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Tips & Tricks

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Getting Ready for Fall & Winter

9/23/2021

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If you live in an area that sees all the season like I do. September is a reminder that you have some long months coming up. Not only are you getting back to school, but you are thinking about upcoming holidays, colder weather, snow, etc. I have complied a detailed checklist of things to do to help ease those concerns and get ready for the fall and winter months! 

Cold Weather Gear: 

  • Get an inventory of your family’s cold weather gear
  • Make sure everyone has what they need
  • Check sizing on coats, scarves, gloves, and boots for your children
  • Discard/donate unwanted or unused items
  • Find a central location to keep all items that will make coming in and going out of the house easier 

Tidy the Garage: 

  • Put away summer decorations, outdoor activity gear, gardening supplies, grill
  • Clean and put away/cover outdoor furniture
  • Pull out items needed for fall lawn care- rakes, leaf blowers, etc.
  • Pull out items needed for winter weather- shovel, salt, prep snow blower
  • Pull out items for winter sports
    • Inventory items
    • Check sizing
    • Make any repairs needed 

Restock First Aid Kits:

  • Restock items drained from those summer scrapes
  • Restock cold medication- be proactive about making sure you have these items so you don’t have to run out when someone gets sick
  • Restock tissues- runny noses and sniffles are coming your way ensure you have tissues for the house and small packets for on-the-go 
  • Restock/ wash facemasks (if needed) 

Declutter Toys: 

  • Donate toys your children are no longer playing with or have outgrown
  • Trash/recycle toys that are broken or missing parts 

​Clothing: 

  • Put away summer clothing
  • Pull out warmer clothing
  • donate/offload items that no longer fit or you no longer want from both summer and warmer clothing
  • Go through you child(ren)s clothes, donate/offload any items that no longer fit or will not fit when summer comes around again 

​Lawn Care/ Gardening/ Outdoors: 

  • Mow the lawn for the last time and begin leaf cleaning
  • Clean gutters
  • Move tropical plants indoors (if needed)
  • Order and stack firewood
  • Cut perennials back for winter
  • Plant spring bulbs 

Car: 

  • Remove beach, picnic, summer items from trunk
  • Deep clean your car
  • Make a winter car kit:
    • Small container of salt or cat litter
    • Snow brush
    • Emergency blanket
    • Spare hat & gloves
    • Handwarmers
    • Phone charger
    • Flares
    • Deicer
    • Jumper cables
    • Flashlight & extra batteries
    • Small shovel. 

​Other Household Fall To-Do’s: 

  • Have heating systems maintained
  • Clean and set up humidifiers
  • Put away summer quilts and linens
  • Take out warmer, winter quilts and linens
  • Test all smoke and carbon monoxide alarms (should be done monthly), replace any batteries needed
  • Check flashlights make sure they work, replace batteries if needed, in case of power outages
  • Start prepping for holiday season:
    • Restock home bar
    • Inventory spice rack and baking supplies, restock if needed  
    • Organize pots & pans, service ware, baking pans
    • Organize table linens and seasonal dishware
    • Deep-clean the oven 

​Fall Fun for the Whole Family: 

  • Go leaf-peeping
  • Go apple and pumpkin picking
  • Celebrate Oktoberfest by inviting friends & family over for craft beer & bratwurst
  • Visit a haunted maze
  • Make Halloween costumes & decorations
  • Carve pumpkins
  • Make Thanksgiving decorations
  • Consider volunteering at local food banks or shelters
  • Bake spooky cookies for Halloween
  •  Bake turkey and leaf themed cookies for Thanksgiving 

Happy Fall Y'all!!
Remember to HAVE FUN too!


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Storing Your Child's Artwork & Accomplishments

9/16/2021

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With school in full swing, artwork and accomplishments are going to soon be flooding into the house. Every piece of it being important and sentimental. The question then becomes how to store all these amazing items?? Well here are a few suggestions to preserve these precious memories. 

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Create a File Bin: 

Creating a file box to store your child(ren)s accomplishments is a quick, easy set-up, and is flexible in terms of how you organize. This system also allows you to create individual bins if you have more than one child.  Using the steps below you can create individual areas to store all that paper. 

Step 1: Get a file bin. Like the one pictured above a file bin, as opposed to a box, will help protect the paperwork inside and allow you to store them in a basement, attic, or even garage. Check out this one from Amazon- $13.59 per box

Step 2: Get 13 expandable, hanging file folders, label them K-12. Using these expandable files allows you to store up to 400 pages in one file.   
Check these files out from Amazon- $18.99/25 pack 

Step 3: Get regular file folders, label them ARTWORK, REPORT CARDS, ACCOMPLISHMENTS, SCHOOL PHOTOS (any other ones you deem necessary), once labeled place one of each in every grade. You can color code them as well, for example, all report cards go in the red folders, all pictures in the green folders, etc. Labeling and/or color coding will allow for quick filing when these papers are coming in.
Check these files out from Amazon- $7.99/36 pack

Step 4: File! Once you have created the system you are all set up and ready to file all those memories.

TIP: School papers and artwork are a great way for your child(ren) to start learning what is special, what is not, what to keep, & what to get rid of. Don't make the decisions for them, teach them organizing strategies they'll be able to apply for the rest of their lives. ​


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Digitize: 

In today’s day and age you no longer need to keep physical documents if you don’t need/want to. This way is probably the easiest and most effective use of space. 

Step 1: In whatever time frame you wish (weekly, monthly, quarterly) scan or photograph all important documents you wish to save. 

Step 2: Upload to your computer. 

Step 3: ORGANIZE! Use the same system you would in a file bin but store them digitally on a computer. Create folders with each grade for each child. Then create subfolders to separate the documents into. 

Step 4: Back up the information on a flash-drive and you will never have to worry about losing those precious memories. 

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    As a professional organizer people always ask how do I stay organized. Well on here I will share a trade secrets to staying organized. 

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"With Organization Comes Empowerment"- Lynda Peterson


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