Simplifying for Fall: Clothing, Laundry, Kitchen, and Meal Plans

I participated in Simple Mom’s Project Simplify earlier this year, and it went really well. Now it is almost Fall, and there are several hot spots in our home (that were not hit during my spring cleaning) that definitely need sprucing up.

So, I am joining my friend Mandi in her Simplify for Fall Challenge. After all, it never ever hurts to organize and declutter, right?

We started with clothing and laundry on Monday, but I have recently decided to go from individual closets to having a family closet, so I did not get this finished. It is an ongoing project that I hope to have mostly completed by the end of the week (a very lofty goal!) and totally completed by the time our little man gets here.

I am paring down our girls’ clothing, mainly because they have way too many clothes. I am really excited about the latest printable that Mandi has shared, and although we do not really have four seasons here in southern Oklahoma, her Children’s Wardrobe Checklist is a going to be a great guide for me! Shane is also scaling down his clothing, and I will be doing the same (using Project 333 as my jumping off point), as soon as the baby makes his appearance, and I can see what fits and what does not. By scaling down our clothing, there will be less to sift through in deciding what to wear, washing them, and putting them away. Less laundry? I’m definitely for that!

Tuesday, we hit on the kitchen and meal plans. Since that was the first day of CC, I cheated a bit and began working on the kitchen this weekend, as I knew I would be gone most of the day.

I cleaned out most of the cabinets and drawers and did a major job of decluttering. A few of the drawers and cabinets only needed a good cleaning, but most of them needed an overhaul, so that is what they got!

We are blessed with tons of cabinet space, but some of it is hard to reach, especially with a preggo belly. I needed to make everything easily accessible, especially since my husband is the dish washer in our family. I also only put back what we used; if I had more than enough casserole dishes, for example, I kept a few and tossed the others. If I do not have a garage sale soon, these kitchen gadgets will just be donated, because I don’t want to mess with them again!

Like Mandi, we have “… fallen into the trap of having extras of many of the things in our home (clothes, towels, dishes, office supplies) for convenience.“ By removing some of these “conveniences” I feel we can simplify and make our lives easier and less stressful.

As far as meal planning goes… well, I haven’t had one. For the last few months, I’ve been ready for bed as soon as I wake up in the morning by 4 pm, and we haven’t been eating as well as we should. I have gotten back on the meal-planning board with the help of Mandi’s Weekly Menu Plan Printable, and have this week’s menu all ready to go! I need to get back to planning two to four weeks at a time, but getting an entire week ready at this point is nothing short of a miracle!

I am actually finished with Wednesday’s hot spots, as a few weeks ago, the girls and I went through their rooms and closets, sorting and weeding out toys. I also spent a few days back in July in the office/homeschool room, decluttering and reorganizing so we would be ready to go after our break (and so I would have room for all of the new school supplies!). I (of course!) forgot to take “before” pictures, but will include a few “after” pictures in my next Simplify for Fall post. The office wasn’t so bad, but the girls’ room transformation was ah-may-zing. You will just have to take my word for it! Ha!

{See Mandi’s Day 1 and Day 2 before and after posts.}