Hello sweet summer and sunshine! Ok, so it’s not quite summer yet, but temps are rising in Eastern North Carolina, and we are already looking forward to long days on the boat and nights by the firepit. (I’ll have to show you the firepit and patio my husband and I built recently! I’m still recovering from moving all of those pavers!)
A change of season is also a change in how we use our homes. Have you ever thought about that? In the winter, you need handy places to hang coats and corral gloves. In the summer, you need to access beach towels and coolers a little more.
As much as we want our organization to be like that infomercial “set it and forget it”, it just doesn’t work that way. We have to make tweaks periodically to ensure that our homes are still working for us.
Here are 4 things I’m doing to prepare for a smooth transition into summer.
1. Replenishing my beach bag station.
My coat rack becomes a beach/activity bag rack. I have a sideboard in the foyer, and I load up the drawers with sunscreen, bug spray, lip balm, and rash guard spray for the boys. Surfboard wax, the waterproof Bluetooth speaker and extra sunglasses also get a special spot. Beach towels are in the bottom cabinet, so I’ll take a quick inventory and separate the “good” ones from the ones that get sent to camp. (You know what I mean!)
2. Brainstorming chores and allowance.
We expect more from our kids when they are out of school and mostly home for the summer. I’ll come up with a plan for chores and how much we will pay them per week. This will have to be its own blog post at some point! Miller already does video editing for me (thank you Minecraft and YouTube!), so I’ll brainstorm some other work-like tasks to give him a feel for entrepreneurship.
3. Tidying up the garage.
That way the kids can get to their toys more easily. I want to encourage the kids to play outside as much as possible, so I’ll make sure chalk, bubbles, scooters, and skateboards have homes, and clear out the toys that didn’t survive the winter.
4. Eating heavy soups and stews from the freezer!
I do not freezer-cook as much as I used to, but I’ll make sure that we eat any soups and stews that are in the freezer before the weather warms up too much. We tend to eat much lighter meals in the summer.
Take a few moments to think about how your life and home change from one season to another. Do you travel more in the summer? What can you do to make packing and unpacking easier? If you purchase lots of fresh produce in the summer, think about how you can rearrange your refrigerator to accommodate the change in groceries.
Leave a comment and let me know what do or could do in preparation for your transition to summer!
Thanks for reading!
Caroline
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