Back-To-School For Grownups: The TFD Team’s Ultimate Fall Recommendations

September 2, 2025

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Welcome to the unofficial end of summer/beginning of the fall season, AKA one of our favorite times of year here at TFD! To celebrate, we decided to put together our ultimate list of fall recommendations to enrich your life — whether that means putting new experiences on the calendar, helping you make over your finances for the rest of the year, or simply adding to your autumn reading list.

And don’t worry: most of these fall squarely in the category of affordable (if not completely free). 

Holly:

I am normally a huge fan of the romance novel genre, but I had been in quite the rut recently — everything I was picking up felt derivative and unsexy, I’m sorry to say. I got a copy of Scandalized by Ivy Owens (a pen name for one half of author partners Christina Lauren, IYKYK) and sped through it in two days. It was a refreshing take on the journalist/celebrity trope that actually took journalistic ethics into consideration, and I thought the characters had legitimate chemistry. Rut reversed!

For my financial recommendation: after years of being a spreadsheet queen, Peter and I recently switched to using Monarch for our household budget, and I’m not looking back. (Don’t worry — spreadsheets still play a huge role in my household management systems and travel itineraries, I’m still the same me!) The “flex budget” feature especially has made it way easier to stay on top of our expenses as we figure out what our spending will look like with a literal child coming into our lives any day now, and I honestly wish I had switched over sooner. I still log in frequently to check our spending, but I spend much less time fidgeting with the budget overall, and we’re still on track to meet our year-end goals!

And as we are winding down our lives as a DINK couple and I am coping with a profound lack of energy (i.e. too lazy to even start a new TV show), we have been on a kick of introducing each other to some of our favorite older (mainly 90s) movies that the other person has not seen. This has meant renting a fair amount, though since we’ve also stopped going out pretty much altogether, our entertainment budget is still in great shape. Top contenders for “held up best” so far have been Sense & Sensibility and Speed, two icons of their respective genres.

Jane:

I've been prioritizing reading at least 50 pages of fiction every day this summer, which is a pretty modest goal, but also one that's been relatively easy to stick to. I've come to really appreciate the mandatory scheduled quiet time as a way to mentally reset even during the busiest of days.  

Alexa: 

I'm sure everyone's been seeing the "September Lock-In" posts across social media about taking your end of year goals seriously by going all out for the remaining 4 months of the year. Well, as an older sister trained in the art of the "level-up," I've certainly fallen victim to the propaganda. And not in a self-helpy way, either — I'm only committing to the goals that bring me joy and invite moments of wonder. Call me sappy, but everyone who knows me knows they can count on me to romanticize just about anything, so here's how I've been romanticizing my September Lock-In:

• I've been a huge fan of @stephthefounder's Sunday article recommendations and have been committing to reading 2 of them each week. Unfortunately, many of them are behind paywalls because they're NY Times or Atlantic articles, so a grad school friend of mine introduced me to Textise.net. You simply paste the URL to the article and enjoy! 

• Starting an Affirmations Circle with my girlies. This year has featured a lot of big feelings for my girls and me, so we've taken it upon ourselves to lift each other up by texting each other every other morning with personalized affirmations (so much better than a copy & pasted "Good Morning" text from yet another f-boy). With so many of us taking on new responsibilities this fall — starting law school, meeting new business goals, or hosting her first YouTube series (watch out for mine on our channel soon, eeekk!!) — we're taking our sisterhood's mental health seriously. Very much à la, "Shared joy is double joy, shared sorrow is half sorrow."

• I used fantasy books to reintroduce myself to the joys of reading but, since completing the behemoth that is the Sarah J. Maas universe, I've been in a slump. On top of that, I also have the bad habit (or hobby, if you will, lol) of buying books at cute local bookstores, and then promptly forgetting about them once I return home. So, I've taken to cataloging all the books in my personal library, prioritizing the order in which I'll read them by subject matter interest, and then writing little book reports about them using Storygraph! For those topics that have especially been piquing my interest, I use Libby to read more about them!

• Lastly, since this will be my last fall and winter in DC for awhile (I'm moving), I really want to soak up everything the city has to offer. I've taken to following hashtags like "#dcfreethingstodo" and "dcevents" on TikTok and IG and picking up my local community paper at my nearest coffee shop each week to peruse free activities. I've also been putting a rush on visiting the Smithsonian museums (before Tr*mp changes them, ugh).

Heather: 

I'm going to continue one of my favorite summertime daily habits into the fall: going outside for a few minutes, first thing, every morning. I used to just let my dogs out in the backyard while I got my teeth brushed and coffee brewing, but this summer, I made an effort to go outside with them each morning and it was really nice. I didn't allow myself to bring my phone either, such a peaceful little start to my day. 

Nothing makes me feel more motivated to get back on the horse than a new set of pretty pens or highlighters. Do I have pens already? Yes. Is this a $10 item that boosts my will power and ambition for several weeks? Also yes. 

Rachel:

With my son entering Kindergarten, I’m fully in back-to-school mode. His school drop off is at 8am — while painfully early— gives me some extra me time in the mornings before I get started with work. I’m planning to use that time to get in my 10k steps while listening to my favorite news podcasts (Meidas Touch, Ezra Klein, Mo News) around Central Park. I am truly squealing in excitement for this fresh morning routine.

Earlier this summer I did a deep dive into the last few years of my finances. I’ve worked at TFD for 6+ years but that doesn’t exempt me from some bad money habits, despite knowing better. Yes, I use Monarch (because the app is amazing) and went through 2 years of transactions to see where I’m overspending, where I can be more efficient, or where I was surprisingly doing well. This rec isn’t directly for Monarch, but moreso to let this new season be a time to take a deep look at your budget and spending patterns. Over the last month, I’ve cut literally thousands in spending and tightened up my budget across multiple categories, and I’m challenging myself to increase my savings and Roth contributions so I can look back January 1st and not feel like I have to make any rigid ~new year new me~ changes. I’m putting small, sustainable goals in place now.

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Chelsea:

For me, autumn means a chance to invest in my space. I'm a certified summer girlie who is very susceptible to SAD, so making my nest as cozy and beautiful as possible pays dividends with my mental health. Thus far, that has meant one bigger home project each fall (last year was our library/bar, the year before was our kitchen), and this year is redoing our guest room! My process for any home project is 90% planning/imagining/inspiration-gathering for 10% execution, because I believe these projects should be as much about the enrichment of the process as the final result. So here are a few things (both free and paid) that help me invest in my home and my sense of creativity:

• The Colleageable app, which I find is better for mood boards because of its simplicity (I find Pinterest overwhelming and don't want another social media app, sorry!). 

• A good physical notebook with grid-style lines, which I personally think makes sketching — a big part of my process — much easier. I also like to print out a copy of my floor plan and paste the different rooms into individual pages so that I can sketch directly "in" the space.

• A subscription to a good home decor magazine. I personally like Elle Decor, which I find beautiful yet much more accessible than something like an AD (which can often be lowkey depressing in how out of reach everything is). For me, inspiration-gathering that takes place offline is just as important, if not more so, than social media!

• Visiting a museum exhibit that drives interior inspiration. For me, a place in NYC where the space itself is as inspiring as the art is always the Frick Collection!

• Hitting a physical flea market at least once. While I'm a Facebook Marketplace diva through and through, I always make time for a few in-person visits to local flea markets, and my favorite by far is the Grand Bazaar on the UWS. 

September 24th: Join us for our next FREE masterclass, Rewiring Your Money Brain! There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding what makes someone good with money, and it’s especially confusing when you’re just starting out in the real world. In this workshop, we’ll tackle the biggest myths surrounding credit and budgeting, share our best practices for how to start investing strategically, and how to actually start thinking long-term (without sabotaging your life in the short term). Join us in partnership with Fizz to get a better handle on your money. Replay available if you can’t join live but you must register ahead of time! Click here to join!

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