The weather is cooler, school is back in session, and thoughts are turning to the end of the year. So, what should you be thinking about for organizing your home and life during the fall?
The Seasonal Switcheroo
Twice a year, many of us need to shift our wardrobes for the seasons. Depending upon where you live, you may have a large amount of seasonal clothing that requires an entire spare closet or other significant storage, or you may only bring a few sweaters down from a top shelf to a lower one. Either way, it’s the perfect time to make decisions about each item of clothing you touch and consider whether it’s worth keeping for next year.
Make sure you clean everything before storing it, and if you decide not to keep it, donate it to Goodwill®. You can find your nearest donation center at http://locator.goodwill.org. You can even establish a “donation station” in your home using a few shopping bags to hold any other clothing or household goods you decide to donate in the future, to sooner get them out of circulation and out doing good for your community.
Regroup in the Garage
Summer sports, swimming and more frequent outdoor activities mean your garage storage areas have been accessed often during the hotter months. Now that the weather is cooling down, these activities will slow down a bit too, and you can organize your garage comfortably without suffering in the searing summer heat.
Organize your garage into zones based on your family’s interests and needs, such as sports equipment, camping gear, auto maintenance, hardware, gardening and recycling. The biggest mistake we see in garage and basement storage? Not having enough infrastructure in place — meaning shelving or cabinets that more fully utilize your vertical wall space and get things off the floor.
Harmonize Your Home Office
You’re halfway to tax time, can you believe it? Before the holidays and the year-end crunch take over, get a grip on your paperwork and get ahead. Go through any unsorted mail and papers and use our A-R-T method to quickly decide whether you have Action papers (items you need to do something with), Reference papers (ones you need to keep just in case), or Trash (shredding or recycling).
Remember that you have only a few months left to get a tax deduction on your donated household goods for this year. So take a load of donations to Goodwill, get a receipt, and put it in a tax file to begin gathering anything you find for your income taxes.
