If you’ve been following along the past few weeks, in the first edition of our “Getting Ready for Fall”we showcased a few of 2018 fall and winter trends in fashion, makeup, hair colors, and self-care aka vacation mode. In our second editionwe discussed how to make your fashion work best for your hair color and skin tone. And to round out this edition we’re bringing it all home… a little figuratively and a little for real!
In our Humming Arrow VIP Group, you ladies voted that we add in some home décor and household tips to round out this Fall Edition! We’ve complied a simple checklist of our personal favorites! If you’re like every mama on the block, your brain is literally so filled with ENDLESSSSS lists and you think of weird things at night like a waist brace so when your toddler kicks you in the ribs you don’t feel it then this is merely just a little reminder for your brains😊! And yes, that’s what I actually dreamed of last night. My 2-year-old is in his “mommy – mommy” phase and thinks he has to sleep on my face when he wakes up in the middle of the night! So we’ll make this list of 25 things part practical and part fun, ‘cause we all need a little of the fun things! I dropped the ball on doing this list prior to October 1st, so there’s 25 days left in the month and this is what we get!
Enjoy the fall foliage – take a day with your friends, your spouse, or kids and drive or walk to look at all the beautiful fall colors! Check off two things in your Five to Thrive list and walk thru them for 30 minutes and be grateful for what is naturally just given to you! Plus, it’s not 100 degrees anymore, so walking won’t make you melt your face off at least!
In order to not kill off all your beautiful green grass for next spring, you’ll need to rake up all the leaves in the yard! But if you have littles, have some fun with those piles of leaves and jump! Or take the leaves and stuff them into fun characters or pumpkins on the lawn as decorations! My kids love driving and looking at people’s yard and their décor, so even if you don’t personally have kids at home yet – kiddos in the community love them!
Speaking of community, reach out to new parents or an elderly couple and just do something nice for them. Bring them a meal that they can cook whenever they don’t want to cook themselves. Rake their leaves just because. When the days get a little more dreary, so can some people’s spirits so be the person that restores their faith in their neighbors!
Head to a local pumpkin patch instead of just picking out pumpkins at the grocery store! Not only are you supporting a local small business, but the experience of a pumpkin patch is a definite yearly must do! Make sure to get some pumpkins to decorate the porch and if you have some kiddos, some to carve and some to paint!
If you’re fortunate enough to have a local garden center with mums grab a few of those beautiful flowers to mix with your pumpkins on your porch! Talk with the gardener about how to care for them so they’re beautiful as long as possible! I found out last year at a vendor show that there are some mums that if you bring inside will actually make it through the winter even though it was an annual! And this was a HUGE mum I got from her! I still killed it because I’m a terrible gardener but it’s a goal at least!
Find a farmer family friend and grab some corn stalks and stray bales while you’re road tripping too! Seriously, a pretty porch is one of my favorite things in fall! Please still offer to reimburse them some how too! I just saw a bundle of corn stalks for $8 at Menards yesterday, it’s ok to have to pay for décor but whenever you can support someone small is even sweeter!
One of our family’s favorite fall annual trips is to head to the local apple orchard! We go through at least 1-3 apples a day in our home so not only are we just buying what we normally would but we’re enjoying the time actually harvesting them together! We always splurge a little on some yummy apple cider too, yummmmm!
If you’re already one of those cool gardeners, take a weekend and plant the bulbs for beautiful spring time flowers!
While you’re outside, make sure to put all the summer items away in the garage or shed! This means the garden hoses come in off the spickets otherwise you could be like me, have the pipes freeze and then in the spring end up having a flood in your home when you turn it back on for the first time!
While you’re putting things away in the shed, take a nice fall day and organize! It’s much more fun to do these things while there’s still some warmth in the air rather than a freezing winter day and you have the urge to go clean the shop!
Once you have the porch organized beautifully, you can schedule some time to have your friends and family over for a night around the campfire! Roast some smores, snuggles in your favorite sweatshirts, and share some great time with everyone!
What do you eat and drink when it starts to cool off? First off – pumpkin – pumpkin everything! Pumpkin bars, pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice and chocolate chip cookies (yes, they’re fantastic) and your favorite pumpkin spice drink! And if pumpkin isn’t your vibe than we supposed you can resort to some homemade hot cocoa to enjoy around that campfire!
Campfires and get togethers are always fun, but on an average weekday you still want to enjoy the wonderful smells of fall. So find your favorite candles and light them just because!
Re-organize everyone’s closets! We take the time to alter out our kids wardrobes, why shouldn’t we dedicate the same time to make sure our sweaters are pulled to the front and the tank tops are adjusted off to the side! While you’re at it, you may as well go through what is fitting – what is not fitting. What could be donated and what can be pitched if ruined, and yes this even includes your sock drawer!
Start your Christmas shopping early! Find the meaningful things at small shops around the community to gift to your loved ones. Not only will the community benefit from shopping small but the unique items that can’t be found everywhere will be even more sweet to the recipient! If you’re working with a custom wood or product maker, they will need some lead time to complete your project along with all their other requests. So starting now, ensures you actually get it on time! Help them keep their sanity and yours!
And thinking ahead to winter check and gather items that would be needed in event of getting stuck in snow for the vehicles or losing power at home. Blankets, water, batteries, flash lights or gasoline for a generator if you’re fortunate to have one.
Have a snowblower? Get it started now! That way if it doesn’t start, you don’t find out the morning of the first snow fall and you’re stuck shoveling your entire driveway or sidewalk in 30mph blowing winds! May as well add salt to your next grocery list, have it on hand for the same reason above.
Make your Christmas cards early! Seriously, if you’re like me I generally end up waiting until the first week of December to make them and then it takes a week to get them and another week to send them. And by that point it’s Christmas soooooo it’s probably better to just start in October now!
Speaking of Christmas cards, do you do family photos? If you haven’t scheduled them yet, then this needs to be #1 priority if you want to get them done! The photographers are super busy and may be hard to get into. In the event that all your photographer options are booked, ask a girlfriend to come snap some of you and the fam! Phones have incredible picture quality nowadays, so you don’t need a fancy camera to take them. Use the free website like, www.picmonkey.com to edit and create your own Holiday card! Shutterfly is where I do my printing and they generally have a lot of coupons to pick from for your project! If you need help coordinating family outfits, find us in the Humming Arrow VIP Group and let us know what you’re thinking. We’ll help give ideas on what goes with the prints, patterns, and colors you’ve selected!
Don’t throw away even more money this fall into winter season in heating your home! Check your furnace filters and program your thermostats for temps while you’re home and while you’re away. I’ve lived in our home for 7 years and just finally figured out how to do this on my thermostat this summer! Never too late I suppose!
Money – money seems to fly away quicker in this part of the year between parties, gifts, and just everything. So don’t succumb to New Year blues and feeling strapped in your finances because the end of the year got away from you. Schedule time to sit down with your spouse or yourself and create a budget for all the things that come up. Don’t let that higher heating bill throw everything off kilter and plan girl!
While you’re planning for what parties you need to bring a gift for check out your calendar! Stay in communication with your spouse and family about all the activities coming up. Determine time that is just for you and your close family, so you enjoy time just together instead of running the whole season. Take time on your calendar for just you! If you let stress creep in and if you’re like me, this is generally when bad food decisions and mood swings end up rearing their not so pretty heads!
Unfortunately, we may as well plan for getting sick this winter too. Bummer, I know. But kids are germ magnets and bring home everything. We like to boost our immunity with taking a daily dose of Elderberry! Everyone in the family takes it. Kids get the elderberry gummies and the adults get elderberry tablets. Last year, there was a huge article on the benefits of elderberry for immunity boosting during flu season and the price of elderberry went THRU THE ROOF! Stock up now and save yourself some sickness and some money! It won’t prevent sickness altogether, but we’ve found over the past 3 years that it’s helped lessen the severity and duration of our illnesses!
While you’re checking out the medicine cabinet, make sure you have all the things needed for the flu, sinuses, colds, sore throats and all the other sickness goodies! When you’re sick or the kiddos are sick and especially when you live in the country, you don’t want to be without a needed item to help make them or yourself feel better!
Practice gratitude each day. With all the stresses that can fill our days, if we look within each day for the small things that we are grateful for we will without a doubt go to bed happier each night. So be thankful for the beautiful foliage, be thankful for the pumpkin spice latte, be thankful for the cozy clothes in your closet, be thankful for your community and be the one that someone else can be thankful for too. When you have joy, you have everything you need.
If you’ve loved this week’s list compilation of all great things fall, please share with your friends and family!
