Homemaking Monday: My Fall Homemaking Bucket List

HAPPY FALL Y’ALL!!!

I have a confession. I have kinda a love/hate relationship with fall. I absolutely LOVE the colors, smells, and tastes of the season. I am never one to turn down anything pumpkin spice but I’m also not going to say no to a good old fashioned apple cider or chai latte either. On the other hand, fall is the time of year when the weather starts to cool down. While I live in the middle of the New Mexican desert so for the most part we still stay pretty warm, there are still moments, mostly early morning and at night, when things are just down right chilly. And I AM NOT A FAN OF THE COLD.

With the cooler temps and the approaching time change fall often means things begin to move more indoors….under normal circumstances. However, we are living in 2020 and pretty much everything has been happening indoors lately. Since I, like most of humanity over the last few months, have been spending a lot more time in my home I have reached the point where pretty much everything in my home is driving me crazy. That is why for this fall I have put together my FALL HOMEMAKING BUCKET LIST.

This is a list of projects, some small and some not so small, that I want to get accomplished over the next few months to work toward getting my house the way that I want it to be. So here is my FALL BUCKET LIST.

Kids Chore Chart and Routine

Ok. This one is an ongoing process. I have a really really bad habit of being a perfectionist. That means that letting go of the reigns when it comes to how chores are getting accomplished. Now don’t get me wrong, my kids have always had chores and responsibilities within the household, but lately I have been taking a step back and really relying on the two bigger kids to be responsible for some of the chores that I tend to be a bit picker on. These are things like the dishes, the laundry, and some of the deep cleaning.

One of my goals for the coming months is to create and implement a chore chart with assigned chores like dishes, sweeping/mopping, cleaning the bathroom, and being in charge of making sure the livingroom/dining room are straightened up each day. One thing I remember most about growing up was the fact that my siblings and I all had to pull our weight in the house that we lived in. We also had an assigned night that we helped with or as we got older, were in charge of cooking dinner. I want to be sure that I am giving my kids the best foundation for living life as adults as I can.

Kitchen Pantry and Freezer Inventory

When I lived in Fort Worth I started working on keeping a running inventory of my pantry, fridge, and freezer. A lot of this was because my storage was very limited so I had to be very on top of what I bought and how I was using it. The other part was because I liked knowing what I had for the most part at all times. It also helps out immensely when it comes to meal planning and prep. So my goal over the course of the next few months is to create a working on a complete pantry and freezer inventory that I can use when I do my bi-weekly grocery shopping (thank you Lord Jesus for Walmart grocery pick-up) and meal planning. I am also hoping this helps with the next item on my bucket list.

Freezer Meal Prep

Again, when I was living in Fort Worth, going to school full time, working full time, and in a very active part time ministry position not to mention homeschooling my kids and trying to be the homemaker and wife I needed to be I worked really hard at making sure I always had meals in the freezer ready to just dump in the slow cooker or a casserole dish, cook, and eat. When we moved back to Alamogordo I was living with my mom and was kinda at the whim of what the rest of the family was doing when it come to meals. Then we moved into the house that we live in now at first we were just trying to make things stretch. We are now in a position that we are able to ensure that I can grocery shop regularly so I am itching to get back into my freezer meal prepping. My goal is to get my freezer full of dump and go meals throughout the fall and winter so that when the spring and summer hit and it is too hot to be cooking my slow cooker can be come my best friend.

Clean and Organize the Bathroom Drawers and Cabinets

The house we are currently living in once upon a time belonged to my great-grandparents. After they both passed away my parents acquired the home. When my grandmother became ill at the end of 2017 my parents left the house one morning to leave for work and pretty much didn’t come back in here to live. When we relocated back to New Mexico the plan was always for us to move into this house. But that meant we needed to help move my parents out officially. Slowly but surely we have been working on that process, however, just simply due to the fact that it is probably one of the least needed areas the bathroom cabinets and drawers have just gone neglected. Well, not anymore. I know that there are several boxes of our things that just got shoved in there to be out of the way along with a lot of items that were already there that can more than likely just be thrown away. So that is my plan. To work toward cleaning out and organizing those spaces into a usable area.

Clean and Organize the Master Bedroom Closet

This area has a similar story to the bathroom cabinets and drawers. The difference there is that not only are there still things stored in there that are my parents but there my very well still be items in there that belonged to my great-grandparents. While I would love to get that space organized and usable for functionality sake we have also discovered that there are two fairly large leaks in the ceiling in that closet when it rains that we need deal with. I am hoping that we can get that area cleaned out and figure out how to fix those problem areas before anything gets seriously damaged.

While most people look forward to “Spring Cleaning” I find that I am my most productive at decluttering and reorganizing during the fall season. I’m not sure if it’s because I find myself in the house more during the fall or what it is but I know I’m not going to question the method to my madness. So what is on your homemaking fall bucket list? What things would you like to get accomplished to move yourself just one step closer to living in the home you love? Let me know in the comments.