There is just something about fall. A feeling of crispness in the air combined with A cozy, familiar hug as you ease back into routines. It has a hint of that new year feeling that I get when January rolls around. This fall I am finding I have a strong drive to look at what is working for myself and my family around our home and what needs some tweaking to help make our daily routines go smoothly. With the kids back in school and my youngest starting preschool I will have more time to myself than I have ever had in the 11 years of my mom journey and I want to do ALL THE THINGS! I must pace myself though, as I tend to get overwhelmed when I put too much on my plate and the result is I do none of the things. I have resolved that I will only focus on 1 or 2 things at a time, then choose a couple more projects to focus on when those are complete, building momentum to continue down the list. All of these things I have previously spent some time on sorting and improving but as we all know, life moves forward, children grow, needs change and sometimes the system and solutions I previously had in place no longer work for this season of life.

In no particular order, here is my personal list of the areas in my home that need some attention. Feel free to join me in tackling these areas in your home as well. Our homes will be feeling so fresh, organized and clutter free by the time Christmas rolls around!

The Linen Closet – Why do we have 20 pillowcases for standard sized pillows when the majority of us use a king size pillow? I’m purging all of the unnecessary linens, sizes we don’t use, things that are ripped, ratty, and have holes. I’ve even come to terms with breaking up sets. A lot of those pillow cases I’ve kept just because they match a comforter on one of the beds but are not used and just taking up valuable space that could be put to better use. I’m also making sure that we have 2 fitted sheets that fit each bed in the house, one for on the bed and one for sheet changing day when the first set is in the wash. It’s good to keep extra things “just in case”, but I’m keeping it reasonable and realistic. 2 extra blankets seems reasonable, we will never use the 6 that are in there, so I’m choosing to keep the ones that are most versatile and in the best condition.

The Pantry – It’s time for me to let go of my dreams of my children eating the fruit cups that Nana brought over. Those things are sitting front and center in my pantry and they keep boomeranging back home whenever I send them with my kids for lunch or snack. I’m finally adding them to a bag to donate to the food bank, along with any other well intended but not used food purchases (only unopened, unexpired food of course). Any food well past expiry is going in the compost and any food that needs to be used up soon I will add into the meal plan in the coming weeks. I will also re-evaluate the pantry real estate that items are using. Items used the least can be in a back corner, items used often need to be in a grab and go spot front and center. I also always like to have a kids snacks shelf that is at a height they can easily access themselves.

The Front Hall Closet – Many items are stored in this area and it can quickly become a disaster. Usually by September we can confidently put the sunscreen away but it was 36 Celcius just 2 days ago! The best thing I ever did for our front hall was install baskets onto the side wall to contain any seasonal accessories. Sunscreen and bug spray, hats and mitts, rain pants and sun hats. I also have storage bins on the above shelf to hold our out of season items not currently in use. Fall is the perfect opportunity to switch over the baskets, moving unused things to the bins up top and bringing down items that will be used more in the coming months like umbrellas and light mitts. I will also make sure the family’s fall jackets and footwear are brought up from the basement bedroom closet and ready for use. While I’m in the storage closet I’ll have a look at the winter gear and make sure we have the right sizes for the upcoming winter season, If I need to purchase anything additional I know well ahead of time to find the best deal or keep an eye out on marketplace for used items.

Master Bedroom Closet – Time to pull out all the sweaters! And if there are some that you feel kind of “meh” about, start a donation pile. I also like to go through my summer clothes at this time, If I didn’t reach for it this summer, it’s probably time to let it go. Unless it’s an item you still love but it didn’t quite fit size wise. This may be an unpopular opinion but I personally like to keep clothes that I love that are one size (not two!) larger or smaller than I currently am. It is perfectly normal for bodies to fluctuate in size and if you have the space to store these items it is really nice to have clothes you can reach for when you are in a different body size. The key though is to not keep these items in your everyday closet, it feels so good to peruse my closet and everything I see will fit and is an actual option to wear right now.

Make-up and personal products – This is the most frustrating spot for me right now and I will be starting with this area first. Things have really gotten tossed around from many rushed school mornings of leaving myself last to get ready before we fly out the door. It makes a surprisingly big difference in my morning when I can grab my favourite tinted lip balm out of the drawer in 2 seconds instead of 10. I need to get rid of any products I no longer use, tuck the “sometimes” products in the back, and organize my everyday products in order of the ones I use first to last in my routine.

The Spare Bedroom – In our home the spare bedroom can very quickly become a “junk” room. It is where clothes that no longer fit, projects that are not completed and furniture items no longer used go to live. The spare bedroom closet is where I store all of our out of season jackets and footwear, gift stockpile, next-size-up clothing bins, clothing bags to donate and someday projects, but things quickly spill over into the rest of the room. I find I need to revisit this room a few times a year to keep things in check and keep it functional as an actual guest bedroom. Fall is my go to time to evaluate any projects I’ve stored unfinished and either finish them or toss them. If I decide I’d like to finish it I will actually schedule time in the coming weeks to complete it, If I still don’t complete it even with intentional time planning, it is officially time to let it go. I also try to find a useful home for any extra furniture items, if there is no spot in our house that makes sense I’ll either donate or sell on marketplace. Same with stored clothing, I like to pass any items on to friends and family that would appreciate them or I find an appropriate charity to donate them to.

The Toy Room – With 3 kids this area has required the most attention to keep manageable over the years. The key for us is to revisit this area multiple times a year. I do find this task to be particularly exhausting so I make sure it is the only large task I plan for the day and I know I need some relaxing recovery time afterwards! The kids actually love doing a toy room re-org every few months or so. I make sure to always involve them as I dread the thought of secretly getting rid of a toy only to have my little one ask for it the following week declaring that it was his favorite. It also teaches the kids the life skill of letting go of things that no longer serve them. I always start by asking them to look around and asking them if there is anything that they no longer play with anymore, usually there are a few things they are willing to get rid of right off the top. Then we collect ALL the toys in the house and dump everything into a huge pile in the middle of the room, this is pretty exciting for them, they love the giant pile! We have bins that help us keep the toys separated into categories ie: the paw patrol bin, the marble run bin etc. I delegate tasks appropriate for their age, like asking my 7 year old to find all the paw patrol and put it in a bin. I know my 3 year old needs shorter and more specific tasks to not overwhelm him so I delegate accordingly. My oldest loves puzzles so I’ll usually ask her to take on the task of finding all the puzzle pieces and putting them together with the others. As we sort I’ll ask them about specific toys I come across that I don’t see them play with much, sometimes it’s agreed to toss it, sometimes not. If there are any toys that I am pretty certain they don’t play with but they disagree I will tuck them away in a bin (in that spare bedroom of ours!), if they ask for it in the coming months I will get it from the bin for them, if not I will donate the items in the bin. Through this the kids have come to realize that a clean and organized toy room with less toys is so much more enjoyable to play in, helping them learn the oh so important life skill of decluttering and organization.

The Home office – This area is primarily my husbands domain as he works from home, but the office also houses our children’s homework, craft supplies & games as well as our families device charging station. I like to at least have the homework drawer sorted for when the kids go back to school as it makes weekdays a bit less hectic. This involves clearing out any of last years papers and refreshing the supplies, making sure there is a good supply of sharpened pencils, erasers, glue sticks, scissors and highlighters. This refresh is easy to tack onto the task of school supply shopping, I just keep in mind to get a few extra items on the list for the homework drawer if needed. I like to keep the craft supplies fairly minimal so organizing them is less of a burden. We have a shelf that houses the same size container each for markers, paint, pencil crayons and crayons, a container for tools like rulers, scissors, glue etc. and one that houses the fun extras like googly eyes, pipe cleaners etc. I go through and make sure that everything in the bins is usable, tossing any crayon stubs, dry markers etc. then I recycle any full coloring books and scraps. The games are relatively easy to sort through, pretty much just getting rid of any games that we haven’t played in the last year. Lastly the charging station, I make sure that the cords are all relevant to the devices we currently use and wrap up and tuck away any relevant extras.

The Kitchen Cabinets – Ahhh the kitchen, So much potential for useless clutter. This may be one of the biggest tasks but by doing a quick go through of my drawers and cabinets a couple times a year I tend to keep it manageable. Anything I haven’t used in the last year and things that we have more of than our family can use get donated (I’m looking at you 1,982 travel mugs). Any chipped dishware or ripped cloths and towels get tossed or repurposed as rags. I prefer kitchen tools that have multiple uses, so any “one trick ponies” like an apple slicer, melon baller, pineapple corer, also end up in the donation box. After purging items I do a quick once over of the placement of kitchen items. Is the coffee stored on the opposite end of the kitchen from the coffee maker? Are the water glasses in the furthest cabinet from the sink? Often things just stay where we put them when we moved in and we just accept that is where they go until the end of time. Seemingly little details like item placement can make all the difference in how smoothly a kitchen functions.

These tasks will keep me busy for a while along with the daily life of running a business and being a mom. It feels good having an intentional list of tasks that will contribute towards a smoother running of our household and I can complete as my time and energy allows. Even if I only purge one thing in a day or have an off week and do nothing on my list, I know to give myself grace, it’s about progress not perfection. Feel free to add any fall household tasks that you are planning to do in the comments, I’m sure there are loads that I haven’t thought of.

Thanks for reading! – Brigitte

^{The Harmonious Home, Professional Organizer and Interior Decorator in St.Albert, AB, Canada}