Time Change Chores

Hey Peeps!!

Gobble Gobble, it's almost turkey time!!

You might vaguely remember last year about this time I did a blog post on Time Change Chores.  I know we are a couple weeks past the time change and everyone is in full blown holiday mode BUT I figured there are a lucky few who aren't hosting on Thanksgiving and you might want to run through the check list to make sure you covered everything before we hit full on Christmas mode.

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First things first, go back to here and refresh your memory.  Go ahead, I'll wait............

Oh hey, welcome back. While you were gone I created you a little printable to use in case you want to remember and you're like me and love the feeling of marking things off the to do list!  Ok fine, I made the list for myself but I'm happy to share.

Time Change Chores Checklist

 I added a couple of items this year.

1)  Clean and organize your pantry, I believe I did this one the weekend after the time change. Hubster went hunting and I was home alone so the pantry was tackled.  This is a particularly great chore to do in the fall before the holidays hit.  You get a chance to toss out leftover stuff and get a better idea for what you need to purchase.   And then you will be greatly rewarded!!!

The main part of the pantry from the door

Far back right side

Left side as you enter

I'm very much aware that not everyone has a pantry this size.  Believe me I am very fortunate and we use every inch of it.   But a little organization goes a long way no matter the size.  Keep like things together and you don't have to go to a certain store that sells pantry organization kits to clean things up.  (although I LOVE that store, it's just a wee pricey for me)  Take a good inventory of your pantry, figure out what items need to be corralled then take a little trip to the Dollar Tree.  You can spend less than $20 and get all kinds of bins and such.  In case you wondered my spices are in these little gems from Ikea and they are $3.99 each. Once again, big impact for not a lot of moola.

I even grabbed an extra clear shoe storage container and popped a label "Holiday Supplies" on it and I've been adding the canned pumpkin, cranberry sauce, fried onions, etc to that bin as I purchased them.  Now when it is time to start cooking I can just pull that bin from the shelf and start cooking.   I also can then corral all the items I start purchasing for holiday baking in there after Thanksgiving.

2)  The refrigerator:  this normally isn't something I plan to do before Thanksgiving to the extent that I did this year but I was pretty much forced to do it.  About a week before the time change our refrigerator decided to stop working. Mind you we don't have a run of the mill hop down and get a new one refrigerator but it's a built into the cabinetry, extra wide dual compressor refrigerator.  You know the kind you are super happy to see when you buy a house then you come to your senses and realize it's gonna cost as much as a car to replace!   Anywho, refrigerator croaked and we lived out of coolers and the neighbors mini-fridge for about 2 weeks while we waited for repair people to diagnose and order parts so when it came time to reload the refrigerator I tossed and cleaned like crazy.  However it was excellent because in the process I also cleaned the garage refrigerator and freezer and now we have room for all the holiday stuffs!  So what I'm saying......take a minute to really clean our your refrigerator and freezer before the holidays.  Who knows what kind of goodies you'll find in there and you'll have room for the turkey AND the ham!!

See what I mean?  

3) Something we don't do every year but this year we changed out the weatherstripping on all the doorways.  Relatively inexpensive with a potentially large cost savings on the heating bill this winter. If nothing else just check those and make sure you don't have one or two that need replacing.  It's also time to put those insulators over your outdoor faucets.  (we have yet to do this as we've still been near 80 degrees and I'm watering plants outside-welcome to Texas!), you also want to move any outdoor plants inside that might not survive the winter.  It's also time to think about winterizing your sprinkler system and getting the pool ready for cold weather.  I need to call this week and set up our annual Winter tune up on the heating system and we'll be ready for winter. 

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I know it seems like a big list but really, most jobs don't take more than 15 minutes and you'll be glad you did it when you don't have to go running outside at 10:30 on a cold night because you forgot to cover the outdoor spigots and the weatherman reminds you.  Not that we've done that before or anything.  Also I can't say it enough, the batteries in the smoke alarms and cleaning out the dryer vents...If you only do those things then that's good enough!!  The safety of your family really is the best motivation!

I leave you with a copy of my phone wallpaper, I think it sums things up nicely!

                                               

Peace, Love & Pie

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