!
Heat Sources: Replace your furnace filter, especially if you haven’t changed your furnace filter within the past three months. Sweep your chimney. Have a wood-burning fireplace? With chilly weather coming in, it’s a good time to have it professionally inspected and swept, before you start using it more frequently.
 

Outside Your House

Weather Stripping: Check your weather stripping and caulking around your doors and windows, so you don’t lose any precious heat. It’ll be much easier to do it now, rather than when it’s freezing and you’re working with an open window!
Gutters: This is a great time to check your gutters and make sure they’re ready for the upcoming weather changes. Don’t forget your downspouts!
Patio Furniture: Time to store away your patio cushions! Don’t forget to give everything a good wipe down – it’ll make your life easier when spring rolls around.
Did we miss anything in our Fall Cleaning Checklist? Tell us in the comments!

Just in time for the coming holidays, Nellie is here to help you out! She’s the green hostess with the mostess, and she’s got you covered with everything you need to make hosting this season as easy as pie. Whether you’re hosting the in-laws for Thanksgiving or your sister is having the family around for Christmas, the Nellie’s limited edition Host Bundle makes for the perfect lifesaver for yourself or a friend.
What’s in the bundle? Everything you need to breeze through the holiday season this year PLUS a MYSTERY ITEM! Keep reading for more details!

Dishwasher Powder

The new Nellie’s Dishwasher Powder pouch easily tackles tough stains, grease, and food particles to leave every plate spotless! It even takes care of stubborn baked-on foods, so you have nothing to worry about with your mother-in-law inspecting each plate and fork. What’s more? Our phosphate-free formula provides an eco-friendly cleaning experience

Nellie’s Fruit & Veggie Wash

Before roasting those Brussel sprouts to perfection, make sure they’re clean! Did you know that most fruits and vegetables are covered in pesticides and contaminants from traveling from the farm? Yes – even the organic ones! That’s why we launched Nellie’s Fruit & Veggie Wash, which helps make sure that the healthy food you and your guests are eating is clean (just like your home). The Fruit & Veggie Wash helps remove surface pesticides, preservatives, and other contaminants from your produce. More importantly, it’s odourless and tasteless, gluten-free, vegan, biodegradable, and made with no animal bi-products. Yum!

One Soap

There’s no way around it – there’s a lot of washing up to do around the holidays! Plus, when you’re getting the whole home ready and sparkling, you need one soap to tackle several jobs. Why use three soaps when you can just use one? Our One Soap is safe for hands, dishes, dogs – anything you would use a sudsy soap for! The colour-free, SLS, SLES, and toxin-free formula effortlessly strips away food and grime, creating hypoallergenic results for every surface.

WOW Stick

When you’re hosting and everyone is indulging, spills and stains are bound to happen! With the WOW Stick, you don’t have to worry about them anymore. Red wine on a white tablecloth? No problem! Made with natural ingredients and free from dyes and synthetic fragrances, the WOW Stick contains lemongrass and sweet orange essential oils, which work in combination with the cleansing ingredients to combat odors caused by the offending stain. A delicious smelling bonus!
Order your limited edition Nellie’s Host Bundle today!

The sun is out, the weather is great, and the kids are at home. Believe it or not, but August is the perfect time to get ready for the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Take advantage of the weather and with the extra hands around the house, and deep clean now to welcome fall and back-to-school (even better). We’ve got an easy to-do list for you, tackling everything from inside to outside and the tools and products you’ll need. Happy cleaning!

INSIDE

• Focus on your home's ‘public’ rooms first: the living room, family room, entryway, guest bathroom, etc.
• Clean from the ceilings down to the floors. Begin by vacuuming the drapes and window treatments, followed by cleaning window sills and window wells. Vacuum baseboards and corners.
• Vacuum upholstered furniture. To get rid of any stains, use the Nellie’s All-Natural WOW Stick, or take to the dry cleaners if necessary.
• Wash interior windows.
• Clean the walls: dust, wash, rinse, and dry any painted or wood-paneled walls with a mix of warm water and Nellie's All-Natural One Soap in Fragrance Free.
• Turn mattresses front-to-back and end-to-end to ensure equal wear.
• Launder all bedding: mattress pads, pillows, duvets, blankets, and comforters, making sure you can tuck the family into warm and cozy beds. Don’t know how to tackle this? Don’t worry, we’ve got some how-to’s for your mattress, pillows, and duvets.
• Straighten out your closets – declutter, reorganize, and switch to your transitional summer-autumn wardrobe.
• Prepare the kitchen for more nights inside: clean and organize kitchen cabinets, paying extra attention to baking supplies, pans, and equipment. Give your cabinets a wipe down with the All Purpose Cleaner.
• Clean kitchen counters of all appliances that you have not been recently used. Clean counters look cleaner, and provide more room for cutting, chopping, and prepping.
• If you can, pull the refrigerator away from the wall and vacuum the condenser coils. For bottom-mounted coils, use a long, narrow brush to clean coils of dust and debris.
• Spruce up the computer: dust the CPU, clean and wipe down the keyboard, and dust off the monitor with a microfibre cloth.
• Check the dryer exhaust tube and vent for built-up lint, debris, or even birds’ nests! Additionally, make sure that the exterior vent door closes tightly when not in use.
• Schedule a fall inspection for your furnace – don’t wait for the first cold night!
• Drain any sediment from your hot water heaters.

OUTSIDE

• Clean the patio furniture and get ready to store it away along with umbrellas and the kids’ summer toys.
• Touch up the paint on your home’s trims, railings, and decks. Use a wire brush to remove any flaking paint (be sure the prime bare wood first).
• Check caulk around the windows and doors, re-caulk if necessary.
• Inspect external doors and garage doors. Do they close tightly? Fix them now with weather-stripping and door thresholds if needed to make sure you’re not dealing with a draft in a few months.
• Wash exterior windows with a mix of warm water and One Soap in Fragrance Free.
• Drain and store garden hoses.
• Check gutters and downspouts. Clear of debris if necessary.

There’s no better day than the when you realize you won’t be needing your thick and heavy sweaters, coats, and boots again this year. Breaking out the summer wardrobe is cause for celebration, but it’s a bad idea to ball up your winter clothes and chuck them into the back of your closet. They’ll sit there for months on end, and since they’re pieces that you invested in they’re worth preserving!

We’ve outlined how to store your winter clothes properly, for the easiest transition possible.

1. Clean everything first.

The biggest and most effective tip is to machine wash or dry clean everything you plan to store before packing it all away. It’s icky, but moths and insects are naturally attracted to our everyday scents, such as food, perfume, deodorant, and smoke, which can linger in the fabrics despite being unnoticeable to you. Using a natural laundry soda, like Nellie's All-Natural Laundry Soda, instead of a chemical detergent, removes odors instead of covering them up with synthetic scents. This is ideal for long-term storage!

2. Remove all of the plastic from your garments.

Never store anything in the dry cleaning plastic it came in. The plastic is ideal for trapping moisture, which can cause fibers to dry out and cause the yellowing of fabric.

3. Invest in plastic storage bins.

You may be tempted to try those as-seen-on-TV plastic vacuum bags, but many experts warn against them since you use a vacuum to suck out all the air, which again dries out the garments. Clothes need to breathe, so plastic bins are fine for non-delicate items like t-shirts, jeans, wool sweaters, or polyester. Just make sure to pack things loosely to ensure optimal air flow.

4. Pack delicates differently.

For your delicate items like silk, organza, or cashmere (or anything that’s just extra special to you), remove them from the dry cleaner’s protective plastic immediately, wrap them in acid-free tissue paper, and place in 100% cotton-canvas storage bags.

5. Don’t hang your sweaters…

If you’re lucky enough to have a spare storage closet, resist the urge to hang your sweaters, as they can become misshapen beyond repair. Alternatively, fold them and place them in your plastic bins of your fabric storage bags with the heaviest garments at the bottom. One thing to remember: don’t shove all of your sweaters into one bin. Air needs to circulate to keep your fabrics fresh and to prevent mildew and mold from forming. You may also want to add cedar-scented panels to keep pests away.

6. …And don’t hang most coats.

Yes, it’s true! Believe it or not, coat storage is more effective when each item is gently folded, instead of hung if the coats are wool, leather, faux fur, or down. First remove everything from the pockets and fasten all snaps, buttons, and zippers, and then gently fold the coat. Then, loosely stack them into boxes, storage bags, or plastic pins. This will help to better retain the shape of your coats than hanging them in the closet.

7. Commit "CCDD" to memory.

This means “cool, clean, dry, and dark.” The last thing you want your storage environment to be is too hot, too dusty, too damp, or too bright.

8. Invest in boot trees.

After spending your hard earned money on beautiful footwear, don’t let the leather or suede break down in your closet! Buying a few boot forms can do wonders when it comes to maintaining the shape of taller boot styles. It’s always best to keep your boot standing upright, but space is often at a premium in your closet, so you can lay them flat on their sides in your plastic bins. Just be sure to condition the, first, and lay some cotton (like an old shirt, pillowcase, or a muslin shoe bag) over each pair to keep them clean.

9. Pack shoes with tissue paper.

If your cold-weather shoes aren’t tall boots, but instead things like ankle booties, pumps, or loafers, loosely packing them with clean tissue paper before storing will help maintain their shape while they sit in storage, but be sure to wipe them down first.

Now you’re all set to swap out the kits for the bikinis, and can look forward to perfectly maintained clothes when Winter rolls back around.