I love the summer. I love having the kids home, not packing lunches, relaxed mornings, days spent at the pool, day trips, summer sports….

But I also like to feel refreshed and relaxed during the summer and I want to make sure that we’re spending the summer doing things that we want to do and not spending time on what we shouldn’t be spending it on. I have worked really hard to figure out the best way to relax and enjoy the time that the kids are home. We have so much fun, but there are days when I miss the structure of the school year and I know my kids do better with a little structure too.

I was a teacher for long enough to know that we can’t just move through our days and do whatever we feel like doing day in and day out without some negative results. 

Here’s what I do every year to get ready for when the kids are out of school. These little tweaks help me and them really enjoy and appreciate the time we have together – even in August when everyone’s getting a little stir-crazy. If you feel like you need more than these three things or want a little more direction, you’ll see that they are part of my Jumpstart Your Routine course that’s on flash sale this week – don’t miss it!

clear kitchen counters and give them a good cleaning

What are those 3 things?

Take care of those projects that I’ve been meaning to take care of. You know the things you wanted to do while they were at school and have put off? Get those things done. I usually choose the 3 most important things and start there and see what I can get done. I also consider getting my hair cut and a mani/pedi important projects to take care of too. Ha!

Clear surfaces. I go through the house and do a little surface clearing. I find that clear surfaces and no clutter do a lot for my mood. Typically I’ll start by removing everything from the kitchen counters and giving them a good cleaning. I know that the kids will be bringing home papers and all the things from their desks and lockers so I make sure we’re ready for that by filing or sorting any looming papers and memorabilia.

Eliminate Distractions. Turn off online distractions, notifications, alerts and keep them off for the summer. I get in the habit during the school year of going down the rabbit hole of the internet and I hate the time suck that it can be. Instagram is my weakness. Setting up boundaries for myself now is helpful for when the kids are home – I want to be fully present for them.  To clarify, I am not talking about work-related Instagramming, I am talking about mindless scrolling 🙂

Need a little more direction or want to take a simple, hands-on course to help you get started? My course, Jumpstart Your Routine can help you get started. Regardless of if  you need to reset your home for the summer or if you’ve been dealing with this all-consuming feeling that you can’t get come up for air let alone clean a room for a long time. If you’re the person out there that’s done with it and doesn’t want to feel like this anymore, this course is for you.

I absolutely love helping you feel more confident in your home and spend LESS time cleaning and more time doing what you enjoy doing. But I know that sometimes you feel overwhelmed with all that there is to do. That feeling of not knowing where to even start? That heavy feeling of overwhelm when you walk in your door and see the same mess you’ve been looking at on your counter for the last week? I can tell you from my own research of thousands and thousands of readers and customers that you might be in this same spot too. When I say clean your bathrooms on Monday, you can’t do that because your bathroom counters are too full of stuff to even think about cleaning.

The course is 8-modules / videos of me sitting down and talking you through each step. You’ll go step-by-step, in order – complete the task with your schedule and then move on to the next task. Included is the most darling guide, complete with tasks and checklists designed to remove the overwhelm.