Look at October through a new lens

Autumn foliage not only inspires colorful household designs and decorations, but it reflects the beautiful reality of shedding the old to make way for the new.

Whether in contract to purchase a new home, already moved in or still looking for your community, October is the perfect time to prepare for the year-end holidays before things get too busy.

Let things go

Take hints from the trees: Deciduous trees such as maples, elms and birches don’t try to drop all their leaves in a single weekend. Trees also don’t rearrange their schedules to drop leaves; it happens organically.

Likewise, decluttering and organizing will go more smoothly by working in 15-minute or one-hour stretches at a time several times during the month. Look for ways to fit this work into household activities you already do.

Take the mundane task of laundry, for instance. While a load of socks and t-shirts are in the dryer, clear out old socks and t-shirts from their drawers. When longsleeve shirts or slacks are drying, free up a few inches in a drawer, shelf or section of the closet before rehanging the clean items.

The same for the kitchen. When reshelving clean glassware or packing it up for the move, determine the need for mugs and glasses that spend more time at the back of the cabinet than in people’s hands. Or decide if some old saucepans could better serve a neighbor’s or friend’s recent graduate.

Reorganize the holiday decorations now to free up more household storage space than waiting until after the holidays. Open and sort through containers of decorations with an eye on simplification.

Repack with care, sorting by category using better labels. Separate any pieces that haven’t been used for a couple of years.

Donating or selling holiday decorations now — rather than in the new year — will increase the number of possible takers. Look for nonprofits with thrift shops or take part in garage sales or online marketplaces.

Gift-giving: Avoid the rush

Many of us know people who finish all their holiday shopping before Halloween. The rest of us can’t imagine starting before December. But anyone who will be giving gifts at the holidays can use October to organize their approach to giftgiving and do so without actually shopping.

Start with a budget limit and a list of people you know you’ll want to give gifts. Put everyone on the list who will receive a gift, including friends, family members, neighbors, teachers, colleagues, service people and the newspaper carrier.

Determine which recipients might enjoy monetary gifts or gift cards instead of candy, wine, coffee or baked goods. For the others, take notes on what you think would make them happy or what you know they need but won’t purchase for themselves. If you can’t think of a gift, consider the gift of spending time together.

Remember to take stock of gift wrap supplies and order what you can now.

Create a calendar

From parties with work, school, friends and neighbors to weekend getaways or annual traditions, start a calendar for October through early January that the whole family can access. Mark it with the dates for events or celebrations you already know about and ask everyone to share their own.

Notice and preserve any open blocks of time on the calendar. Consider any outings, vacations, shopping trips, seasonal traditions or entertaining you might want to take part in during those periods of time.

Firm up travel arrangements and related requests for time off as early as possible. Doing so now eliminates the chaos and costliness of last-minute planning while building anticipation. Who knows? Maybe a family vacation can be a good substitute for gifts.

Mark tasks that you want to complete by specific dates, such as creating and sending holiday cards, preparing food before big meals or delivering gifts.

Finally, next week, visit this space to find ideas on decorating to create easy transitions from season to season.