Transitioning Your Home and Closet into Fall

Summer transitioning into Fall is bittersweet for most of us. It signals the end of long, lazy days by the pool and relaxing with a cold beverage on the porch but ushers in shorter days, football, crisp air, and golden leaves. In the South, the transition period can be long with September days reaching the 80’s and 90’s and we always get a few cool, teaser days to whet our appetites for sweaters and boots.  So that we’re not overwhelmed and drowning in clutter, here are some tips for gracefully transitioning your home and closet into Fall.

1. In your closet, move your lighter -colored and -weight clothes to the back so they aren’t taking up valuable real estate. Now we tend to be reaching for longer sleeves so tanks and sleeveless tops can be moved around. If you wear those layered with other Fall clothes, keep them front and center, just make sure they are grouped together by sleeve length. If you haven’t worn some summer clothes, now is a good time to evaluate if you even want to keep them. Donate or give away summer clothes that you didn’t wear and can’t imagine wearing.
2. Trade out summer shoes for booties and loafers. While you may still wear the occasional flip flop or chunkier sandal in the fall, move out your lighter colored espadrilles and summer shoes to make room for heavier, more covering up shoes. Hello boots! This is a great time to inspect to see if any shoes need repairs like taps or soles or if they need to get tossed.
3. Wash all of your beach towels, cover ups, and bathing suits. Dump out your pool/ beach bag to clear out any other summer detritus like sand, old sunscreen, crushed water bottles, worn out hair ties, etc. Summer travel gear tends to get tossed in the bottom of a closet or garage without cleaning it up and can ruin your bag. Sometimes you even find treasures like lost books, crumpled cash, or a favorite lip gloss 🙂 .
4. Clean out your car from Summer activities like road trips, vacations, outdoor concerts, or seasonal sports. While your car can need a cleaning anytime, right now as we transition to summer is a great time to take out the stuff you won’t need for a while. Picnic baskets and blankets could use a good cleaning and put away with other, similar supplies. Car trips mean crumbs, wrappers, crayons, and other treasures that can probably be trashed. I love a clean car and it makes me feel like it’s brand new once it’s been cleaned out. You also want to make room for fun fall activities like tailgating and hiking to see the changing leaves.
5. Last, but certainly not least, toss out any sunscreen that you won’t be using anymore. While I recommend and use sunscreen every day, if you’re not going to be using it you might as well toss it out. Sunscreen doesn’t last forever and there’s nothing worse than ending up with a bad sunburn because you thought yours was still good.

While I think it’s hard to embrace Fall fully in September here because we’ve still got some hot days ahead, I love the anticipation and acknowledging the end of Summer with a proper “goodbye” or “au revoir.” You still may need some of your Summer sandals or beach towels but taking the time to take care of them and put them away in their proper home means you’ll be able to find them, ready to be used, anytime!

Happy organizing!