To-Dos: Your August Home Checklist
Take these steps to get your home and family organized for fall
Laura Gaskill
August 1, 2023
Houzz Contributor. I cover decorating ideas, Houzz tours & the monthly home maintenance checklist. My favorite pieces to write center around the emotional aspects of home and savoring life's simple pleasures. Decluttering course + discount for Houzzers: https://www.lauragaskill.com/welcome-houzzers
Houzz Contributor. I cover decorating ideas, Houzz tours & the monthly home maintenance... More
With the transition from summer to the beginning of a new school year (and maybe some back-to-work blues), August can feel like a sudden downshift. Stretch out these last days of summer by squeezing in a few more home projects, savoring simple pleasures and, when the time comes, preparing the house for fall. Pick from these to-dos to create your perfect August plan.
Things to Check Off Your List in an Hour or Less
1. Clean and store summer gear. Once the last beach day is behind you, take the time to clean out the buckets, shovels and boogie boards so they’re fresh and clean for next year. Toss out cracked or broken toys, and shop end-of-season sales to replace items if needed.
Find storage products
1. Clean and store summer gear. Once the last beach day is behind you, take the time to clean out the buckets, shovels and boogie boards so they’re fresh and clean for next year. Toss out cracked or broken toys, and shop end-of-season sales to replace items if needed.
Find storage products
2. Set up a shared family calendar. Whether you choose a big paper wall calendar or a digital version, having one calendar to rule them all will be a big help come fall. Set up your preferred method now, and record important dates.
3. Clear the way for easy dinners. A too-packed kitchen (and fridge and pantry) can make meal prep harder than it needs to be. Clear away clutter to create a clean workspace on the counter and remove expired, stale and unwanted food from the pantry, fridge and freezer. Donate unwanted and unexpired foods in their original packaging to a local food pantry.
4. Share your backyard harvest. Have a glut of tomatoes, squash or other summer produce? Pack up a basket to share with your neighbors, or check the directory at Ample Harvest to locate a food pantry in your area that accepts surplus garden produce.
Find a landscape designer on Houzz
Find a landscape designer on Houzz
Tackle These Tasks Over a Weekend
5. Organize family photos. Have photos from the year’s special moments? Take this opportunity to sort and organize them — back up digital photos with cloud-based storage, and make an album or a book of recent photos. If you would like to display some of your photos but are finding it difficult to choose, put them in a big collage instead or hang them from clothespins or bulldog clips on a wire.
Not sure where to start on your home project? Learn the basics
5. Organize family photos. Have photos from the year’s special moments? Take this opportunity to sort and organize them — back up digital photos with cloud-based storage, and make an album or a book of recent photos. If you would like to display some of your photos but are finding it difficult to choose, put them in a big collage instead or hang them from clothespins or bulldog clips on a wire.
Not sure where to start on your home project? Learn the basics
6. Clean carpets and floors. Sand and garden dirt tracked in over the summer can really take a toll on floors. Vacuum and mop floors, and have area rugs and carpeting professionally cleaned if needed.
Great Home Project: How to Organize Your Digital Photos
Great Home Project: How to Organize Your Digital Photos
7. Get organized for back to school (and work). Consider what would make this fall run more smoothly for your family: a few extra hooks in the entryway to handle coats and bags? A better workspace or study area? If papers are a constant problem, take the time now to set up a simple filing system and an inbox for each family member.
8. Check emergency kits. Emergency supplies don’t last forever. Open up your kit and check expiration dates on food and any medications; replace as needed. Don’t have an emergency kit yet? Make this the month you create one.
Get Organized: First Aid, Emergency and Medical Supply Checklist
Get Organized: First Aid, Emergency and Medical Supply Checklist
9. Organize closets. Before making any new purchases, spend some time assessing what you already have in the closet: Try on clothing, fold and hang up any clothes on the floor, get rid of items you don’t wear and make a list of what you need. Doing this before shopping can help save money and prevent cluttering up your closet.
How to Finally Tackle Your Closet’s Critical Mess
How to Finally Tackle Your Closet’s Critical Mess
10. Schedule some relaxation time. It can be surprisingly hard to relax and simply do nothing, even when you do have free time. I find that the key is not calling it “free time” at all: By planning to do nothing, you are actually giving yourself permission to fully relax. So what do you do during do-nothing time? Sipping from a mug of tea or tall glass of iced tea on the porch with a good book tops my list.
Maintenance and Extras to Budget for This Month
11. Clean and organize the garage. If you haven’t cleaned out your garage in a while, it’s likely this project will take an entire weekend (or more), so plan accordingly. It helps to think ahead and find out where you can take items (donations, hazardous waste, things to sell) before starting, and get a dumpster if you think you will need it. And if you need help, consider hiring someone to assist you with part or all of the process. Wait until you’ve cleared away the clutter before purchasing new shelving or wall-mounted organizers. You’ll have a better idea of what you need once the decluttering is complete.
7-Day Plan: Get a Spotless, Beautifully Organized Garage
11. Clean and organize the garage. If you haven’t cleaned out your garage in a while, it’s likely this project will take an entire weekend (or more), so plan accordingly. It helps to think ahead and find out where you can take items (donations, hazardous waste, things to sell) before starting, and get a dumpster if you think you will need it. And if you need help, consider hiring someone to assist you with part or all of the process. Wait until you’ve cleared away the clutter before purchasing new shelving or wall-mounted organizers. You’ll have a better idea of what you need once the decluttering is complete.
7-Day Plan: Get a Spotless, Beautifully Organized Garage
12. Finish up outdoor projects. Make use of the long August days to finish up any outdoor projects you started (or intended to start) over the summer, from cleaning the gutters to adding a new deck.
13. Check your home for signs of pests. It’s not a pleasant subject, but being proactive when it comes to pests in and around your home is much better than trying to solve a pest problem that has gotten out of hand. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends taking preventive measures such as removing sources of food, water and shelter, and closing off places where pests can enter and hide. If you do need to use pesticides, choose the lowest-risk product first, and use according to the directions. If you hire a pest control pro, ask him or her to use bait, and crack and crevice control when possible; fogging should be a last resort.
Share: What’s on your to-do list this August? Tell us in the Comments.
More on Houzz
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Keep Your Cool in the Garden — Here’s What to Do in August
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My first guess on the vine in #10 is Honeysuckle, based on my experience growing one in Bakersfield, CA.
I clicked on the photo and someone asked the same question but never got an answer from the professional that posted the photo.
Assuming it is honeysuckle:
Climate zone is 7 and up. Once established it tolerates brief killing frost temps in the teens, and scorching dry summers. It shaded the entire bedroom (south side) wing of our house and blocked the view of the neighbors. Nothing survived under it, so no weeding needed. I stopped watering it in the summer after it's 3rd year.
Drawback: it needs aggressive pruning and can damage an asphalt shingle roof. It needs strong support, 2x4 rafters work. The lightweight prebuilt arbors cave quickly.
Honeysuckle is getting quite a back lash lately and deservedly so! Invasive..so stick to natives..not invasive as the foreign ones are.
In 25 years it never left the area I planted it in and did not spawn any new ones. When you live in a desert climate with no adjacent water, anything that provides shade is good. Our summer electric bill dropped 25% in the 3rd year due to the shade on the south side of our house. I never regretted planting it.