Autumn Organizing Tips

September is in full swing, and as the lazy days of summer take a turn for the hustle & bustle of fall, I’m teaming up with my lovely contributors to share some of our favorite back-to-school & autumn organizing tips!

Make Meal Planning Easier:

I’m a huge fan of easy meals!! We use our slow cooker like crazy for breakfast AND dinner. At night, I’ll throw in some eggs & bell peppers to wake up to a yummy breakfast casserole (I make oatmeal in my slow cooker, too!). Then, I just switch out the liner (hooray for slow cooker liners!) & pop in an easy recipe for dinner. I have tons of ideas shared on my Meal Ideas Pinterest board. No cooking, no dirty pots & pans, and a home-cooked meal always waiting for me — it is definitely a cooking routine I could fall in love with!

•  One of my favorite parts of summer is the amount of entertaining we end up doing. We tend to have guests from America, and plenty of impromptu evenings hanging out with friends {read: more wine and beer up in here!}. The meal plan kind of gets tossed out of the window. When things calm down, I like to go back to planning our meals for the week. Using my super simple patchwork meal planner, I can easily plan for grocery shopping, and also keep track of my Weight Watchers points for each day. — Beth

• Using the slow cooker and bread machine make the fall even more cozy and delicious. The house smells amazing to come home to, which triggers some serious nesting for me. This is especially effective on Sundays. I have no idea why. I also stock up on TEA. Lots of tea, different flavors. Herbal or caffeinated, green or fruity. Honey to sweeten it. What would I do without tea? — Annie

Tidy Up:

When you think about it, the changing seasons are a great time to declutter. I’m moving around my clothes, organizing decorations, and putting things into storage. Since I’m already handling everything, it’s really easy to take stock of what I have & get rid of items that are no longer useful or needed! I just set my timer & declutter in whatever area I’m already working.

• On the side of the house where we have a river view, I clean the windows and take the screens off. That way, I can see the ducks, geese and birds clearly, without fuzziness caused by the screens or dirty windows. Removing the screens makes such a difference that, since I started taking them down, I can’t NOT do it every fall now. — Annie

• I tend to do a major clutter overhaul a few times a year. Once in early Autumn (after lazy summer days have gone but before winter hibernation sets in), once in January after the holidays, and once in Spring. These are the times that our house tends to need the most attention in terms of clutter control. I also make sure to de-clutter after we complete any major DIY projects around the house! — Beth

• I switch up all my summer clothes for winter clothes. I keep my summer stuff in the same spot in my closet that I put all my sweaters and hoodies, so it’s pretty much just a matter of doing a switcheroo. I keep the summer clothes bin accessible for about a week before storing it away for good, so if I find more summer items in my closet that I missed, I can just put them in the bin. — Annie

“Fall” Into a Routine:

I would be useless without my morning routine! I use a checklist on my phone & a timer to keep me moving productively while I’m still in zombie mode. 

• We don’t have a kiddo in school yet, but our little guy has a schedule that is constantly changing! When I’m at work, I leave a printed babysitter note sheet on our fridge so that whoever is watching Elijah knows what the current routine is. — Beth

• One area that has improved our morning routines is our command center. It is located right outside of our garage door, in our kitchen, which is the epicenter of our home. Our family calendar, school schedules, and meal plan are displayed on the corkboard. Our son’s book bag, my purse, shoes, wallets, keys, sunglasses, phones, etc. are dropped in the center daily and can easily be grabbed the next morning on our way out the door. — Erin

• Another thing that creates smoother mornings is outfit planning. Every Sunday evening, I create 5 days’ worth of outfits for my son and I (my hubs wears uniforms) and hang them in a small space on each our closet racks. It’s nothing fancy but certainly takes the guesswork (read: crucial time) out of our mornings to already have clothing and accessories ready for wear each day! — Erin

Thanks so much for helping me share ideas, ladies!!

How do you get into the swing of things when autumn rolls around?