In today’s post, I’m sharing a few ways to get ready for a fun and organized summer! I’ll include a few of my top summer organizing tips, ideas for things you can do together as a family, and some sunny decor ideas too. Let’s go!

7 Tips to Reduce your Energy Bill in the Summer Heat

Do you live in a part of the world where the summers can get insanely hot? If you have trouble saving money on your summer energy bills, my friend Leah is here to help you out. In this post, she shares some of the cost-cutting measures she has taken to reduce her electricity bills in hopes that whatever climate you are in, you can do some of them to see savings on YOUR bills. Read her tips here!

Organize a Summer Grab-n-Go Kit

Summer means we’ll be spending lots of time outdoors. Taking a few minutes to organize a summer grab-n-go kit means that you’ll always be ready for whatever outdoor fun the season might bring! No matter how busy your day is, you’ll always be ready to take care of your family. Find out how to make your busy summer days just a little bit easier.

Free Printable Summer Bucket List

Do you have any big plans this summer? Whether it’s time you’ll be spending at home as a family or having adventures elsewhere, you should print out this colorful summer bucket list to help you make sure you don’t miss out on any fun this season! You can’t have a fun AND organized summer without a checklist, right?! Get the printable here.

Organized Family Camping Trips

A couple of years ago, we started a new summer tradition with our kids and friends: annual family camping trips! The plan was for this to become a fun family tradition that our kids and all our friends’ kids look forward to each summer. So in this post, I’m sharing how I plan for our trips and how planning ahead for an organized camping trip is the way to go! There’s even a free printable for you.

How to Plan for an Outdoor Party and Summer Get-togethers

Now that summer is here, it’s time to start thinking about pool parties, BBQs and lots of impromptu outdoor get-togethers! In this post, I give you 8 tips on how to plan for an outdoor party, and what to always have on hand for when your friends drop by. Host the most organized party ever!

Tips & Tricks for Organizing Outdoor Toys

I don’t know about your house but here, the kids are running around enjoying summer, we’re swimming every day and filling the sidewalk with chalk drawings. I’m sharing a few tips for how to organize outdoor items from pool toys, towels, outdoor games, etc. These tips have all come from experience; I’ve tried lots of different things but these are the ones that have worked the best and stood the test of time! ?

DIY Birdhouse Wreath Tutorial

The warm spring and summer seasons bring two great things: bursts of colorful flower blooms, and chirping birds. In this short tutorial, my good friend Bev will show you how to use these timeless accents to make a DIY burlap mesh wreath for your door that will wow the neighbors! Not only is it quick to make, but it’ll last the entire summer. Here’s how to make it!

How to Get Rid of Green Pool Hair

My family lives in the pool during the hot summer months! The only downside to hanging out in the pool all summer is that being a blonde, my hair always ends up turning an off shade of green. If you’re a blonde, you know what I’m talking about. ? Last year my daughter fell in love with swimming too and I noticed her hair was doing the same thing! Instead of spending a ton of money on expensive shampoos, use this super cheap trick instead!

Kitchen Organization Ideas for an Outdoor Kitchen

After our outdoor kitchen construction was finished, I was eager to stock it and organize it. I remember ages ago, when I moved out into my first apartment, my dad took me to Walmart and helped me pick out everything I’d need in my new kitchen. I did the same thing when it was time to stock our outdoor kitchen. We were starting from scratch so I needed all the necessities, including silverware, napkins, plates, bowls, cups, scrub brushes for the dishes, etc. In this post, I share how I organized it all!

Over to You…

I hope you find all of these tips helpful for you when you’re planning your super fun and organized summer! Do you have anything big planned, like a vacation or a family (or solo!) adventure? I’d love you to let me know in the comments so we can all be excited for summer together!

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When you’re selling your home it’s important to make your home as appealing to buyers as possible. This means de-cluttering and organizing specific areas of your home to draw them to the buyer’s attention. Today I’m sharing 4 important tips that are sure to help you get top dollar for your home.

Tip #1

Pack early! I recommend staring to pack as early as possible. This will help clear out excess clutter and the things buyers don’t need to see. You don’t always using everything in your house, and there are definitely things you can live without for a period of time, to make your home more appealing to buyers.

Less is more. The less buyers see of your stuff, the more appealing your home will be, and your house will sell quicker.

Remember when you are packing to throw away, or donate, things that you haven’t used in awhile.  There is no point in moving something you never use!  If you find something and didn’t remember that you owned it you should probably just get rid of it.  Moving is the perfect time to de-clutter your home and it’s my favorite part of moving!!!

Tip #2

Feature your best assets. When buyers walk through your home, the things they are most interested in are the kitchen and bathrooms. Spend a little bit of time and money to make these spaces in your home, the best they could possibly be.

Declutter the kitchen and bathrooms, so there’s nothing on the counters, except for maybe some fresh flowers. And don’t forget the cupboards and drawers! Buyers want to look to see how much space the cupboards have so declutter these areas and make sure they are nicely organized. I purchases these spacers on Amazon and it made a huge difference in how organized my drawers looked!

I highly recommend spending a little bit of money on each of these spaces, to freshen them up. Update mirrors in the bathroom, paint the kitchen and bathrooms with a fresh coat of neutral paint, update the light fixtures, the cupboard knobs & pulls, etc. Anything you update in the space will draw the buyers attention and you’re guaranteed to make your money back when you sell your home!

Tip #3

Since we’re talking about updating, another thing that is sure to draw buyer’s attention, is a neutral color scheme. You might like your bright blue bedroom and the accent wall in your living room, but the buyers won’t. Spend a little bit of time and money to paint over your bright and/or dark colors, with a neutral gray (here are my favorite grays), so the buyers can walk into your home and visualize their things in the space, and not be distracted by your color schemes.

Tip #4

Storage space is king! Buyers want to know your house has all the space it needs to store their stuff.

Declutter and spend some time organizing all your closets so buyers know your home has what they need! If a buyer looks in a closet and see stuff crammed in there, they will automatically assume there isn’t enough storage in the house, which is a huge downfall for you! Your closets are definitely one of the places it’s worth spending a little bit of time money to make them look as good as possible. There are lots of inexpensive options for storage bins on Amazon to help you get started with your organization!

Once all the most important places of your home are cleaned up, decluttered, and freshened up, your home is ready to list! If you follow these tried and true tips your home is sure to sell and you’ll be on your way to your new home. Congratulations and good luck!!!

Here’s a sneak peak at our new space.

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Every home has lots of different types of closets – coat closets, bedroom closets, linen closets, etc. but there are some general rules that apply to every type of closet.

#1 Keep them clean

You might not think about cleaning your closets but trust me, dust and all kinds of things hide in the dark corners of our closets. I recommend every 6 months, removing items from the shelves and wiping them down with an EnviroCloth. Vacuum the floors and make sure to get all the edges and corners too! Keeping shelves clean will keep your closet smelling fresh and keep your clothes from smelling musty and dirty.

#2 Storage

My favorite storage solution for every space are baskets. We have baskets in every closet in our house! Using baskets, boxes or bins to store items helps keep similar items together, it keeps the shelves more organized and they look nice too! It’s a win-win. In our entryway closet I have baskets that hold cleaning items, like my mop attachments and replacement vacuum bags. In our master bedroom I have boxes that store everything from hats to swim suits. In my daughter’s closet I use boxes to store seasonal clothes, keepsake items, and donation items for clothes she’s outgrown.

It doesn’t matter what kind of closet you need to organize, baskets and bins are the solution you’ve been looking for!

#3 Purging

Purging is the number one thing that gets overlooked but it’s probably the most important thing when it comes to keeping your closets cleaned and organized! I guarantee if you commit to purging your closet every 6 months, you’ll never have a problem with clutter and keeping it organized.

Commit to twice a year (I recommend when the seasons change from hot to cold and vice versa) going through your closets and getting rid of anything you haven’t used in the last 6 months. With our bedroom closets I do this every time I swap our winter and summer clothes out, and every time I’m amazed at how much stuff I haven’t worn. Styles change, our taste changes, we buy new clothes, there’s nothing wrong with that, but hording the old things you haven’t worn, or used, will create a problem. Don’t feel guilty about getting rid of stuff, give it to a friend or donate it to a local homeless shelter, this will help them out and keep your space clean!

Our entryway closet is where I keep all our mops, vacuums, etc. and it felt SO good when I purged it this week because it was way overdue! As mops have broken, or I’ve bought new products, I’ve held onto those old ones thinking someday I’d use them again, but you know what, I haven’t and now I have a cluttered closet! It happens to all of us, which is why it’s so important to put those purging dates on the calendar and commit to them.

#4 Think outside the box

I’m very aware that not all closets are created equal. In fact most are designed very poorly with a single shelf, a single clothing rod and some doors – not a whole lot of usable space and a lot of wasted space. This is why it’s so important to think outside the box and not look at the limitations of your space, but at the potential. Use every inch of the space by adding additional shelves, using stackable boxes, even utilize the back of the door!

If you need ideas check out THIS POST I wrote last year, there are lots of great tips and ideas to help you think outside the box with your closet space.

Happy New Year!

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Here’s what you need –

• Clear plastic storage bins
• Label maker
• Trash can, or donation box

Let me explain some of those items. First, I always recommend using clear storage bins because that way it’s easy to see what’s inside of them. You can do different colored bins for each season but personally I think it looks a lot more organized when everything is one color (or in this case clear).

Second, if you’ve never organized your decorations then you will need a trash can, or a donation box, because I guarantee you are storing things you haven’t set out in years. Now is the time to get rid of it! Don’t hold onto it for memories sake, or because you think someday you might use it again, you won’t. You’ll keep buying new things and then your holiday decorations will continue to get more and more cluttered.

Step #1

Go through each season, one at a time, and start by taking everything out that you have for that season. Next look through all your decorations to see if there are any items you haven’t used in the last year or two — those ones go in the trash, or donation box. Look for items that are damaged, those also go in the trash.

Step #2

The next step is to group similar items together. For example, for my Fall decor, all of my pumpkins are in one plastic storage bin, garland is in another, etc.

It’s the same thing for Christmas — garland in one bin, tree decorations in another, mantle items in another, etc. Grouping things together makes it really easy for setting up the decorations each year. If you don’t have time to decorate everything all at once, you can do it one box at a time. Pull down the box you want and just set those decorations out.

Step #3

Labeling each of the bins is really important. This will guarantee you know where everything is, and what is in each box. I use a label maker to label my storage bins, but if you don’t have one, you could write directly on the bin, or tape a paper label to them. The important thing is that each one of them is labeled so you don’t have to waste time looking through all the bins for what you want.

Step #4

How you store you decorations is also important. If possible, store them somewhere cool, so you don’t end up with melted decorations. If you have the space, keep all the decorations together in one place. We have an amazing storage closet downstairs so I have everything on shelves down there.

You can also store them in an attic, basement or garage, whatever is most convenient for you. Keeping everything together in one place will make it easy to find things, it will make it easy to put one season away and pull out the next, and it will make you feel accomplished having everything so nice and organized.

The holidays are the best part of the year, so don’t waste it getting frustrated that you can’t find your favorite decoration. Take a little time, get organized and you won’t ever have to worry about it again! I guarantee that every year when you pull the decorations off the shelf, you’ll thank yourself!

Happy Fall!!

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However when they get home from school, unload their stuff all over the place, then it’s back to chaos. Today I’m going to share some helpful organization tips, that we use in our household, to keep the back to school clutter at bay.

#1 Backpack organization

In our laundry room I have hooks that I hung up just for backpacks, and my daughter’s after school activities. As soon as she walk in the door from school she hangs her backpack on the hook, and she is responsible for taking her lunchbox, water bottle and homework into the kitchen.

Before I installed the hooks I used to find backpacks on the floor in her room, the kitchen, the living room, you name it, I found it there! As soon as I designated a place for the backpacks, and after school activity bags, it drastically cut down the clutter.

#2 Homework station

It is important to have a designated homework station, and time when your kids do their homework, so they know what to expect each day when they get home from school. My youngest knows that as soon as she gets home from school she needs to hang up her backpack, take her things into the kitchen and sit down at the counter to do her homework. I like her to do homework at the counter so I can prep dinner, and help her at the same time. I keep a “junk” drawer in the kitchen that holds pencils, pens, rulers, etc. in it.

If your kids are older, and need a computer for their homework, set up a family computer station, where all the kids can easily access it, and have room to do their homework next to it. Doing homework out in the open will keep them on task because there are less distractions than in their bedrooms, with the door closed.

#3 Planning for lunches

Whether your kids are younger, and you pack their lunches, or they are older, and they pack their lunches, it’s helpful to have a designated area for “lunch approved” items. Set “dry” items near each other in the pantry, and “cold” items near each other in the fridge to make it easy for you to grab things when you’re half asleep in the mornings.

When you make your trips to the grocery store always double check these items to make sure you have enough of everything, otherwise you’ll end up doing what I did last year and run out of bread, and then be scrambling to figure out what the equivalent to a sandwich is, for a 2nd graders lunch! #momfail

#4 Snacks and easy meals for on-the-go sports families

I have a lot of friends that are moms-on-the-go, they pick their kids up from school and then the rest of the day is a flurry of dropping off and picking kids up at various after school activities. I know it’s easy to lose track of time and eat out a lot of the time, but I have a couple quick tips, and ideas, to save you time and money.

1. Purchase a large canvas ice chest (like this one) that fits in the car, near where the kids sit, and some ice/heat packs (like these).
2. Purchase Bento box lunch containers (like these ones), one for each of the kids, and you. Also keep a stash of plastic forks and spoons in the car/side of the ice chest.
3. Have items on hand that are easy to make before hand and take with you in the car, here are a few ideas that are all healthy and rich in protein for active kids:
   1. Bean burritos (wrap them in foil and use a heat pack to keep them warm)
   2. Meat ravioli (cook it before hand and use the heat packs to keep it warm)
   3. Meat sandwiches, or tuna sandwiches
4. When you get home from grocery shopping chop veggies and keep them in large bags so they are quick and easy to throw into the Bento boxes. I recommend sweet bell peppers, grape tomatoes, carrots, etc. Throw in something sweet too, like fruit, or even a little dessert.

Thinking ahead, and doing a little prep work at the beginning of each week, will make it easy to take dinner on-the-go, your family will be eating healthy meals and you’ll save tons of money by not eating out! I call that a win-win-win!

#5 Organizing school clothes

I have found that with daughters there can be a lot of drama when it comes to picking out their school clothes. So, to avoid the drama, my kids pick out their school clothes for each week, on the weekends. We use these weekday Organizables to pick out everything needed from Monday to Friday.

Once all the clothes are picked out for the week, we hang the Organizables in the closet and every night we pull out the one for the next day. Once the clothes go in the bag there is no arguing about the outfit and there is no changing their minds because they got to pick it out – what they are wearing and which day they want to wear it. My youngest thinks long and hard about her decisions because she knows once it’s in the bag, that’s what she’s wearing, but it has also taken all the drama out of picking out outfits!

We also pack activity bags and make sure we have everything we need for piano, gymnastics, etc. for the week, and they get placed on the hooks with the backpacks.

I hope that these back to school tips will help you keep your school year more organized and take all the drama out of homework, making lunches, eating on the go and picking out clothes. These tips have been a game changer for us and have helped me keep my sanity throughout the busy school years. Have a great year!

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