To-Dos: Your August Home Checklist

From the dog days of summer to the first days of school, August is a month of transition for many. Even if cool fall nights still seem ages away, the transition from outdoors to in is already beginning. So as your vacation wraps up and dinners begin to move from grill to stove, consider putting these 10 to-dos on your list to make that transition as smooth as possible.

1. Get prepped for dinners at home. With fall around the corner, meals are likely to shift away from the grill and into the kitchen. Encourage family dinners at home by making the dining room a place you can’t wait to sit down in. Clear the table, bring in flowers or potted plants and keep stacks of fresh table linens at hand. If you want to make things even easier, consider storing silverware and cloth napkins in a caddy right on the table.

2. Tidy the mudroom. Whether or not you have kids in the house, back-to-school time is a great opportunity to get a busy entryway under control. Clear the clutter, clean rugs, wipe down shelving and put back only the essentials.

3. Organize family photos. Don’t let months go by after summer vacations to print and organize photos — get on top of it now, so you can enjoy your snapshots! Set yourself up for photo organizing success through the rest of the year by creating files for digital photos organized by month. If you want to have new family portraits taken in time, start hunting for a photographer now.

If you have a big backlog of printed photos to organize but lack the time to go through each one, at least get them into acid-free storage boxes to prevent damage. Label the boxes by year if possible.

Read more of your To-Dos: Your August Home Checklist

To-Dos: Your August Home Checklist