The Fall Switch

Every year as the temperatures start to dip, I get a little excited...and a little worried. Excited because it means a respite from our high energy bills for cooling the house, and excited to start baking/cooking with pumpkin and Fall spices. Worried because I know my kids have grown a lot over the spring and summer and I'm not sure if any of their warmer clothes will fit or if we will have to shell out lots of money on new stuff. September starts the run of birthdays and holidays that account for most of our spending in Chaosville and with almost $10,000 in hospital bills this year, are funds are stretched to start with.
Thanks to my niece Audrey, Pattie had clothes galore. In fact, there's so much great stuff in her closet and dresser now, I need more hangers! Speaking of hangers, Raley came to me and said, "Mommy, for some reason, my shirts keep falling off the hangers in the closet." Well, my darling boy, you are getting to be a big guy now and your shirts are bigger than the baby hangers you have used your entire life. *sigh* Next trip to the store I'll buy some grown up hangers for you. *tear*
I also organized the coat closet with an idea Jayme saw in Reader's Digest. You can use a door hanging shoe organizer, the kind with pockets, for your gloves, hats and scarves. The one I bought was $10 at Walmart. It's made of canvas and the pockets are mesh so you can see what's in the very easily. It has 6 rows of 4 pockets. Since there are 5 of us, I put Jayme's stuff in the top row, then mine, then Raley's, then Clay's, then Pattie's and the bottom row is for extras and small umbrellas. Very cool!
This past weekend was the boys' turn to try on the old stuff and find a spot for whatever still fits. To facilitate this, we also cleaned the room, MY WAY. Which is to say we stripped it bare, then they brought each storage cube out to the living room, we dumped it out, fished out any toys that belonged somewhere else, and threw away anything broken. They did a great job and it is a little more organized than it was before and due to a little re-structuring, they even have access to some toys that previously lived on the closet shelf. We kept going most of Saturday and were left with only Raley's bed and the vacuuming to do on Sunday.
Speaking of vacuuming, we have made a major purchase! It all started with a coupon my husband brought home from work for 40% off a Dyson. I have wanted a Dyson vacuum for a long time! Ultimately, we did not buy one though. After talking it over (A LOT), we were nearly convinced then we saw an infomercial for the Shark Navigator. It's made using the Dyson technology, but isn't as expensive. And it came with the Shark Steam Mop for free. I have wanted one of those FOREVER!! But they cost $100 and I knew I would never spend that much on a mop. Well, it's on the way to my house right now. I hope UPS doesn't take too long :)