Five Ways to REORGANIZE...and Beat the Mid-Summer Blahs!Here we are...halfway through summer already! Can you believe it? They are already showing "Back to School" commercials on TV. If your family is like mine, you may have let a lot of things slide through the summer. Schedules and routines tend to be forgotten, the house is a mess because everyone is here all the time making messes (and not cleaning up after themselves), vacation is over, and the kids are bored. We didn't start out the summer planning for it to end up this way. It just kind of happened. We call it "The Mid-Summer Blahs".
It's not that there's anything wrong with letting things slide a little and taking it easy once in awhile. It's just really hard to get back on track sometimes. Our family decided that we weren't going to spend the rest of our precious summer wasting the days away. We picked five things to work on this week to help us enjoy the rest of our summer and start getting ready to go back to school. We hope you can use these tips to help your family too! 1. Routines You're probably still using routines to some extent. They've just changed a little for the summer. Now would be a good time to start working your way back to the routines that you'll be using during the school year. That way, everyone will be used to them by the time school starts and the transition will be much smoother. Remember...the more change that kids have to deal with at one time, the more stressful it will be on the whole family. Make things as stress-free for your family as possible. 2. Chores Let's get those chore charts out and dust them off! Maybe some special summertime treats would be good rewards for doing chores...playing in the sprinkler, a trip to the ice cream store, or making some homemade popsicles together. Be creative and make it fun! 3. Learning Time Even the best students lose some of their learning over the summer months. Why not give your kids a boost and work some learning time into your day? It doesn't have to be like school. Share a book, play a game that requires math skills, or have them write a story. Most kids really enjoy keeping a journal. Even younger kids who can't write words yet can use a journal and draw pictures to tell their story. 4. Menus I admit it...Mom's gotten lazy too this summer. I don't think I've planned a meal in advance all summer. You can tell by looking at my pantry too. I'll decide to cook something, and then I don't have the ingredients to make it. Well, it's time to get back to meal planning too. It's just so much easier when I'm organized! 5. Clean House This is a big one, but it must be done. Start by picking up the clutter. Then do a good cleaning. Finally, work on cleaning out. Take it one room at a time. Don't let yourself get overwhelmed or you'll give up. One really important tip: Go through the kids clothes before you buy school clothes! You'll have room in the closets because they won't be filled with clothes that don't fit. You might even save some money on school clothes because you'll really know what your kids already have and what they still need. We hope that you'll be able to use these five tips to beat the mid-summer blahs and get prepared for the school year. For more great ideas on how to get organized, visit
www.get-organized-mom.com
. Visit www.get-organized-mom.com for lots of great information to bring calm to the chaos of life! |
