All the things you should do for fall but never remember to do. A complete fall checklist of the tasks you need to before winter hits. Like cleaning gutters and eating pie.
The first day that I wear flannel pajamas to bed marks the official start of fall for me. The next day the fluffy blanket for the sofa comes out, I stop shaving my legs and I start my annual thumbs exercises so in a couple of weeks I'm can quickly scroll past all the perfect-families-in-matching-plaid-picking-apples reels on Instagram.
The shadows are longer, the streets are quieter and I'm hankering for anything made with cheese and potatoes.
Since I just lit a pumpkin spice candle I'm going to assume it is indeed fall. YAY FALL!! Every season is my favourite season when I'm at the start of it. So hello fall ... you're my favourite.
I even like the home maintenance tasks associated with autumn like raking leaves and stacking firewood. I like them for exactly half an hour and then I want to set the leaves, the firewood and my hair on fire with a pumpkin spice candle.
Getting ready for winter can be both gross and exciting so I've comprised a list of all the things that you should do to get ready to fall. Both the fun and the not so fun.
Things To Do To Get Ready for Fall
- Clean the gutters.
- Wash the windows inside and out.
- Have the chimney cleaned.
- Lumber. Jack. Plaid.
- Order Firewood.
- Make a batch of chili.
- Replace or clean furnace filter.
- Haul out the blankets for the couch.
- Replace beer in fridge with whiskey in liquor cabinet.
- Pull out the big, fluffy duvet.
- Put outdoor cushions away while they're still dry. If they get wet when the temperatures drop they'll never dry out.
- Make a list of the indoor jobs you want to get done before spring. Like binge watching Doogie Howser. Again.
- Good bye ferns, hello mums.
- Surround every inch around your house with yard bags and watch as the leaves fall directly in them.
- Throw away your razors. It's hairy season.
- Cover up and clean your air conditioner. You don't need to cover the whole thing, just the top where leaves can blow in.
- Make and eat an entire homemade pumpkin pie yourself.
- Remove any pergola covers.
- Empty any ceramic or clay pots outside that are too large to bring indoors. If you don't they'll freeze and crack.
- Book an appointment to have your winter tires put on.
- The indoor months can get lonely and boring. Sign up for a fall class with friends or family.
- Plant your spring bulbs and dig up & divide your dahlias.
- Wanna be the hit of the street for Halloween? You'd better start figuring that shit out now. Here's inspiration.
- Throw away those 3 dead plants you bought in the spring and never planted.
- Can, can, can. Tomatoes, peaches, chili sauce, hot peppers, pickles.
T O M A T O E S
C H I L I S A U C E
- Ask an elderly or single neighbour if they need help with anything.
- Kids preventing you from getting stuff done? Send them out to play and tell them not to come home until they have at least one bruise.
- Clean out your fridge to make room for the winter cheeses.
- Haul out the flannel pajamas that have been in hiding for 4 months and now smell like drawer.
- Buy a puzzle so you're ready for winter. This particular one is good for October.
- Read all of the classic Charlie Brown football cartoons
- Pumpkin. Spice. Latte.
- Sweep
- Clean your condensate pump if you have one.
- Make baked apples.
- Dry any herbs you can scrounge from your garden before they croak.
Fall Checklist
Instructions
- Clean the gutters
- Wash the windows inside and out
- Have the chimney cleaned
- Lumber. Jack. Plaid.
- Order Firewood
- Make a batch of chili
- Replace or clean furnace filter
- Haul out the blankets for the couch
- Replace beer in fridge with whiskey in liquor cabinet
- Mouse proof your house
- Pull out the big fluffy duvet
- Put outdoor cushions away while they're still dry. If they get wet when the temperatures drop they'll never dry out.
- Make a list of the indoor jobs you want to get done before spring. Like binge watching Doogie Howser. Again.
- Good bye ferns, hello mums
- Surround every inch around your house with yard bags and watch as the leaves fall directly in them
- Throw away your razors. It's hairy season
- Cover up and clean your air conditioner. You don't need to cover the whole thing, just the top where leaves can blow in
- Make and eat an entire homemade pumpkin pie yourself
- Buy fall scented candles
- Empty any ceramic or clay pots outside that are too large to bring indoors. If you don't they'll freeze and crack
- Book an appointment to have your winter tires put on
- The indoor months can get lonely and boring. Sign up for a fall class with friends or family
- Plant your spring bulbs and dig up & divide your dahlias
- Wanna be the hit of the street for Halloween? You'd better start figuring that shit out now. Here's inspiration
- Throw away those 3 dead plants you bought in the spring and never planted
- Can, can, can. Tomatoes, peaches, chili sauce, hot peppers, pickles
- Ask an elderly or single neighbour if they need help with anything
- Kids preventing you from getting stuff done? Send them out to play and tell them not to come home until they have at least one bruise
- Clean out your fridge to make room for the winter cheeses
- Haul out the flannel pajamas that have been in hiding for 4 months and now smell like drawer
- Buy a puzzle so you're ready for winter. Don't want a puzzle laying out on a table for weeks or months? Try quick finishing, cute 100 piece puzzles
- Cozy up your front porch
- Read all the classic Charlie Brown football cartoons
- Pumpkin Spice Latte
- Sweep
- Clean your condensate pump if you have one.
- Make baked apples.
- Dry any herbs that you can scrounge from your garden.
Notes
Or don't. Whatever.
All tasks guaranteed to be enjoyable for at least 15 minutes.
KL
When I was at a home daycare when I was 5 there were piles of leaves on the ground. And for a week or two I would sit and peel the leaves apart. And it was so satisfying.
And I looked forward to it every day. Until one day I went to peel the leaves apart and it wasn't that slick satisfying peel because they had started to decompose and were rotting.
I remember that feeling of utter disappointment.
I was too young to understand that if the leaves didn't decompose then there would be no end to leaves.
Too young to understand that the nature of life MUST be change, because if it isn't change, it isn't LIFE.
I only felt the disappointment that my new fun pastime was suddenly gone.
As for your list of things to do in the fall: I am sticking straw on my garden beds and calling it a day. The rest of the chores can do themselves.
Kristy
Much as I love you Karen, this blog kinda sucks.
😘
Steve R
First of all, #28 is N/A...the kids, all grown, and the former wife, all live in their own bubble of chaos, half a day's drive away.
That said, so many questions - like, WTH is a pyjama??(please provide pictures, I'm a visual learner); #11 - Beer and whiskey should not be stored without being sampled to ensure they have not passed their "Best by..." date(could be a lengthy process that causes you to lose interest in any of the other tasks); #12- If your outdoor furniture doesn't have cushion, you don't have to put them away(or for that matter take them out in the spring); #24 - How to be a big hit: Buy several large bags of wrapped chocolate candy, dump into extremely large container, shovel double handfuls into each Trick Or Treater's plastic pumpkin...ignore horrified look on their parents' faces
Ann Visco
Great list! My HVAC service guy told me not to cover my air conditioning unit. He said moisture can build up under the cover and destroy the innards of the unit.
Karen
That sounds very plausible. I'd still put something over the top to keep leaves out maybe. Just something mesh. ~ karen!
Jane
I agree with Karen. For years and year, we didn't cover the A/C and it got louder and louder every year to the point it sounded like a jet engine. Then I started covering it up and now it purrs like a kitty. The trick is to wait for a dry spell and cover it when the full sun hits. In our case, some time in Oct and in the afternoon. I cover it with a tarp and tie the tarp down to about 6 inches from the bottom of the unit. The tarp comes off usually in May.
Brenda
You are correct, Ann. Our guy said to cover the top with a board and leave the rest uncovered.
Tracy Born
Great list! Keep us posted on how the yodelling goes;) hehe
I am currently hoarding and burning, fall scented jar candles like it is my job!
Jan in Waterdown
Well now, I was just about to post something about my huge ferns outside when I scrolled down and started to read about a lovely lady looking to generously give away her ferns and palms. I thought it was a selfless sweet gesture. Turns out the lovely lady was me from last year. Doh. 🙄
Karen
LOL!! ~ karen
Geoffrey from Floradee
I'm disturbed that I was not the first person to catch and tease you about #35 :(
Vikki
Especially get that chimney cleaned out! And I always sweet my carpets. 😁
Mary W
In Florida, there is only one thing that I need to do - learn to yodel. I've always wanted to learn! So even though your list is useful and entertaining, it still was necessary for me to read - I've always thought I was the only one in the world that wanted to yodel - thanks!
Karen
Nope. Everyone wants to be a yodeller. ;) ~ karen!
Jan
great list. I feel like such a slug!
Carole
Winter cheeses??? Do tell.
Some things I'd add to the list:
Make sure your vehicle has the necessary winter driving supplies stocked – a snow removal brush, perhaps a can of deicer, a small shovel, a bag of kitty litter, a blanket, a phone charger ... just in case.
Clean and store garden tools in a large tub filled with sand and some used motor oil. The sand keeps the tools standing upright and also removes dirt from tools (especially if you slide the tool up and down before you "park" it), and the motor oil keeps the tools from rusting.
I like to keep ice melt in a plastic trash bin with a lid near an exterior door. I keep a scoop inside so it is ready when I need it.
It is a great time to get your outside lights up, before snow and cold makes it no fun to nigh near impossible. (Where I live, we got 5 inches of snow last week!)
If you are responsible for others, make sure their winter gear is accessible, in good repair, and it still fits...
If you are a winter sports enthusiast, again, it never to earlier to drag it all out and make sure it is good repair.
Be ready! Make up a favorite hot chocolate recipe mix and a batch of your favorite cookie dough to freeze now. On the first cold day, take the cookies out of the freezer and bake and enjoy them with a cup of hot chocolate.
Karen
Good items!! ~ karen
Maria
Where do you all live so that I don't go there in the winter? I am barefoot, it's 80 degrees and I have on shorts and tshirt.
Marna
Great list.
RitaChiquita
you know, it would be kinda neat if you made that list like a recipe so we could print it off....!
Karen
I know! I agree! I can't tell you the amount of time I spent trying to figure out how to get it to do that properly. I'll keep looking into it. ~ karen!
Nicole Graham
Cut and paste into a Word document then print.
Jan in Waterdown
Anybody want a palm tree or gorgeous Boston fern in a pot from my deck? I have 2 palms & 5 huge ferns that I cannot be bothered to bring indoors and later have to put up with the fern mess or sticky honey dew on the palms. At this time of year I always feel guilty for abandoning them but once a frost hits, I blame them for their lack of hardiness and chuck them out. Still.... a nice kind home would be good.
Vikki
Because I am a responsible, dutiful Adult I will get right on that. I'm off to buy a pie. (Ummm---I can't remember anything else on the list.) Oh well...….
Roylyn parks
Karen, would the nematodes harm earthworms? They, as you know are beneficial. My problem is moles doing damage to new sod and they feed on grubs and probably earthworms too. Some people use grub killer but that kills earthworms too.
Gail Neumann
I love reading your post, this list was no exception, had me laughing out loud.. Thanks for the great tips!
Beth W
Love this! I'll have to try and remember to loop back to it on Labour Day weekend. I only have 17 days before the Christmas Pledge starts this year!
LeeAnne Bloye
Karen,
You need a mulching mower - no more leaf raking! Feed your lawn and mow at same time.
I got a leaf blower/chopper thingy and now chop spread the neighbours raked leaves on the garden.
Karen
I only have about 2 square feet of lawn so I use a push mower. :) All my leaves are outside my fence, stuck in and under my boxwood hedges and tangled up in the garden beds. :/ ~ karen!
Dd51
Actually, most lawnmowers just need mulching blades put on. Not. Terribly. Expensive. Saves on fertilizer, easy as compared to raking leaves. Just mow the leaves twice and your job is done.
Deb
My woodroom is full the rest is stacked, windows washed outside, inside today, gardens are cleaned up, just strawberries to cover after freeze up, hoses to blow out today, RAIN BARRELS emptied. I think I’m almost ready. Oh, I’m already in my flannel pj’s and the duvet is out. I can now sit and eat that pumpkin pie all by myself. Yippie!!!!!
Karen
omg I feel like I've done nothing compared to you. Go away. LOL! ~ karen