3 Ways To Enjoy Your Outdoor Space This Fall

As fall approaches, the weather will start to get cooler and crisp. But that doesn’t mean you have to stop enjoying your time outside. You can have fun being outside all season long with the right tips and tricks. Here are three ways to enjoy your outdoor space this fall.

Incorporate a Heating Element

The first helpful tip for enjoying your outdoor space this fall season is to incorporate a heating element. As summer begins to disappear and the weather grows colder, you’ll want a way to stay warm while you sit in your backyard. There are a number of ways you can make your outdoor area warm and cozy for the fall. For example, you can add a fire pit to your backyard for some warmth, or you can put an outdoor space heater on your deck or porch. These heating elements are especially nice if you plan on having guests over.

Use Outdoor Lighting

Using outdoor lighting is another great way to make use of your outdoor space during the fall. We experience a decrease in daylight hours throughout the fall and winter months. The sun sets a bit earlier each day, and we get less of that beautiful sunlight to illuminate our evenings. With the help of a strategic outdoor lighting design, you can still enjoy your outdoor space to the fullest, even as it gets darker out earlier. If you love having family and friends over to sit out on the porch or patio, you can add some charming string lights to incorporate brightness to your space. There are all kinds of outdoor deck lighting tips to enhance your space, so consider them as fall comes around.

Make the Most of Blankets

The third way to appreciate your outdoor space in the fall is by making the most of blankets. Blankets will be your best friend in the colder months of the year. There’s no reason you have to stop enjoying your backyard just because the temperature drops a few degrees. You can still sit out on the deck and enjoy a meal, drink, or conversation with friends if you wrap up in a cozy blanket. You can lay some blankets out on your outdoor furniture for everyone to use. If you have a fire pit, you can also lay blankets down so that you can sit around the fire and tell stories or roast s’mores.

Now that you have three tips for enjoying your outdoor space in the fall, you can use these ideas at home today. If you incorporate these helpful tips, you will be able to create a cozy backyard getaway for yourself this season.

How Clutter Can Affect Your Mental Health

Yes, we know, you'll clean up the mess in your room in a second. As you've been doing all this time, right? Don't worry; we're not here to judge. We solemnly swear - we've all been guilty of leaving clutter in our living spaces for a long time, at least once. Sometimes, just the pace of life gets too quick to keep up, and something has to suffer (like the aesthetics of your living room). But did you know that clutter can affect your mental health? It may seem harmless at first glance, but there are some adverse effects you should be aware of.

Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today

People wiser than us said this, and we can't agree more. Procrastination is a vicious circle you don't want to get in. When you put off cleaning, you'll put off studying, for example. Once you find yourself on that train, it's hard to get off. According to research, individuals who live in untidy houses are more likely to put off doing crucial activities. It's possible that to pay the bills, you'll have to search through mountains of paperwork. Or, you'll have so many stacked-up piles of filthy clothing that doing the washing will seem like an insurmountable task.

You'll be less productive

If you're not a fan of cleaning and decluttering - it's understandable. But, you might want to change that point of view. If we take a closer look at the bare cells of your endocranium, we'll see that they're all put together in a way that allows you to do multiple things at once. Without that kind of architecture, you wouldn't be able to listen to the radio while you drive, for example. But that ability is not without its limits.

Take care of your working capacity

There is a limited amount of things your brain can process at once. That is a protective mechanism to avoid overstimulation with all the triggers in your surroundings. But, if you keep clutter in your sight, you're distracting your brain with unimportant stimuli that take over its working capacity. That's why it will take you more to accomplish a simple task that wouldn't be a problem if you were in a clean and decluttered space.

It will stress you out

Even though you might be able to convince yourself on a conscious level that it doesn't bother you, clutter will bug your unconscious self until you make a fair attempt to solve it. Too many stimuli in the space supposed to be relaxing and comforting will increase your cortisol levels through the roof. This vital but sneaky hormone will make you feel that silent anxiety daily, even when you're far away from home. You won't feel like coming back only to find a cluttered environment. And even after decluttering, there might still be that bitter taste of cortisol that will make you fill on alert.

The good thing is that you can do something about it. The answer is meditation. It can help in many situations, including dealing with emotions after rehab. You might not know it, but meditation is a great way of controlling this problem and many other anxiety-inducing situations. Calm and peace you can achieve, and complete unity with yourself can help you regain total control of your emotions in difficult times. This can be life-saving in unique situations, such as returning from rehab and starting your life over.

Clutter can affect your mental health on a memory level

Have you noticed how you forget your keys more easily in a messy kitchen? When the clutter is outside you, it's in your brain simultaneously. The brain is the most sensitive receptive thing in your body. If you get too much junk in it, you won't have the space to receive new, important information. And that received is the start of the mechanism and cascade of analyzing, storing, and reproducing crucial stimuli. In other words, your memory will be fairly compromised by the cluttered space you live in. 

It can be harder to turn a new leaf

Have you heard an inspirational speech by a US Navy Amiral, Wiliam McRaven, when he said: ''If you want to change the world, start by making your bed?" This is a mantra to live by if you want to do something good about your habit of leaving clutter all around. It's crucial if you're going through a significant change in your life and you need to take a step further in the right direction. Cluttering is an addiction in a way. So, take three golden pieces of advice from experts in addiction treatment and recovery at Bright Futures Treatment Center Florida and:

1. start decluttering little by little

2. don't beat yourself up

3. star decluttering now

The sense of achievement is important

It may seem simple, but small victories win the war. When you do something nice and turn a new leaf into such a simple habit as cleaning and decluttering, you'll feel a sense of achievement that will help you battle more serious issues and demons. So, making a safe and organized environment can help you in the process.

Final thoughts

A simple everyday task like decluttering does not get enough attention in our efforts to improve our mental health. Getting junk out of your living space can influence the overall clarity of your mind. It doesn't have to be a task worthy of being called a spring cleaning. Taking baby steps will be just fine. It will do the trick and help you keep repeating it until you make it a good habit. Now that you know that clutter can affect your mental health, we hope you'll consider making a few steps toward becoming regular in cleaning and decluttering. Keep it up; we're rooting for you!

3 Ways You Can Better Organize Your Living Room

Communal living spaces are probably the hardest areas to keep clean and organized. Someone, be it a guest or a member of the household, is always in the living room doing something that will require some cleanup. One way you can prevent the need for too much cleanup is by having the right organization system in place.

Good organization can also help your living space feel updated and bright without spending too much to do so. Keep reading to learn about three ways you can better organize your living room so that it stays clean and updated.

Go Low

If you don’t have kids or your kids are old enough to know not to dump out every container they come across, then using lower spaces for extra storage may be the best solution for your living room. Low storage is easy to see into and access compared to storage high up on shelves, so it’s a great option for kids that are learning to organize their things.

The best options for low storage are rolling organization bins that can slide under coffee tables, although you can also get cube organizers for lower open shelves or a chest that’s easy to open. As long as it’s accessible, your choice of low storage is up to you.

Create a Fun Zone

One of the reasons living rooms constantly feel messy is because they’re where all the fun happens. Kids play there, adults entertain there, and families relax together there. Instead of trying to regulate all this fun by sending kids to play in their rooms and creating separate entertainment nooks, embrace that this is what the living room is for and create a fun zone designed to contain it.

Start with a taller cabinet for adult entertainment, like board games, and then store kid’s games and toys underneath it. Ideally, you should have a table or comfortable area to use these games and toys. This way, if you don’t clean up the game right away, at least it’s all in one area.

Buy Multi-Function Furniture

Technically all furniture is functional, but multi-function furniture can help take the burden off you to find a spot for every little thing and fit all your furniture in the same room. Ottomans are probably the most famous kind of multi-function living room furniture since they give people a place to sit or rest their feet and provide storage. You can also find shelves that fold in so that they resemble a table.

The three ways you can better organize your living room are with lower storage, a designated fun zone, and multi-function furniture. Proper organization can help you maintain a cleaner home, stay relaxed, and keep your space looking fresh and updated.

10 Minimalist Tips to Transform your Living Space

‘Less is more’ is the motto minimalists live by. Minimalism is a growing trend that promotes simplicity, prudence, and sustainability. Millions of people are living greener and more meaningful lives after adopting the minimalist lifestyle. If you think about it, excess of anything leads to chaos. Limited options make life easier, whereas managing too much of something is always burdensome. Letting go of possessions that serve no fundamental role in your life is a key component of minimalism. 

If lately your home feels too ostentatious and overcrowded, a minimalist makeover is exactly what it needs. The following tips can help you transform your living space from a potential junkyard to a place where you feel at ease:

1. Exclude the Extras

Eliminating the unwanted items is the first step to making your place look practical and decent. Organize a backyard sale if you have a lot of stuff that doesn’t have a place in your home anymore; your trash could be someone else’s treasure.  Not to mention, auctioning old stuff can earn you some good cash that may contribute to renovation ideas. 

2. Rely more on Sustainable Resources

Since minimalism was built on the principles of sustainability, it makes sense to use renewable energy and refrain from wasteful practices. For instance, you can cut down electric power consumption by utilizing natural sunlight as much as possible. Installing wider windows and glass ceilings can help illuminate the home without artificial lighting during the day. It also helps to use energy-efficient appliances and prefer recyclables. 

3. Prefer warm or neutral pigments

White and other pale colors are frequently employed in minimalist home décor, as they enable a clean and spacious look. Neutral and warm color screams exhibit elegance, which matches the minimalist aesthetic. Implementing colors that are too pigmented, bright, and contrasting give rise to the ‘caving in’ effect, i.e. the space looks congested and convoluted. Mild and earthy tones are easy on the eyes, and project calmness onto the atmosphere. 

4. More Texture, Less Pattern

Once you’ve mastered the color palette, you can move onto textures and patterns. There is no restriction to textures by the minimalism approach, but patterns are a different story. Minimalist designs tend to create diversity with few colors and a variety of textures, but complex patterns rarely fit into the concept. If you are not satisfied by keeping everything plain and understated, introducing some pattern is totally acceptable. However, make sure that this pattern blends with the solid colors employed in the room and complements the overall décor. Using a range of conflicting patterns in one room is a big ‘NO’. 

5. Try Compact and Lightweight Furniture

Outdated furniture, such as couches, chairs, beds, and tables have a common flaw - they are unnecessarily huge and heavy. Modern furniture is designed to occupy less space and enhance functionality; it is also surprisingly more sleek and affordable, so a few replacements won’t drive you to Chapter 7 bankruptcy. 

6. Learn to Accessorize with Logic

Once you’ve successfully de-cluttered your living space, do the same with walls, counters, table tops, and other surfaces. Too many things on a vertical or horizontal surface create haphazardness, which is against the principles of minimalism. When you accessorize with purpose, you refrain from exhibiting objects that have no connection with primary elements in the room. 

7. Implement Smart Storage

We all have several storage spaces around the house, and sometimes these spaces interfere with our interior décor. Cabinets, racks, and shelves must be installed in a way that doesn’t compromise our free living space. A few examples of smart storage spaces are cupboards under the stairs, drawers under the bed, or shelves built inside walls rather than protruding from them. 

8. Let there be room to stretch

If stubbed toes, bumped elbows, and knocked knees are too relatable, this is proof that your living space lacks enough room to move freely. Perhaps you have too much furniture, but insufficient square feet to house it. Many of us cannot let go of old stuff because of its sentimental value, and thus we sacrifice our comfort instead. Minimalists do not keep things they don’t need and this drill allows maximum vacant space around the house; the purpose is to improve day-to-day functionality and create ease of access.

9. Choose Quality over Quantity

Minimalism is not about roughing it out or living a life of poverty; in fact, minimalists are people of high standards who only want the best. They invest in quality pieces, i.e. things that provide good value for their price. Even though a minimalist’s home has lesser material objects, you can bet that each of them is way more refined and classy than all the stuff most of us hoard.

10. Welcome Change

Change is always good, as it help us grow and learn. Minimalist décor is all about innovation, modernization, and creativity. Do not live in the same setup for decades, as this can lead to a monotonous and stagnant life. Never hesitate to redecorate your home every now and then; following latest trends in interior design and updating your place regularly is a good thing. Just remember that when you buy something new, give away something old.

Author Bio

John Adams is a paralegal and lifestyle blogger who concentrates on health/fitness, self-development, family law, and home-improvement. He inspires readers to live the life of their dreams, but at the same time encourages realistic and practical thinking. He loves to share his experiences, and contributes on various online platforms in the same niche.