It's been a hot summer, but the last few days in New York - unseasonably cool - have me remembering how wonderful a New York autumn really is. Cool weather, sunshine, crisp air, vibrant trees in all the parks; autumn in New York is magical.

There's a lot of changes in my life this fall as well. I'm leaving my job and will be working with these folks and these folks (which means that Christy and I will be co-workers!).  I'll be editing a soon-to-be-announced web publication. I'll be writing movie reviews for Christianity Today and Paste, and I'll be taking two classes in my graduate program. I'll be traveling for work and preparing for my very first speaking engagement.

Yes, life will be busy. I also have a husband and a home to attend to, and while I'm grateful for this season in my life, I'm also conscious that I have to be as prepared as possible to be able to give 100% to everyone. So in that vein, I've been thinking of ways to streamline my life. Here's what I've come up with so far:

1. Planning our meals for the week, making grocery shopping easier on the watch and the wallet.

2. Purchasing a Ms. Bento for packing my lunches ahead of time, thereby saving lots of "I was too tired to pack this morning" lunch money.

3. Hauling the Crock Pot out of the cabinet and putting it to good use.

4. Don't shudder: Investing in an iPhone. There were many extenuating circumstances that made this a necessary and cost-saving switch, and I'm glad I did - especially after living in corporate Blackberry world for many years. In NYC, it's back-breaking to carry a laptop, no matter how light it is, so the less I carry a laptop, the better, making a mobile device a Godsend for keeping on top of emails from editors, PR firms, or any number of co-workers, not to mention my husband. I keep my shopping lists on it, I look up directions, I locate things instantly, and I stay on top of my stacks of email. That way, when I get home, I don't have to spend an hour at the computer!

5. Religiously using my daily planner. (My iPhone is good at this, too, but I prefer paper.)

6. Mint.com. This is a secure site that helps you track your bills and expenditures, and unlike most financial websites, it's very user-friendly, easy on the eyes, and best of all, free!

7. Google Docs. I store almost everything here: PDFs of reimbursement forms, half-written article drafts, notes for a paper, planning spreadsheets which are shared among colleagues. Google also has a nifty offline extension so you can work on documents without being connected to the Internet.

8. Zotero. This is probably only useful for students and writers. It's a free Firefox plug-in that makes it a snap to store and categorize your sources, then easily insert the citations in different formats (MLA, ALA, Chicago, and many more) into your manuscript. I've tried most of the tools on the market and this is my favorite, and by far the cheapest.

9. Paring down the wardrobe. I am constantly doing this - mostly because I'm too lazy to buy extra hangers - but I tend to think a "one in, one out" rule is helpful. If something used to fit me but doesn't any more, or if it was an unwise purchase that I can no longer return, then I donate it to charity. Someone else will get a lot more use out of it than I will, and I (ironically) feel like I have more to wear in my closet when there are less choices.

10. Praying. It's an ongoing practice, but as I look at some of the challenges that face me between now and the end of 2008, I am convinced that I can achieve nothing on my own. God truly is the source of all grace and strength.

What are you doing to prepare for autumn?