August is a great time to start decluttering and organizing from Summer to the Fall months. This week, we're diving into the world of seasonal transitions and taking advantage of the natural changes of the seasons to stay on top of your organizing journey.
In this episode we talk about:
- Transitioning and Organizing Your Things from Summer to Fall
- Seasonal Closet Swap and Wardrobe Organization
- Seasonal Home Decor Organization
- Seasonal Kitchen Organization
- Seasonal Outdoor Organization
- Seasonal Mementos Organization
Mentioned in this Episode:
Episode 004: A New Decluttering Mindset: Seasonal Decluttering
https://theorganizedflamingo.com/4-a-new-decluttering-mindset-seasonal-decluttering/
Episode 022: Reselling Revolution: Weighing the Benefits and Drawbacks of Garage Sales
Blog Post: Virtual Sell & Buy Marketplaces
https://theorganizedflamingo.com/virtual-sell-buy-marketplaces/
Blog Post: Creating Your Household Boutique
https://theorganizedflamingo.com/creating-your-household-boutique/
Blog Post: Clothing Swaps
https://theorganizedflamingo.com/clothing-swaps/
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The Organized & Productive podcast is brought to you by The Organized Flamingo and hosted by Stephanie Y. Deininger! For those of you who love the thought of organizing & being more productive, but don’t know where to start or constantly up against hurdles that don’t let you advance the way you want to, this podcast is for you!
Review full show notes and resources at https://theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast
Connect with Stephanie
https://www.instagram.com/theorganizedflamingo/
Review the Transcript:
Hello and welcome my organized and productive community. Welcome to another episode of the organized and productive Podcast. Today we are talking about transitions and more specifically transitioning from the summer months into the fall months, and just how that affects our organizing and our organizing style, and how to transition from one to the other without feeling overwhelmed. So let's go. Welcome to the organized and productive podcast with me organized Flamingo. I am your host, Stephanie, a professional organizer and productivity expert, ready to explore the right organizing and productivity solutions for you. Yeah, well, then let's go.
To get us started, let's talk about what this type of organizing is called. So when you transition from one season to another, we like to call this as seasonal organizing or seasonal decluttering, if you're letting go of things, but it's basically the seasonal transition, right. And it could sometimes be from month to month, it doesn't have to be from a be weather pattern like a summer to fall. But usually it fits some kind of big movement throughout the year, like a big transitional seasonal movement throughout the year. And it's just a natural reminder for us to go from one phase to another. It's just like a natural alarm, if you will. Some of us, you know, we are very diligent about decluttering.
Or about staying organized from month to month or week to week or day to day, at the end of the day, maybe you have a routine, you've created some new habits. So that's amazing. But for some people, it's a little bit harder. And so the seasonal type of organizing is helpful because it's a natural reminder, like you're naturally going to be putting away your summer clothes or your summer items, and then picking up the fall items or the winter or whatever, like the cold weather month type of items. So and that is why seasonal organizing is very helpful for a lot of people and why we're devoting actually four episodes in the next, you know, for the next year for each of the transition. So right now we are talking about tips on how to transition from the summer months into the fall months. In this episode, we're going to talk about the four most common areas that we transition in and out of. The first is your clothing or closet. The second is decor and just like home, like your home area or even your office area, but just more Decor Style. The third is your kitchen. I mean kitchen devotes its own space the same way that your closet and your clothes do.
And then the fourth is outdoor space, or indoor gardening or like the outdoors. Because those four tend to be the ones that most people transition from one season to the other. And my data always comes from what I see being the most popular based on my 20 years of experience for my clients, what we get hired the most to do. And these are the four categories that we get hired to transition the most. So that's why I'm highlighting these four. There are other parts of your space, especially if you you're a business owner is like a either solo solopreneur or you own a big company doesn't matter what size, it's just, there are other types of teams that will transitions for your business. But we are really devoting this for kind of more of your personal space in your everyday space. Okay, so the first is your closet and or your clothing area. So that is a really popular place that gets transition during the summer to fall. Even regardless of where you live in the world. That is usually where the temperatures change from one to the other. Not everybody gets the extreme winters or the snowy type of winter. So some for some of you the fall slash winter is really just like the cold climate. So the summer to fall slash winter ends up being a really big transition for most people. And the first place that gets transitioned is usually your wardrobe or your closet. And so here are some tips on how to swap out your summer clothes to your fall attire without feeling overwhelmed. First if you're following our steps seven of organizing almost anything framework, which is our signature framework here at the organized Flamingo, and we do have a whole episode and actually we have one overview episode and then we have seven separate episodes devoted to each of the steps. So if you want to do that, we will put it into the show notes so you can follow along there. But just in our typical fashion of our seven steps we'd like to analyze and to assess First things first and what that means is in your closet, what are like how do you use your closet is is a capsule stock style of a closet, meaning you have mix and match outfits that they go with each other. Are you more like a capsule right like that? You have pre planned signature statement pieces and then they mix and match. Do you have more of a closet that houses all of your clothing all of the time? And if so, then we will talk about what to do so that you can either minimize The amount of clutter that's in there, or at least strategically fold them or put them in your closet so that it doesn't become overwhelming. So first of all, assess what how do you use your closet, what kind of closet Do you want to have, and then we will go from there.
Okay, the second tip from this clothing and wardrobe organization is the, if you do have a capsule wardrobe style, then this is a good time for you to start transitioning your summer pieces, putting those away. And then as you're putting them away, decide what you want to sell, donate, and or you do want to keep for the rotation for next year. And then you know, go ahead and put put this away the things that you want to sell or maybe give away, put them on a different bin and different bag. And then we will address those at a later time. When you do when you take pictures and post them or do whatever you need to do with those items that are not returning to your wardrobe. If you have a closet that houses all of your clothing, no matter what season it is, right? When you transition from the summer to the fall, this is a really good time for you to determine if your organizing containers are the right containers for you. Because summer from summer to fall, usually the fabrics are much lighter from the summer than they are from the fall, you put those away a little bit differently. So just kind of make sure that, you know you're putting away the things that you want to have long term in the right manner. I'll give you a great example. Okay, so the tank tops or you know lighter style shirts, some people like to hang them, but don't if you're going to be hanging them all year round. At some point they're they start to droop, the fabric starts to droop and then they create this little crease from the hangers. So when you're transitioning from one season to another, this is a really good opportunity for you to determine if those containers that you're utilizing.
And we you know, whether it's the hangers or the bins or the boxes or under your bed or wherever you're storing your your clothing, if it's the right container for whatever it is that you're putting away, especially if you're looking to keep these items long term like I mentioned. So this is a really good opportunity for that and of course is a great opportunity to declutter, let things go the things that you didn't wear, the things that you'd note and don't no longer like, and or maybe they just didn't fit and make you feel comfortable like this is a really good time to let them go and get yourself something that is fitting and you feel comfortable in for the next season. Okay, so now let's go ahead and talk about home decor. So we're switching over from closet to home decor or just kind of your area in general, if your space, this is a great opportunity for you to either sell or donate those seasonal items for next year, and go shop for the items that you do want for the next season. So this is something that doesn't get talked about a lot. But you know, you don't have to keep all of your decorations for the entire year all year long. You can always just sell them on a Facebook marketplace or an online type of marketplace or Craigslist, or whatever it is that you prefer, I have a whole list of those online marketplaces over on a blog post that I will put in the show notes. But this is really a good reminder from me, your professional organizer friend to you that you don't have to keep everything from one season to another put away the items that you are not you know that are sentimental to you. Maybe they were passed on from family to family like for family members or friends. Something that was like the special things and then how boundaries for them maybe how like two bins that you for sure are keeping because they're special mementos because it's things that you know, you can't replace and you just absolutely adore.
And those are stained but the rest, it's time to let them go either. Go ahead and you know, send them to a consignment store, sell them donate them, or put them you know, like I said on online marketplace, and then this is a really good opportunity for you to go to those same marketplaces and acquire things for the for the upcoming fall season. And then that way you don't have it's almost like a rental system that you don't have to keep everything in your possession at all times. This is a really good tip for all of you who have either are trying to do more of a minimalist lifestyle and you don't want to be carrying all these items you know with you at all times you move a lot maybe you move a lot, a great opportunity for all of you who are always traveling and you know you're moving quite a bit and then also for all of you who have smaller spaces and smaller storage spaces where you can't really be keeping you know the holiday tree or the Halloween decorations all year long because you only have one shed or one small area to keep these items in so go you know renting like not renting, but selling the things and letting them go immediately after you use them and then acquiring them as you need them is a really good way to maintain a clutter free storage space. Okay, let's transition over to the kitchen area. And in the kitchen area, it's going to be very similar to the home decor in the sense that you don't have to keep everything all year round. There are the same concept applies with the home decor, where you can acquire what you need as you need it and then let it go once you don't need it, especially during the fall in winter months where most of those cozy cooking type of holidays happen. Because what ends up happening is you buy that one tray for the big family dinner and then you don't use it again for the rest of the year. Now, again, similar to the home decor, you have like maybe a couple bins, one, two bins or drawers or storage areas where you keep your holiday kitchen items that are very special to you. But everything else you technically can, you know sell and then buy as needed versus keeping it just because and then it starts to accumulate a lot of space.
So on that sense, it's very similar to the home decor. But the one difference is going to be the food, the food part of the kitchen, right like the ingredients like the seasonal ingredients, those things you can't really buy necessarily at a at a markup online marketplace. I mean, I guess you can, but it's a little different. So whatever you acquired in the summer, so for instance, you got all your condiments, and maybe you had all the picnic stuff and you know the lemonade, I don't know all it whatever summer ingredients that you have acquired that you you can't really use until next year, this is a really good opportunity to look at the expiration dates and see if any of those summer items food items can actually last an entire year. And that is if you're staying in the same spot. As you know for next year. If you're planning on moving, then maybe this is a really good time to give them to a food bank that accepts them, especially if you haven't opened them or have or ask friends if they would like to have them before they expire.
You know don't be given the expired stuff out there, throw those away. Those are those are gone. But this is a really good opportunity for you to be looking at expiration dates from your summer ingredients and food items and then discarding those so that you can introduce all of the fall and winter ingredients that will be coming in and we know those will start to occupy some storage space in your kitchen. Okay, so now we're heading on over to the outside. And this is all about the outdoor space and gardening transitions. This is the time when we are doing the garden cleanup. I know a lot of our community members and our listeners are gardeners and they love the outdoors. So this is a really good opportunity for you to take a quick check outside in your garden in your patio and do a little a little cleanup obviously let go of the things that are no longer serving you especially if it's items within like your plant and things like that, that will go bad for next year. And that really won't be able to withstand the the winter months in the fall and winter months. So letting go of those items donating them, or maybe you are using them as fertilizer or, or composting or whatever it may be, this is a good opportunity for you to clean that up.
Also, storing outdoor furniture, this is a good opportunity for you to figure out again, kind of like the the home decor items. What is it that you do want to keep versus maybe just sell and just buy again next year from a thrift store from consignment store, you know, or online marketplace like I mentioned, although with outdoor furniture and items, those I tend to see that most people like to buy those locally versus clothing where you can, or even a home decor small home decor is where you don't mind getting it shipped with outdoor furniture and just bigger things like that. I think most people stay local. So check your online local marketplaces and see if it's something that you can just let go off for the season and rebuy next year, because next year, you may not even want it anymore. And so why hold on to it this this entire season or this entire fall in winter months, when you know you're not even going to use it again.
Okay, so those are our four spaces that typically get transitioned from one season to another, especially the big transitions from summer months or warmer months to cooler weather like the fall in the winter. I'm also going to add a bonus tip in here. That is not part of the four most common spaces that get transitioned from one season to another and I'm going to add the picture decluttering from one season to another or really actually just mementos in general, this is a really good opportunity for you to put away those mementos from the summer months, the pictures or maybe the keychain or something that you want to remember from your kids. Some Summer vacation or camp. So this is a good opportunity for that to happen for you to put those away in an open actual you know the book or a box and label them so that you don't forget.
So that years or months, you know, months or years don't go by and you forget why you even kept it like the memento from the beach vacation, right like, this is a good opportunity to like label it. And remind yourself why it is that you want to keep this item. As you go through this step, I'm going to guarantee that you may actually go back and realize that some of the things you acquired on vacation on your trip on your staycation, or just throughout the summer months, you may go and say I don't even know why I kept this, I don't need it. In the moment it felt special. Maybe that's a good opportunity for you to take a picture of it and write some notes just so you remember the memory. But you don't necessarily need to keep the physical item. This last bonus tip was dedicated to all of you sentimental keepers who keep you know things from a season of life and you want to remember long term, I just don't want all of your things to accumulate little by little season by season, and then it becomes overwhelming. And you don't even know why you kept it. So again, good opportunity, good time for you to declutter that stuff.
And or make sure that you know why you're keeping it. Seasonal organizing and transitions are also a really good time to tap into your family and friends, resources and neighborhoods. So this is a really good opportunity to let people know what it is that you have available and maybe what you're looking for and doing slops because people are in the mood for a change, right? So this is a good opportunity for that also for garage sales. Again, like kinda like in the spring fall like the end of the summer is a really good time to break before the fall for you to sell or have like a garage sale for all of your seasonal items that people may want to buy and then just kind of letting go of any of your summer items.
I will link the show notes in the show notes, our garage sale podcast episodes and if you are doing a seasonal decluttering or organizing project, let us know over on social media and tag us at the organized Flamingo. We always love cheering our community on and with that. Happy organizing and until next time. Thank you for listening to the organized and productive podcast with the organized Flamingo. If you enjoyed today's episode, I would love it if you'd leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. It helps with letting people know that we're here. For full show notes and resources head on over to the organized flamingo.com/podcast Happy organizing