fall organizing Archives - Ellen's Blog, Professional Organizing for Kingwood & Houston

5 Tips for an Easy, Organized and Productive Fall

September 22, 2022/0 Comments/in Holiday organizing, Home Organizing/by Ellen

fall organizing

Summer is wrapping up and fall weather is coming soon! While we are all hoping for an early dip in the temperature, we can get started organizing for fall. Here is a short list of 5 spots to tackle for fall organizing. Getting organized now will save you time this fall when you are busy with activities, sports, and more.

Edit summer items then bring in fall attire.

The end of the season is the best time to edit and declutter. What has not been worn this season is ready to consign or donate. Edit out bathing suits, shorts, dresses and pants so that you have less to store and more space for fall clothing. Once you have decluttered, bring in seasonal attire gradually with heavier clothing added in November. If you have not already gifted yourself with slim line hangers, now is a great time to switch up. An organized closet helps you get ready easily every day.

Refresh your pantry.

Fall brings more structure to our days and to our meal planning. Start meal planning with pantry-made meals that make dinner easy to get on the table. Pantry meals include beans, pasta, rice, and ramen. Refresh your pantry with staples, organize your snacks into bins, and decant your flour for upcoming baking. Labeling your pantry makes it easy for everyone to find items and put away groceries.

Update your medicine and first aid supplies.

Before fall allergies hit and while COVID continues, update your medicines and first aid supplies. Review your expired prescriptions and recycle these at a local pharmacy. Categorize your supplies by use so you can easily find what you need. Using 3-tier small drawer storage, you can group like items together and label the drawer.

Sharpen up your landing strip.

Busy people need a place for stuff to come and go from the house. That includes backpacks, bags, incoming packages, and returns. Sharpen up your landing strip with hooks for bags and a bench for packages, with baskets below for shoes. Not only is it easier to get those packages out the door, everyone is ready to go and can grab their bags.

Get ahead for the holidays.

Look ahead to the holidays and lessen your stress by organizing spaces in your home and holiday supplies.

Start now by decluttering your guest room so it is “company ready” by the time the holidays arrive. Let go of additional supplies from finished projects and distribute items to where they belong.
Donate kids’ toys now to make room for upcoming gifts. Your kiddos will play more with a smaller number of toys and appreciate the new gifts. If there are unopened toys, donate those for upcoming holiday toy drives.
Check out your Halloween, Fall, Thanksgiving, and Holiday decorations. It is time to let go of extra decorations that clutter the attic or basement. Rearrange decoration bins by holiday and label what is stored in each. You will especially appreciate this when you are setting up for each holiday.

Taking a proactive approach to your fall organizing helps you be ready for all the fun that is coming soon!

What to Organize Now Fall Organizing

September 17, 2020/2 Comments/in Home Organizing, Wellness and self care/by Ellen

Start fall out with a plan of what to organize now. In the uncertainty around us, we want to create a calm, organized space at home, at work, for family and for ourselves. That’s the biggest benefit of organizing. We feel in control, make decisions and see positive changes in our space. Here are 5 tips of what to do right now for Fall Organizing.

Edit and reset your closet

Make every day better by editing and resetting your closet for fall. Now you know what you did not wear this summer so grab a shopping bag and start decluttering. Your closet editing will lead to resetting for fall. Bring in items from other closets and rearrange fall colors to the front of your closet. It’s fun to see your new fall wardrobe this way.

Pantry prep

Starbucks is heralding pumpkin spice and it’s time to spice up your pantry. Check for expired items from spring’s surplus buying. Re-organize what has gotten out of order. Bring in your fall favorites for winter weather like apple pie filling and canned pumpkin.

Get ahead of the holidays

Holidays are going to look different this year. Now is the time to start conversations with your family. Start with your family plan on gathering and gift giving. Assess what is in your gift closet now, make a list and take stock of what you will be giving this year. Get head with your holiday lists. It will be joyful to think ahead.

Structure your schedule

Schedules offer us sanity in uncertainty. It is about work flow for our both our personal and professional life. Our schedules include routines which help us thrive. Review your morning and evening routines. Talk through homework, dinner and bedtime and what to improve on getting your routine consistent. Drill down to a simple, easy to follow schedule for you and your family.

Declutter your home and office

The pandemic has set us in motion to make big changes. Families are moving, individuals are seeing new work opportunities and relationships are taking off. Decluttering is important. You can let go of more than you think and thrive. Place a donation bag at an easy access location to drop items in regularly. When the bag fills, drop it a your local philanthropy. Letting go will always be what to do now for getting organized.

Fall is a favorite season for many of us with cooler weather and getting back to routines. Follow your intuition and use this time to get organized and gain clarity.

Fall organizing: Gift wrap organizing

October 11, 2013/2 Comments/in Holiday organizing, Organizing products/by Ellen

Fall organizing prepares you for the fun ahead including holidays. Lots of gifts, for family, friends, and charity, will be wrapped in the next few months. There is seldom a home that is not overflowing with materials to beautify a box or bag. Be gift wrap read by organizing and sprucing up your stuff. Organize your gift wrap and be ready for the holiday season.

Start by culling out what has seen better days. It’s easy to think you will need an abundance of bags, tissue and ribbon. However, be sure these are in excellent condition to use for another gift. Decide how many bags of different types are needed. If you have too many baby shower bags or happy birthday bags, decide on a number to keep. Your bags and wrap can be recycled or donated.
Decide what other supplies you need. Fall is often when school fundraisers for gift wrap take place. Knowing what you need will help you support local charities and not over purchase.
Your gift wrap station should be easy to access. There are lots of possibilities. Hanging gift wrap bags are popular to store bags in guest closets. Dresser drawers in your guest room are an option. Short, three drawer sterilite plastic chests can work too. Having subdivided areas for tissue, ribbon, bags and rolls makes it easy to find and use your supplies. Under bed gift wrap organizers are available for any room. You can also divide holiday and every day supplies, storing holiday with your holiday decorations.

Place the items in your new storage area. Label the categories so you know what is stored in each space.
Take a little extra time each time you wrap a gift to replace items where they belong.
Maybe this year you want to forgo gifts and go clutter free too!

What’s your gift wrap trick for eliminating and storing?

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Five Fall Organizing Tips for Your Home

October 3, 2013/0 Comments/in Holiday organizing, Organizing Skills/by Ellen

Fall organizing makes ready the transition to autumn. I love Fall! It’s a time of transitions, back to school, fresh starts, and the gateway to the holidays! Here are five fall organizing tips for your home. Focusing on these areas will make your home company ready too!

Organizing Your Time

Activities gear up during the fall. Your kids activities, church activities, fall festivals, and football games are all important dates and time to add to your calendar. You may be planning to travel as well.

Add all your dates to your calendar as soon as possible. You will avoid conflicting activities and feel more in control.
Set aside time to prepare for big events. Be sure you add in preparation time. This includes time to make food, time to pick up an item or time to travel to your activity.
Get your family into the swing of things with a family meeting, recording dates on a month at a glance calendar posted in your kitchen.
Use checklists. Spend a few minutes the week before an activity writing down all the items you will need to bring. Having a checklist makes it easy to be sure everything gets to your destination.

Organizing Your Landing Strip

Happily we need light sweaters and jackets, different shoes, and hopefully an umbrella during fall.

Create a spot where things come and go in your home right at your entry. A basket for shoes or boots corrals them where you can find them later. Hooks on the wall add a spot to leave a jacket. A small attractive trash can can hold umbrellas.
Use baskets or totes to carry items back and forth to the car. A tote gives you a spot to place a return or other item that needs to get to the car. It also is a way to carry it there.
Storage for keys. Attach a key spot for dropping your keys as soon as you enter your home.
As with all spots in your home, remember to declutter regularly. Too many shoes or jackets at your landing strip makes chaotic clutter.

Organizing Your Crafts

Start by dividing items by craft. If you know you are no longer doing that craft, send the supplies off to Texas Art Asylum.
Divide your space by “centers” where you can use your craft supplies, setting up spaces with a table, chair and storage for your supplies.
Plan a projects area to store multiple projects in progress. Often you are working on several projects simultaneously. Take this into account in our craft space.

Organizing Your Pantry

Many of our holidays revolve around food. In the fall we are entertaining more and inviting in company. Dinner time is back in full swing with the routines of school and work. Organizing your pantry makes it easy to prepare meals.

Remove everything from your pantry and toss what is expired.
Set up your pantry with categories like the grocery store and additional groups such as veggies, breakfast, and snacks
Think about what you want to frequent and easy access to first, then place items accordingly. Especially for your kids, place items they can reach on the lower shelves.
A turn table lazy susan is great for difficult to access corners.
Use baskets for snacks and floppy stuff
Canisters for flour, sugars, and pastas are important in our climate.

Organize Outside

Cooler temperatures will start soon. It’s time to rein in the outside clutter too.

Bring pool items, cushions and extra toys in and store in your garage or attic. Remember to hose down items and clean before storing.
Add vertical storage to the garage to store tubs. Label your tubs for easy access.
Freshen up your entry by sweeping, dusting and cleaning your door and entry way.

Fall organizing prepares you for upcoming events. Have these areas decluttered and ready for fun!