When the official start to fall creeps up on me, I always feel ready for a fresh start. There’s something about a new season that has me hitting the reset button at home with decluttering, new cozy scents, craft projects, and even a little thrifting thrown in for good measure.

Between caring for the kids, homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, and daily life, I’ve been sneaking in intentional ways to feel excited and refreshed for the season ahead. Here’s what life has looked like lately!

When Cleaning Feels Fun 🧽

I figured out a way to get myself really excited to clean the counters and floors. Seasonally scented cleaning products!

Jimmy was cracking up at me last night because I was like “I can’t wait to mop the floors and see how this cleaning solution smells!”

It always feels nice to give the house a good reset: decluttering, mopping, and swapping in new cleaning scents are some of my favorite ways to care for our home at the start of a new season. See those towels in the above photo? They’re Norwex brand. I have to confess that I was super skeptical of this brand because it’s a multi-level marketing company. 

I was given a Norwex kitchen towel as a gift over a year ago and it has become my favorite cleaning towel. The quality is just there. So, despite my lack of enthusiasm over multi-level marketing companies’ business practices, I ordered more (from someone on Poshmark!).

I tend to think in black and white: multi-level marketing companies = overpriced things I can buy somewhere else. But maybe not always. My sister used to sell Mary Kay cosmetics and I still order and use a Mary Kay face mask because I love it so much. My parents were distributors for NuSkin and I love their toothpaste. Just goes to show sometimes I need to hold my black-and-white thinking a little more loosely 😉

Speaking of fall resets, Jimmy worked on sealing our driveway over the weekend. I was excited to mop and he was excited to pressure wash and seal the driveway. His and hers chores!

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Refreshing the Kids’ Wardrobe with Thrift Finds 👚

On Saturday morning, my mother-in-law watched the kids for a few hours (!!) and I snuck out to the thrift store! It felt downright luxurious to take my time and browse through Once Upon a Child to hunt for some cool weather clothes for the kids.

I’ve learned a few things over the years with thrifting:

• Thrift stores aren’t always cheaper. Sometimes it’s cheaper to buy a brand new outfit from a store like Walmart. When thrift shopping, I always take into consideration the price, brand, and quality of each item.
• Sometimes you can score items that are brand new, with the tags still attached. Those items are usually worth it.
• I generally find the best deals on dress clothes for the kids. Often, thrifted kids t-shirts are beat up, but church clothes tend to be in good shape and are a good price.
• Thrift stores are great places to buy clothes for holidays (think Valentine’s Day t-shirts, St. Patrick’s Day pajamas or “My First Christmas” onesies). Since these clothes are worn for such a short period of time, it’s definitely worth thrifting them because the price is usually better than buying brand new, especially if the child will only wear the items a few times.
• How much you spend often depends on the type of thrift store. There’s a Goodwill near us that simply has everything dumped into bins and sold by weight. This is the cheapest option, but you really have to dig and there’s no guarantee you’ll find anything. Specialty thrift stores like Once Upon a Child (they only sell children’s clothes and gear) are a lot more curated and organized, but you tend to spend more because of that fact.

Here’s what I thrifted for the kids:

I bought Mordecai two button-down shirts for church! The one on the left is Garanimals (Walmart brand) and was $2.50. The one on the right is Carter’s brand and cost $4.00.

For Dakota, I found a Carter’s brand outfit set that still had the tags attached. I thought it was really cute for the fall 🍂

Dakota’s new outfit cost $7.50. It was a little more than I would like to spend on an outfit but it was brand new and would usually cost $15 or so if I bought it at Carter’s. And it’s cute as can be!

For Sadie, I found a pair of fall print leggings in really great shape for $3.50. She was so excited for these and put them on right away! They are Children’s Place brand.

I also found Sadie a warm sweater dress that features sequin bows on it. She wore it to church already it looks lovely on her. It’s Little Lass brand and cost $4.50.

All together, I spent $22. Not too bad! I had fun picking out things I thought the kids would like or look nice in, and I especially enjoy finding a good deal!

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Life Lately ⭐️

Life lately has looked like cousin playtime, homemade play-doh, church, and grocery store trips.

I mentioned that I wanted to make homemade play-doh with the kids and we made it happen! We made it cinnamon-scented and they wanted to eat it so badly 😂

I had a shopping buddy at the store! Dakota is sitting up well enough now that she can ride in the cart like a big girl.

We went to church and I took a picture outside with Dakota this time! After church, my sister and I did a kid swap. She took Mordecai home to play with her boys and I took her daughter, Caroline, home to play with Sadie and Dak!

The girls stayed b-u-s-y all day! They played with perler beads, went outside with Sadie’s neighbor friends, rode bikes, and played with stuffed animals. I love when the cousins can get together 🫶

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Other Notes and Thoughts 📝

• Dakota is starting to sleep in her crib! This makes Sadie so happy since they share a room. We now put Dak to bed in her crib and then bring her into bed with us when she wakes up to eat. Someday we’ll all sleep through the night 😉
• Sadie and Dakota took a bath together for the first time! It was too cute seeing them bond amidst the bubbles 🫧
• I got the crafting bug and have been working on little decor projects! I’ll be sure to share some photos soon 🎨
• I want to experiment with a new granola recipe idea this week. Can’t wait! I’m thinking something chocolate + cherry (like a combo of this chocolate recipe and this cherry almond recipe) or maple pecan. Or both 😛

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Alright, I’m signing off here. We’ve got a pretty calm week on deck. I might bring the kids on a field trip, we have the usual homeschooling, and our church’s fall revival ⛪️

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What do you have going on this week?

Do you think in black and white about certain things?

Do you like to thrift shop? If so, what do you like to buy?