5 Fall Organization Tips For A Less Stressful Winter

Sure, you can be indulging in pumpkin spiced lattes with whipped cream. Or you can be taking all those Instagram-worthy photos of you and the kids at the pumpkin patch. However, I have five Fall organization tips that make you feel like you’re ready to take on winter, in ease and style!

Which will you choose?

You know the feeling. When the calendar is showing December, and you’ve had your first big snowfall. Christmas is just around the corner and you’re stressing out because, “Where did the Fall go?” And the to-do list is becoming really long.

I’ve got you covered! It requires a small sacrifice of your fun Fall time to get ready for when we’ll be cocooning, celebrating the Holidays and practicing the hygge lifestyle.

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Fall Organization Tips That Make For A Less Stressful Winter

They require a bit of elbow grease, effort and time, but setting aside a weekend to get s#!t done will make life easier down the road. I promise!

I’m a planner, and have always tried to stick to plans to motor through tasks and activities that are often tedious, but necessary. Perhaps it’s those many years of planning PR and marketing campaigns that have made me into a planner. But I’m not going to have you making workback schedules and extensive Excel sheets of plans. This stuff is much simpler.

These are easy Fall organization tips that you can start doing on the first rainy weekend of Fall. After all, dreary days are meant for indoor activities and most of these you can do indoors.

Get your cleaning gear and products ready, stock up on storage baskets and get ready to prep for the winter!

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1. A Top To Bottom House Clean-Up

There’s a Spring cleaning, but did you know that you can get a head start for the Holidays with a Fall Cleaning? This is first on my favourite Fall organization tips, because it frees up so much time just before Christmas.

Get a head start on pre-Holidays clean-up!

Summer vacations and the initial period for back-to-school or back-to-work routines mean you’re probably flying by the seat of your pants when it comes to cleaning up.

Now’s the time to add a big Fall cleaning to the list of Fall activities. I like to do this in early October, as the weather here in Ontario, Canada gets cooler.

The air conditioner is turned off.

There’s no potentially dusty air filtering around the house.

My Polish grandmother always did a big clean up well before the Holidays so that she could focus on making her big batches of perogies, cabbage rolls, and baked goods instead.

So what do you do during this big clean-up?

• Tackle one room at a time, and do it thoroughly.
• Organize, and throw away old items no longer in use (or donate, sell if you can).
• Focus on the hard to reach, usually forgotten parts of the room that your mother-in-law inevitably inspects for dust. Save the main part of the room for your usual weekly clean-up.
• Clean all windows, walls, and ceilings of dust, cobwebs, and smudges.
• Organize closets and pantries that will be in heavy use over the Holidays.
• Make a list for re-stocking toiletries, bedding, towels and so on, if you’re planning to have guests over this year.

When Christmas comes, you’ll only need to do a minor clean-up as the majority of the cleaning was done earlier.

TIP: This is also the time to pull out Holiday decorations and place them in easy-to-reach spots. You may want to do a quick once-over to see what you’ve got and what needs to be replenished. It makes decorating much quicker and easier when the Christmas season comes.

TIP 2: If you’re planning to make your New Year’s resolution to become more sustainable in your daily routines, now is the best time to consider making some changes before the busy Holiday season. It means you can hit the ground running on January 1st!

| Related: Housecleaning Tips For Busy Parents

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2. Sort Through And Put Away Old Toys

The second Fall organization tip is one that will have parents saying… “YES! Great idea!”

Why is this activity a great idea for the Fall period? When the Holidays come, you’ll have an influx of new toys filling up your child’s toy boxes, shelves, and the living room floor.

My son no longer plays with some of his old toys. He’s outgrown them as his interests have changed. I’m giving him one last chance to play with them, and then putting them away in storage bins.

You can also give them away to other friends with kids or sell them at re-use/consignment shops for babies and kids clothing/toys. In some cases, certain charitable organizations such as the Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy in my area, collect gently used toys for their fundraising activities. Look to see if there are any in your community that do the same.

TIP: Do this activity when you’re putting away summer clothes. It makes it easier to do a purge when you’ve got clothes AND toys to give away.

| Related: Things To Do During A Snowstorm

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3. Prepare Your Home Exterior For The Winter

Aside from raking leaves, it’s now time to prepare your home exterior for the winter. When it comes to Fall organizing tips, this is one that is inevitable. This is one thing that everybody should be doing to keep your house protected during winter.

• Before the first frosts start, check the foundation for any cracks. Get them filled.
• Check all of the caulking around windows and sliding doors. This helps prevent drafts.
• Carefully store outdoor furniture or wrap it in tarps. Make sure the tarps are secure so that they don’t flap or fly away in windy winter storms.
• Put away your water hoses and turn off the water to avoid burst pipes.
• Make sure all vents are properly secured and caulked.
• Fix your stone or brick walkways to ensure you don’t trip. It also makes it easier to run a shovel over a level pathway.
• Tie up any delicate bushes with brown burlap to protect them from salt and snow damage.

TIP: Get your Fall outdoor decorations ready, as well as your Christmas lights ready to go.

| Related: Spring Cleaning Your Home Outdoors

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4. Stock Up On Snow-Clearing Supplies

Looking at the Farmer’s Almanac, the long-term weather forecasts from weather networks and weather experts (Environment Canada here in my neck of the woods), I can get a good idea if I’m going to expect a bad winter.

So as soon as the fresh winter stock comes into my local home improvement store, I replace my gear and salt stores. How many times have I heard reports that there are low supplies of shovels and salt during a big snow or ice storm?

This is the time to check out your shovels and get prepared. It’s also a good time to place an ice scraper in your car’s trunk, as well as a small shovel.

This is one of the easiest Fall organization activities that will save you much time and hassle when the first snowstorm hits.

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5. Christmas Preparations & Shopping For Gifts

This is one of those Fall organization tips that many people have adopted to make life easier for themselves. Yes, you can wait until all the crazy deals start popping up after Thanksgiving and Black Friday. However, if you can get a head start, the Holiday season won’t catch you unprepared.

Now is the time to begin making lists, finding gifts to cross off your list, and purchasing any new decorations for your home. It’s a fun Fall organization activity that can reduce your stress levels immensely!

Make lists and schedules for:

• Gifts
• Home decorating
• Entertaining – figure out who you’re inviting over and when
• Booking vacation dates at work
• Baking
• House-cleaning
• Holiday menus and grocery lists

The easiest thing to cross of your list is gift shopping. This can be done while you’re enjoying a hot cup of coffee or cocoa or a pumpkin spiced latte.

Preparing in advance means that as you get closer to the Holiday season you don’t have to spend time with thinking through and planning part of the Holiday season. You’ll just have to execute the activities.

| Related: 11 Ways Moms Keep Organized & Their Shit Together

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Pinterest Is Your Best Friend For Fresh Fall Organization Tips

If you’re a mom or dad who loves to decorate and prepare your home for the Holidays, you already know that Pinterest is your best friend.

I would add spending some time on Pinterest as the sixth Fall organization activity because it’s the source for the latest trends in Fall and Winter decorating.

The good news is that most lifestyle, home decor, and DIY bloggers and experts start sharing the lastest trends by late August. So the first chilly September Saturday is the best time to get some ideas and begin planning ahead. Just search for Fall organization tips and you’ll find many ideas!

Research is a big part of getting yourself all ready to go, with a plan and ideas in mind for the busy Winter entertaining season.

| Related: 10 Self-Care Ideas For The Fall Season That Make You Happy

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QUESTION: What are your favourite productive Fall organization activities? Did I miss something?

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