October is one of my favorite months. The weather finally starts to get cooler and we get to prepare for fall decorating. Up north, of course, you get to see the leaves change and smell the crisp cool clear air. Here are some must do’s for October:

• Register to vote. Deadlines differ by state so take a moment right now to find out how much longer you have. Don’t delay, register today.
• Buy or make a fall wreath for your front door. This will liven up the entrance to your home and make you feel welcome in your own home.
• Take your kids to an actual pumpkin patch. Let them roam around and choose the family pumpkin.
• Spend an evening close to Halloween carving the pumpkin together as a family. Or, get multiple pumpkins and let everyone have his/her own to carve.
• Open the windows and let the cool breezes in. In Florida, this is the first time of the year we can let the crisp air in doors. It’s an exciting time to be able to feel the freshness of the air blowing throughout the house.
• Take a hay ride.
• Shop early for Halloween costumes. Don’t wait until the day before or even the week before. Set aside some time this weekend to hunt for that perfect costume, or to visit the fabric store if you are crafty enough to make a costume. The point is, don’t let yourself get stressed out at the last minute. Stay ahead of the madness.
• Put brightly colored fall leaves between wax paper and iron them together. Send these beauties to someone who doesn’t live in an area where the leaves change.
• Set a financial goal. This has nothing to do with it being October, but has everything to do with the economy. Know about your money.

Moms need time to escape. We all do it in different ways. With the new fall TV schedule alive and well there are a lot of great shows starting up again. Here’s a rundown of my favorites:

Mad Men. If you read my blog regularly, you’ll already know about this show. If you haven’t given it a shot, rent the DVD of the first season and start DVRing Season two now. It’s worth it.

Grey’s Anatomy. I’m not certain it will be as great this season, but I still love this show.

Dancing With The Stars. When I first heard of this show during Season one, I thought it was going to be hokey. It is anything but. It is an inspiring show worthy of family time (unless 82-year-old Chloris Leachman is being bleeped for cursing!) It makes you want to get up and dance.

How I Met Your Mother. I had to eat major crow during Season two of this show. I made a bet with friends that this show would never make it past a few episodes. That was before I watched. It’s the closest thing since Seinfeld to come along in ages.

Desperate Housewives. OK, this is on the bottom of my list, but it’s still intriguing. I don’t think this show has too many more seasons in it. It almost lost me the season before last.

Private Practice. The only reason I’ll try this show again is because it comes on a day when nothing else is on. And, I like the main character Addison. I think she’ll return to Grey’s after this show fails.

Pushing Daisies. Although I watched most episodes of this last year, I’m not sure I’ll find time for it this season. Beautifully executed, it’s the most creative show on television.

There are certainly more shows worthy of watching, but frankly, I have to limit how much I can actually watch. What’s your favorite fall TV show?

No.

No.

NO.

I’ll be honest here, I’m not looking to save a buck on diapers (although it would be nice if we could!) The other day, in a hurry as usual, I grabbed all of little boy’s laundy from the hamper in his room and shoved it into the washing machine. All of it. Without looking at what I was putting in there. I turned on the water, threw in some soap and turned the thing on.

An hour later I went to retrieve the newly cleaned clothes to put them in the dryer. As I started pulling the clothes out, I see tiny bits of white. They are all over his clothes. I shake a shirt to get the specs off, and it appears to be snowing in my laundry room. All from one toddler T-shirt. What is going on here?

As I take out more clothes and do the shake out I see more and more of these wet spect of white cotton. What is this?

Then I find it.  A wet, pull-up diaper, soaked with all the soapy water from the wash.

It’s takes me quite awhile to get all the pieces off of the clothes; then I have to rewash every last bit of clothes.

Lesson: make sure you know what’s going into your laundry machine, each and every time.

I get so frustrated sometimes when businesses screw up easy tasks. Today it is the bagel shop I decide to stop at for coffee and a sundried tomato bagel.

The store is not busy. I am the second person in line and noone is behind me. I get asked my order. I say I want the bagel with regular cream cheese. Not toasted. I stress the NOT toasted part.

“Is this for here or to go?” I get asked.

“To go,” I reply and move on down the line.

At the register I am asked what I ordered.

I explain, “bagel with cream cheese and a medium coffee.”

“For here or to go,” the cashier asks.

“To go,” I say, getting frustrated for the repeated question.

As I am paying, a third employee asks me what I ordered.

Are you kidding me? I think. “Sundried bagel, regular cream cheese, not toasted.”

I finish paying, get my receipt and am handed my bagel in a small brown bag. I inspect the bagel and realize it’s toasted.

Three employees asked me my order, three times I said exactly what I ordered.

I don’t get what I order.

One of the employees takes my bag back and quickly replaces it with the correct, non-toasted bagel without an “I’m sorry.” No words said at all.

I say, “thank you” and move on.

It’s simple things like these that can make or break a company. Customers end up leaving frustrated and may not return the next time. If this were the first time this had happened I probably wouldn’t be writing about it now, but it happens again and again. I’m going to have to look for a new bagel shop the next time I want my bagel, not toasted.

I’m looking for ways to share money-saving tips with readers (and for myself). I ran across an article on CBSnews.com about shopping in your own closet.

I’ve always heard that we wear only 20 percent of the clothes we own. The other 80 percent stay in the deep depths of the closet, in bins waiting for a particular season, stay on hangers waiting for us to loose that 10 pounds we’ve been trying to drop for 20 years. Only that favorite 20 percent gets worn regularly.

According to the CBS article:

Most of us already own 40 to 50 percent of the clothes we’ll need for the season so, “It’s just about going back into your closet and finding what you have, familiarizing yourself again with your closet and your wardrobe.”

… with the average person spending $300 to $1,000 a year on new clothes, shopping your closet can save you a bundle.”

How about going through your closet this season and getting rid of stuff you wouldn’t ever wear again. Be honest. Give the good things to charity. Other clothes, just throw away or make rags of. Make room so you can see all your clothes and get more use out of ALL of them.