The pacific northwest is a wonderland when the seasons change. Vibrant colors, hospitality, and outdoor enthusiasm. That also comes with some necessary preparation as we ease toward winter. We have gathered some tips to help feed ideas for you and your family to spend less time worrying about the tasks, and more time on the joy.
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! So much is in the newspaper these days capturing our attention, but what can we do with all the reading material when we are done with it? Stack it in its own designated place in the mudroom, or by the front and back door. With the variations of wet weather rolling in here in the Pacific Northwest we are bound to come trampling in with wet coats and shoes to boot! No worries! Grab a few pieces of newspaper, crumble them up and shove them into your wet shoes or boots to help them to dry.
image from pixabay.com
Speaking of entry way activities, why not add mess reduction to the list?! Adding these things will naturally encourage guests and residents to do some cleaning before they enter the home just by observation and habit……
When there’s a place for things, the things are more likely to go someplace other than the floor (although, most of us parents know this isn’t always the case but it helps!). Getting organized not only offers peace of mind from declutter, it offers more space for what we want to be doing. To have space for winter recreation, it is so so so helpful to hang up, box up, and stow away anything spring, summer, and fall. In our house we call this the grand fall purge! A good week is spent dissolving our relationship with summer fun and accepting that the sunshine will be clouded for a bit, but once we make clearance, pull out and hang up that snow suit we cant wait to get in. Plus, getting organized feels amazing!
With the fall purge leaves a ton of remanence from the dog days, the clean up, and the traction kicks up all the dust. We move furniture around, clean up and under all cabinets, freshen up throws, cushions, pillows, bedding, the whole nine! Before we move into winter all the way we need to clear the air too! Purifiers are great, but they will work far more efficiently if we clear the room of particulates first. These next few tips will help to filter your home just in time for the beautiful lights, and feasts. Nothing says nostalgia like a fresh feeling coupled with cocoa and rain on the window pane.
FIrst!
Clean those dryer hoses, vents, and baseboards. Dust build up in and around these spaces can be the cause of pesky musky odors, a decrease in heat efficiency and believe it or not, a hazard. Having a clean and clear passage for particulates offers an outlet for moist air reducing the chance for mold growth during the wetter season.
Chimney and fireplace sweeping. We cannot express enough just how awful it is to have a fire going and the room fill up with nasty soot smell and muck. Plus, what is a fire place without its Holiday Debut? Lets get those chimneys swept, and stoke that fire!
Outdoor lighting. As the excitement grows for uncle Larry to put seven thousand lights on the roof, lets add some more aesthetics by removing all light fixture covers and giving them a good scrub down. Cobwebs moved in and paid rent for Halloween but it is time to go. Not only will they look better, they will light up the dim corners around the house more efficiently as the darker months roll in.
By this time the leaves have done their falling, and the nonsense of telling yourself to clean up while they fall has passed. Its time to get out there and do it. Clogged gutters cause a cesspool of other messy problems if not taken care of and the last thing you want to deal with is a bunch of wads of frozen leaves and mulch when rain comes. Its the perfect invitation for unwanted pests, flooding, mold, interior water damage, which decreases aesthetics and increases your expenses when you could use that money for better things like chestnuts, slippers, and mistletoe.
You’ve done a lot of work, so take those slippers, get into the best jammies you’ve got and call it a night by that freshly swept fire and upgrade that cocoa to a mulled wine and soak it all in.
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