10 Ways to Start Fresh this Fall
“Life starts over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”
Those words have literally been on repeat in my head for weeks on end. It’s absolutely no secret that I love fall. I LOVE FALL. I mean, I could scream it from the rooftops and I still don’t think it would adequately express how much I freaking love fall. Most people do, but being a born & raised New Englander, loving fall is in my blood. Autumn is part of my soul. Although I love pumpkin spice everything, blanket scarves, boots, and hot cocoa, one of my favorite things about fall, is that every year, when it comes, it feels like a fresh start.
I’m not sure exactly what it is that makes it feel like that. Maybe it’s the cooler weather that makes it possible to actually move around without sweating buckets. Maybe it’s the changing leaves that inspires me to make changes, too. Maybe it’s the changing out of clothes in my closet, which makes me feel like a brand new person. Regardless of what it is, Fall is my favorite time to start fresh. In fact, I prefer a fresh start during the fall over a fresh start in the new year. Fall is my new year.
If Autumn is giving you all the fresh start feels this year, here are 10 ways you can pursue that Fresh Start feeling this Fall:
Deep Clean your House - Now that it isn’t blazing hot outside and you can open your windows for that beautiful fall breeze, it’s a lot easier to move around the house without breaking a sweat. Forget spring cleaning - I believe in Autumn cleaning! And I mean DEEP cleaning. I usually set aside one day at the end of September, turn on my cleaning grooves playlist, and power through all the nasty tasks first - like cleaning my oven, wiping out my fridge, and soaking the tiles of my shower in Scrub n’ Bubbles. From there, I usually organize my pantry and throw out anything that’s been half-eaten since the beginning of the summer, like chips from the 4th of July BBQ. (Don’t judge, you know we all keep those bags of chips.) From there, it’s organizing the coat closet, vacuuming the couches, and wiping down every surface in my house. It takes the whole day, but man oh man, does it feel good to wake up the next day to such a clean and organized house.
Organize your Closet - One of my best friends inspired me to do this over the weekend - she texted me a picture of her closet filled with all her fall clothes hung and organized by color. I peered into my closet, which was an absolute train wreck. I haven’t been able to find my left shoe to my favorite pair of work flats for weeks and a huge pile of sweatpants had fallen on the floor and I hadn’t picked them up. Yikes. So I spent a Tuesday afternoon organizing my closet. I put away all my summer clothes, made a pile of clothes that I haven’t worn in ages to donate, moved my summer shoes to the back of my shoe rack, and neatly folded all my graphic tees. Having an organized closet makes getting ready in the morning SO much easier because I can actually find my shoes!
Buy some new Sweaters - After cleaning out my closet, I was able to identify some gaps in my fall wardrobe and took myself to Nordstrom Rack to find some new things to fill them. I didn’t go ham (if you watched my Insta-story, you’ll know I only bought a couple things for myself) but it was so nice to hang those new things up in my closet. Having new clothes to wear that are cozy and on-style has helped me physically manifest that I am starting fresh. New clothes, new attitude, new me.
Full outfit details here: LEGGINGS TWO WAYS FOR FALL
Change your Hair - Similar to the reasons for buying new fall clothes, changing your hair color up is another way to physically represent changes you are making and your fresh start. How does that saying go? A woman who changes her hair is about to change her life? Yes. I have had my hair appointment scheduled out for almost a month now (October 7th) and will be changing up my summer blonde hair for something much darker and moodier and totally fall appropriate. Here’s a hint: CHARCOAL.
Schedule out your October - October is my favorite month of the year, hands down. It’s the perfect month for ALL the fall things, like hikes in the mountains, going to pumpkin patches, making homemade hot cocoa, and getting ready for all the Halloween activities. Year after year, my October always gets eaten up and flies by before I’m able to check off half of my bucket list. It’s a bummer. And, with a fresh start, it’s important to get ahead of the game by planning out as far in advance as much as possible. By having a “big picture” it’s easier to find time for the things you want to do/change/work on in for you!
Clean out your Inbox - I am the person who has 5,000 unread emails on her iPhone (how much does that make you cringe?) I know it’s going to take me a whole day (or probably a whole weekend) to delete everything, organize it, and reply to anything that’s been sitting in there for months. It will be so nice to get rid of all the junk mail, organize everything that I want to keep in my inbox via UnrollMe and follow up on projects that may have stalled out over the summer. Plus, having a cleaned-out inbox will help give you that “fresh-start” feel in your digital life, as well.
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Backup your Photos/Phone - Want to know what happened to us this summer? Dustin and I spent an afternoon at Seven Peaks this summer and went into the wave pool. 5 minutes into the wave pool, Dustin forgot he had his phone in his pocket! He wasn’t worried, though, because he had a Galaxy S7, which was supposedly water-proof. SPOILER ALERT - IT’S NOT! That phone crashed and burned about 20 minutes later and no amount of rice was bringing it back. Dustin lost almost everything, including all of his photos. I know that if I lost all my photos, I’d be devastated.
So, take some time to back up your phone. I actually plug in a calendar reminder once every three months to remind me to plug in my phone to my computer and back up all my photos to my external hard-drive. Then, I wipe as much as I can from my phone to make room for new photos. I also pay for iCloud, which backs up my photos, too. You can never be too careful, though.
And while you’re at it, go through and delete any apps that waste your time (or never get opened in general.) Delete old contacts from your phone and hey, clean out all those Facebook Groups selling Lipsense and Lularoe while you are at it. Start fresh with a clean phone, a clean social media presence, and a digital life that isn’t as distracting.
Make Goals for the End of the Year - I know that I started this new year out with a lot of goals and intentions and by the end of summer, I’d forgotten most of them or gave up on them. Fall is the perfect time to start fresh on achieving those goals, or new ones. I used to think I had to wait until the new year to start working on goals and then just wallow around for the rest of the year, not trying to be better or improve myself. I’m going to stop that this year. Fall is my fresh start and I’m going to give my goals all that I have so that I’m in an even better place for 2018 goals.
(If you are interested in hearing what my goals are for this last part of the year, let me know! I’d be happy to share them with you.)
Adjust your Fitness Routine - I recently shared an update on my health journey and how I had to start from scratch and really focus on the basics (like going for walks and stretching) before putting myself in the gym. Now that the weather is cooler, it’s time to adjust my fitness routine and put some new activities on my radar/start fresh with a routine. If the diet plan you were following wasn’t working out, consider this your time to start from scratch. Tired of running the same route every day? Time to start fresh. By altering even your daily fitness routines, you can feel like a brand new person and have that fresh-start feeling and motivation!
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Go for Walks - I was a terrible dog mama this summer. It was just TOO. HOT. to take my pups for walks. We just sat in front of the fan and tried to stay cool. Now that the weather is cool and crisp and the clouds are moody and dreamy, it’s time to start putting fall walks into your routine before it gets too cold. For me, adding walks into my daily routine is a great way for me to completely unplug and unwind from my day (or mentally prepare for it, if it’s in the morning.) Going for a walk is my way of giving me a daily fresh start - I try to focus on the beautiful fall weather and let go of things that are weighing me down. Plus, being active every day helps me towards my goals and just helps me to have a better attitude altogether.
Guys, I’m so excited for fall this year. This year has been pretty rough at times and has had some really low lows. Dustin and I have been constantly knocked down, even when we were already down to begin with. Things are finally looking up and with the leaves changing and the weather cooling down, it seems like the perfect time to start fresh and new.
How are you going to start fresh this fall?
