While many people think of organization and cleaning in the new year and spring, but I personally think that fall is the best time to start thinking about organizing your home. As the weather starts to cool down, and we move from spending our days outdoors to staying inside more, there’s never been a better time to start organizing your home.
If you’re determined to organize the home then you’re in luck. In this post, I’m going to share 4 simple organizing ideas that you can do that will prepare you for the upcoming fall season. To make this as simple as possible for you I put together a free checklist. It’s a fall organization checklist for your home together for you with 10 areas to start organizing now.
Organizing tips for fall
It’s no secret that I wasn’t always the most organized person. I always said I was too busy to start organizing. The problem was, me not being organized caused me to waste so much valuable time.
Now that’s why I make a point to do a big organizing session each season so I’m able to keep up with the clutter and keep my home nicely organized so I don’t have to worry about becoming overwhelmed with the mess again.
When it comes to organizing the home it’s important that it’s:
- Simple to tackle
- Doesn’t take too long
- Has a big reward
However, it can be tough to know where to start and that’s why I’ve created this post, to help you create an organized home you can enjoy.
Start preparing for the holidays NOW
Don’t wait until December to start creating your to-do list for the holidays. Be on the lookout for deals on items for people on your Christmas list, food items for the holidays, and supplies such as tape and scissors. Many stores start putting out their holiday items long before Christmas, and you can use these early sales to your advantage to get the best deals. Start a gift bin for all the presents you buy now, and when the holidays roll around, you’ll have all your gifts ready to go!
You will be saving yourself a giant headache later because you’re beating the holiday crowds. But do keep in mind that sometimes we might forget about presents we’ve purchased way in advance so make sure you keep a list of the people and gifts so you don’t end up buying more than you need.
Make room for winter clothes and gear
Winter clothes including coats, mittens, and boots are bulkier. This means they tend to take up more space than your tank tops and sandals did. Make space for your winter items by doing a closet purge of both your coat closet and your bedroom closets. If you don’t have a good organization system in place for winter gear such as mittens, hats, gloves, scarves, etc. take this time to create one now.
I love to store all of our winter clothes under our bed in bins. I can store 6 bins total under our bed which stores our boots, sweaters, and ski gear that we only use during the winter months. Then when summer comes around I switch out the cold weather items for the warm weather items. Only needing the same bins.
Prepare your kitchen
We tend to do a little more baking and hosting during the fall and winter seasons. This means there is no better time to get your kitchen in tip-top shape than right now! Start by emptying out your freezer, pantry, and fridge. Get rid of any unused items and give these areas a good clean. While you’re at it, take the time to organize these spaces as they will get a lot of use during the fall season. After you’ve cleaned out your food storage spaces, don’t forget to spend a little time on your kitchen cabinets, and drawers too!
Taking inventory is something that I love to do every quarter. This way when I’m at the store I don’t buy too much of one thing and not enough of another. So when you are cleaning out your pantry, fridge and freezer write down the items you have and make a list of items you’ll need.
Organize your papers
With back to school coming, you will want to get all of your paper clutter organized now! Fall is a great time to tackle your papers and start creating organizing systems that will last. Start by gathering all of your papers in one place. It doesn’t matter what the paper is for, but for now, start by gathering them all in one place.
Next, organize them into piles based on the category, type, and date. Feel free to further categorize these items further. Lastly, once you’ve organized your papers into categories, it’s time to think about storage options. If you are housing a lot of papers, you may want to think about a file cabinet. If you only have a few papers, folders or even a binder may suffice.
Each child has their own file box that we use to organize all of the school papers for the year. This might not be as necessary for older kids now that most of the work is done on the computer. However, when your kids are younger it’s great to file their work in a file box and look back on their progress throughout the year.
Those are my 4 simple organizing tips for fall. Like I mentioned earlier if you’d like the complete list of 10 organizing tips you can download the complete fall organizing checklist. This checklist will help you know where to start organizing and give you a few more organization ideas for the home you can use.
