Preparing Your UIUC Apartment for Fall: Organization, Decor & Safety Tips

With the cold weather already penetrating through your windows, it’s time to buckle down and prepare for the Fall and Winter. With the change of the season, it’s time to welcome the crisp air and a new vibe into your apartment. The perfect season to declutter, cozy up your space at UIUC, and make it safe and comfortable for the cold. Here’s a comprehensive guide to organizing, decorating, and safeguarding your apartment for maximum coziness, ensuring you’ll never want to leave. 

Invest in Decor

One way to ensure you love where you live is by investing in decor that makes your home feel like a home. It’s tempting to grab things at the dollar tree and add some themed decor to your home, but investing in quality fall and winter decor that will last a lifetime will make every season special. Find timeless and classic pieces that can blend in with your everyday decor. This will make your home feel rich with color and style. Swap out summer textiles for blankets, and add decorative pillows in autumn tones. With your heat turned up and the homey feel, you will never want to leave!

Deep Clean and Organize Your Apartment at UIUC

Fall is the best time of year to deep clean your home before you start spending the majority of your time indoors. Over the summer, you’ve been bringing in dust and allergens, and some areas of your home may have gone overlooked when it comes to cleaning. The best places to start for a deep clean of those neglected spots are the following:

• Windows: Often taking a beating during the summer from the rain and humidity, fall is a good time to clean them and check for gaps and drafts.
• Upholstery/Pillows/Rugs: Allergens and dust stick to these the most, so giving them a nice vacuum and cleaning them can help rid your home of dirt.
• Light Switches and Door Handles: These are the most commonly touched surfaces in your home, and most people don’t often think of cleaning the light switches and doorknobs. Adding these to your list will be the icing on the cake of a clean home. 

Cleaning out your pantry is another essential task of a fall declutter, making space for seasonal favorites like teas, soups, and baking ingredients. This is also a great time to use anything fresh you might have prepared and frozen over the summer, making deciding what you eat for dinner extremely easy for once.  

Insulating Your UIUC Apartment

Many older apartments lack proper insulation in the winter months, which can cause significant drafts and lower the temperature in your home. To keep your space warm, we recommend the following: 

• Seal Drafts – check along your window edges or the cracks in your door to the outside to find spaces where there might be a draft or not a total seal. Use weather stripping to seal it up for the winter, a quick and cheap fix to a drafty apartment. 
• Add Thermal Curtains – Insulated curtains help keep warmth from your space from leaking out through windows or drafts. 
• Utilize Area Rugs –  covering your hardwood floors with area rugs can keep your feet warm and protected from the cool floors below. 

Be careful of the extreme dryness of winter that can cause your lungs and breathing to function at a lower level than normal. Adding humidity to your apartment can prevent dry throats and help control the amount of dust mites, mold, and mildew that you might breathe in. Fan-powered humidifiers are regarded as the best for this as they can substantially move through the air in your home, as well as the air vents, for the best circulation.

Stock Up on Apartment Essentials 

Creating a safe environment for yourself is just as important as the decor, ambiance, and insulation. Here are a few fall and winter essentials that will be beneficial to have on hand when it’s too cold to leave the house. 

• Warm Bedding & extra blankets – making sure you will be warm throughout the season is the biggest essential on the list. Especially if you are living in a rented space where you might not have the luxury of controlling the temperature indoors, swapping out your regular sheets with flannel or fleece and keeping some extra blankets on hand can save you when it’s simply too cold in your apartment. 
• Space heaters – A quick fix to add more heat to your space. If needed, these are great tools that can warm you up fast and ensure you stay that way. 
• Cold weather gear – If you have to run errands, get groceries, or shovel snow, you want to make sure you are properly suited to go outside. Investing in a down jacket as well as gloves, hats, scarves, and more is important to staying warm outside of the home. 

Avoid Candles and Incense 

Although they are beloved, candles and incense fill your air with toxins that don’t get released outside as often with closed windows. This aids in the toxic air and is bad for you to breathe long-term. Try a slow-releasing air freshener if you’re looking for something that smells good, or use candles limitedly, and make sure to open your window and let some fresh air in after you burn it. Another smart alternative is buying a candle warmer to warm wax instead of burning it, making the air cleaner and healthier.