It's been a while since I last listed my goals for the month ahead, but I'm in the mood to plan and it feels right to start working with a set list once again. I won't bore you all with all my personal/spiritual goals, but I will include all the goals I have for the work I'm hoping to get done in the house and in the yard both.
Indoors
1. Declutter in every room. As I work in each zone area this month I plan to declutter. Some rooms (like the guest room) need it far more than others (guest bath) and a few areas I've already worked on this past month as an area came to my attention. But there's plenty to pack up, move out and let go in most all areas. There are cabinets I haven't even looked into in a year or more. Yes, there are places like that in my home...your's too?
2. Fall cleaning. I've actually already begun on this. This month I've already cleaned out cabinets and drawers in that room but I'm thinking I could cull a few items that I seldom to never use. I keep decreasing the number of serving and cooking utensils I have and while I am not adding to them, somehow there seems to be too many just the same.
I did a deep dusting (removing things and actually wiping them down, dusting walls) and I plan to get the curtains washed and rehung this week as well. So that's being attended to this week and will kick off my September cleaning.
I'm going to work in each zone area of the indoors and do things like vacuuming the edges of the room, dust the walls, cleaning the blinds, wash those curtains that I can launder, change out spreads in the bedrooms, etc. (I've been working on the outdoors this week already and will do a little along all the month because to tackle those spaces in a few days' time at the end of the month would be too much.)
3. Freshen up each area. Move decor from one room to another, put out something fresh, rearrange a few spaces, etc. I'm feeling it's turned to fall like weather outdoors, though mind you in Georgia that can still be quite warm, it's just not quite as hot. I'm NOT ready for pumpkins and autumn leaves. I am ready for a seasonal change. So, the peonies might be swapped for mums, or I might pull out the antlers and pile them in wooden dough bowl, or I might use pheasants or quail figurines. But it won't be blatantly autumn.
4. I have a number of items in my home and shed that I don't want. I think I can sell them and that's what I plan to try to do this month. Research to see if the items I'm holding onto truly are worth selling. If not, then I'll donate and be done with it.
Outdoors
5. I have a few outdoor tasks to work on as well. I have bricks and landscape blocks that need to be placed. There are more at Katie's house that I would like to go get and place as well.
6. I plan to start a kitchen garden, mostly in pots, on the patio. I want to move my herb planter to the patio. I need to buy vegetable potting soil.
7. I'd like to get another bag of flower soil and a few more fall flowers (mums, asters) to plant. I don't need loads of them, but I do want that touch of color outdoors.
Personal
Set up fall closet. Remember that my fall wardrobe just consists of lightweight sweaters and long-sleeved tops. Our winter wardrobe here is more like northerners fall wear. However, I would like to see what I have, what shape it's in and make notes about what I could use. I'll pair up a few outfits, look for ideas online, etc.
I have at present, four Christmas gifts purchased and a portion of two others. I want to be finished with ALL my shopping by the end of October. I need to get my list made out so that I am well reminded of my purpose.
Finances
Not going in depth here but I am saving for an upright freezer. I'm trying to set aside so much each month but am also willing to add in any extra I can manage to save. So, I'm looking for savings everywhere.
I am forever wrangling with my grocery budget. I raise the budget limit and then lower it and then raise it. I've struggled with this for the longest time. My 'grocery' budget is not limited to just food. It also includes personal care, pets, paper and laundry items. This month I want to try and determine just how much we actually spend in each category and then formulate my budget from there. At the end of this month I hope, if nothing else, to be consistent with spending in this one area.
Final Thoughts
September typically sees us heading into a season of lower electric bills, but it also means we begin to pay for propane. We're getting very near the time of year when I have loads of annual fees and renewals falling due from November through January. These are for necessities, not frivolous items. So, I want to really concentrate in the next two months on all the other areas, so we are prepared for the next season.
7 comments:
Can you explain why your electric bills are going down just when fall and winter are coming? We are bracing for snow within a few weeks, in the northern part of Alaska (not so in the southern part of this huge state, where the weather is mild and much like Washington and Oregon).
And speaking of cleaning, after months of talk and more of research, we finally had 2/3 of our house carpet pulled out and a wood look tile laid down. We also bought a little self running floor vacuum. We immediately discovered a number of things.
1. We were ashamed to realize how much cat hair and cat litter must have been down into that carpet even AFTER we vacuumed. It feels so much cleaner now.
2. We adore that self cleaning little vacuum. The cat was terrified of the old one, so we didn't use it as much as we should. The new little one he is only mildly annoyed with. AND we can vacuum the house while we watch useless You Tube videos.
3. After careful observation, we realized the self running vacuum really didn't get all the way to the walls or under the couch, so there is still a small amount to be done with my hand held vacuum and a dust mop. But we're still thrilled with it.
4. My sweet husband turns 80 on Friday. He now wants a machine that will load and unload the dishwasher, which is his job.
Sunday on our way out the door for the lake I saw a fan sitting in the dining room that belongs in the garage. That was the clutter last straw for me. After we are home it is going to be room by room of putting things away where they belong. I too have things I am going to sell after my success with selling my Presto canners on Marketplace. I have a 10 quart crockpot used once that is the the first item. I am going to get some pots of lettuce seeds planted as soon as we are home. Meanwhile I plan to get all the enjoyment we can out of these two weeks.
Mabel, It sounds like rubbing salt in wounds... but in Georgia, generally speaking, our electric bills decrease because we have less need of air conditioning. We lower the thermostat to 68F for heating. If it gets really hard cold, we will supplement our heat pump with our propane heater and humidity which heats our big open spaces quite well and even filters into all but our master bath on the north end of the house. There we will usually plug in an electric heater if it's mighty cold. Usually, our fall temps are probably closer to your summer temps and the winter months are more like your late summer ones, lol. Our first frost date isn't until mid-November and last is usually in mid-April. Snow is something we see on rare occasions. The last occurrence in our area was 2016 and then it snowed in South Georgia/north Florida, and we got nothing at all. I figure we're about due sleet/snow as it's been years so this might not be our year of decreased electricity.
Anne, I can't have a pet indoors due to my allergies. Blistering hives and stuffiness and itchy eyes...I wasn't always that way but the older I get the worse the allergy has become. Hence why my pets are outdoor ones.
I think pet hair and dander are insidious and work their way down into things and yes, collects at edges of a room badly. Your new floors sound nice. I'm assuming you have rugs for the floors for winter months? I can't remember if you live in a more temperate climate or a colder one.
LOL. Happy Birthday to the hubby. And tell him please if he finds that new machine to load and unload the dishwasher let me know...I'm the taskmistress for that job and I'd sure appreciate a little help!!
Lana, how lovely to get to the lake once again.
Isn't it funny how we don't even SEE clutter and then boom it is an eyesore that irritates? That's how I'm feeling just now about my home too. The kitchen looks really fresh at the moment. I want to do more but can't find the materials I thought I had to work with. I'm going to nose around some more today and see what I can come up with.
That reminds me, I don't think we ever saw your kitchen with the new island and the new cabinets. How about some pictures?
Anne, that post is scheduled for next week. No new cabinets but the space as it is at present with the old uppers removed.
Hi, Terri, I just finished deep cleaning a room so my ‘break’ is reading your post! Guess I need to go at it again…. Re budgeting - I was wondering if you have considered splitting out your grocery line item? I have always had a ‘food’ category and a ‘miscellaneous’. The latter is for non-food items (shampoo, t.p., etc.). It has worked to keep my food spending in check as I can always see at a glance where it stands.
Thank you for your clear prose which makes this old California rural homemaker not feel alone in home tasks!
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