Everyone has heard of spring cleaning before, right? Cleaning out all the items from winter, throwing out old clothes, dusting places that haven't been dusted since the last spring cleaning and organizing drawers that will only stay organized for about a month before they go back to the way they were.

Fall cleaning is the same thing. Fall cleaning may even touch some areas that do not even get touched during spring cleaning. The areas that you just dust over, but honestly just kind of ignore? Well, it's time to get down to business and see what exactly you have been ignoring. It's important. Organization is the key to beginning and continuing a successful life. This previous article of mine will help you get your life together once your house or dorm is in order!

By doing some fall cleaning before the chaos of school begins you begin to realize a few things:

1. Those shirts need to go.

You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones you didn't throw out in the spring or the spring before that? Maybe even the spring before that one. The ones just hanging out in your dressers drawers just waiting for a loving owner who would wear them on a regular basis. The shirts you just cannot seem to give up even though they do not fit or do not even have significant meaning whatsoever. Yeah, those shirts. Get rid of them. Once they are gone, you can restock your drawer full of shirts you will wear for only one season all over again!

2. Important papers?

Is your desk full of "important papers?" Time to sort it all out! If it's old school papers, chuck them! Old bills? Fill them. Appointment papers? If the date has already passed, then throw it, and if the date is coming up, then set that sheet of paper aside and put it in a calendar or planner. These Happy Planners will change your life!

Reorganize your desk and desk drawers! Think of it like this: the emptier your drawer, the more you can put in it later! To maximize space on your desk try downsizing your writing materials and storing your flashcards, sharpeners, markers and other similar items in the drawer rather than on top. Once you go through this drawer of unknown papers that you believed were important at one point. you will realize that it's mostly junk and has no relevance for the new and upcoming school year! If you find projects that your children have done and would like to keep them, then find them a home where they do not take up valuable storage space for things you will need immediately and can not spend time digging for. Those items are the items that should be in your desk.

3. Oh, so that is a bookshelf!

Yeah, it happens to the best of us! You have a shelf, whether it is a 'proper' bookshelf or not, it's a shelf and your books are on it. At first. Then you have this knick-knack that doesn't have a home so you throw it there. Then there is the small jar of fish food. Oh, wait, the box of push-pins you threw there and forgot about, vitamins, an old magazine... Don't forget the numerous books you have acquired and just stacked in front of the others. Here it is, a few months later, and your beautiful bookshelf has become a catch all and there is no longer any space for your books on the bookshelf! Your first step is to remove everything and dust! Then sort through and find homes for everything that is not some kind of book. Lastly, place your books and only your books on your bookshelf! This makes you realize just how many books you have actually acquired throughout the year. A clean and straight bookshelf makes for a happy reader.

4. A sense of peace will come over you.

Once your house, apartment or room has been cleaned and rid of the overflow, you will become more at ease. A sense of peace will come to you. Having peace before the chaos of school begins is a great thing. Being able to walk into a home that is ready to be destroyed from the many teenagers that run through and the several bottles of glue and glitter that are likely to spilled is actually quite peaceful. Having an apartment that is organized and ready to be overrun again by the hundreds of flashcards that will be made and then forgotten about, and the pages and pages of notes covering the freshly cleared tables is wonderful! It also helps to do all of this 'dejunking,' reorganizing and downsizing because once it is done, it's easier to keep it like that because you will remember how hard you worked to get it that way every time you place something in the wrong area or tell yourself, "It can wait."

It also helps to minimize the chaos that is school. You can go supply shopping with a list of what you already have and what you need instead of going into it blind and spend more money than you need to on items that will not be used and forgotten about and repurchased next year. If you know you've got a certain item and it hasn't been used, then you can make it a point to make sure it gets used!

You will also have a good idea what clothes you will need to buy for the fall/winter because while you're fall cleaning you can go ahead and pull out those fall/winter clothes and see what fits and what doesn't.

Don't forget, it always gets worse before it gets better, so if your house becomes a complete and total mess like never before, then you're doing it right!

Happy cleaning!