Episode #158 - 🎙️Ready for Summer? Simplify the Plan, Savor the Season

Welcome to Organizing with Ease, where we simplify and organize our lives for the better. I'm Diana Moll, your host, ready to lead you on a journey towards a more organized and enriching life. Together, let's explore practical strategies, inspiring stories, and expert advice to simplify every aspect of our lives. Let's declutter our spaces, free our minds, and cultivate genuine happiness.

Are you ready to embark on this journey with Eve? Let's get started. Ready for summer? Simplify the plan, savor the season. Hello friends and welcome back to Organizing with Eve. I'm your host Diana Moll and we're in the heart of May. Our Simplify Your Day series is in full bloom. If you joined me last week for episode 157, you'll remember we talked about reset zones, your personal pause button in the form of a peaceful space in your home.

This week, we're building on that idea of ease by looking ahead to what's coming. Summer, yes, already. Now, if you're just hearing that word summer, how does your brain, how does your brain think? Is it skipping to sunscreen, snack bags, travel schedules, camp schedules, and wondering what to do with the kids all day? Well, guess what? This episode is for you. Let's walk through some simple ways to plan now so that you can actually enjoy your summer. not just survive it. The May shift, a time to breathe before the busy, the busy for the summer. You may know how May feels. Field trips, final exams, graduation prep, and 15 overlapping end of the year school event. I look at it as November and December combined, all into the month of May. But right underneath the busyness is something else, the promise of slower days. A 2024 survey from the family planning and lifestyle study found that 61 % of families say summer creeps up on them. Are you part of that 61 %? I actually can say I can relate to that percentage. Nearly half feel unprepared by the time June rolls around. And here's the kicker. They also reported that this unpreparedness contributes to the feeling of being more stressed during a season meant for relaxing. is that possible? So let's change that. Let's change that today. Summer planning simplified. Let's get into practical. How can we simplify your summer plan while still leaving room for spontaneity and rest? Family schedule mapping. This isn't about like rigidly like time blocking every single moment of the day from waking up till you go to bed. It's about giving structure to your freedom.

One of my clients is a mom of three and last summer she had everyone's camps and vacations listed on sticky notes on the fridge. Can you just imagine what happened? Half of the notes fell off and then she forgot to register her middle son for soccer camp all together. However, this year we made her a large dry erase board. We broke it down into sections, must do's, want to do's and buffer days.

Why not? She told me this was the first time I feel like summer is something I can actually get to enjoy myself. So here's your takeaway. Create a central summer calendar. Even like even a simple printable or even on a whiteboard will do. Use color coded pens if you are a visual person and block out at least one day a week for absolutely nothing and call it like your free day or your free flow day.

The goal is to schedule space for unscheduling. Now let's go into that vacation prep. Keep it light and flexible. Here's why people overcomplicate. You don't need a binder or a perfectly packed suitcase a month in advance. But some of you might do that, but let's just not go there right now. You need just systems that serve for you. When we took a family trip to the Keys a few summers ago, I realized

I always seem to have forgotten the same things and you're thinking you Deanna forget? Yeah, actually sometimes I really do. But that's why fast forward things have changed when I do my traveling. But now let's just go back at that time. It was the chargers because I always had my chargers in a travel case but unfortunately that travel case always was used by others in the family. Now I have my own travel case with my name on it. But then of course you always wanna keep that after sun lotion.

And then of course, for the girls at the time that they were a little bit younger, they always had their favorites and of course mommy needed to always pack that. But now that they're older, those little trinkets now that they have to do that on themselves. So, but what I did do was I created a reusable vacation essentials checklist. And I actually created it in my notes app. Basically every time that we would travel as a family, I still actually refer it to this day. I've just now updated it a little bit more. And it's just kind of nice to just check these things off. And it also saves so much of a mental load. So again, when we do travel, I do know that my toiletry bag is ready and set to go because of course, when I come back from a trip, what do I do? I replenish my toiletries right then and there so that I do know that my toiletries are set for my next trip. What you wanna also try to consider is setting up a staging area at the home.

Use like a tote pin or like a shelf near your entryway and slowly start placing summer items there. Beach bags, goggles, travel sized toiletries, power banks for those chargers, all those cables. You might want to also invest in a charger for travel so that you can put all of your cables and batteries in there. Those are game changers. These also can be found on Amazon and I actually will share with you in my show notes which one I use for travel.

That way, nothing gets forgotten in the right. Here's how to apply the fresh start method to your summer planning. Open up your calendar and just get honest. Like what's already filling up your June and July? Are you already overcommitting yourself? And if you are saying yes, when you want to say, really say no, start sorting what feels exciting versus what feels heavy. Reduce and evaluate the second step. Cancel or simplify where needed.

Maybe you combine two barbecues into one weekend, or take a year off from hosting a massive 4th of July bash. Maybe take it off campus, so to speak, and have everyone go to a specific location, and then give them all specific B.I.Y.s, bring your own dish, or create a chat so that everybody knows what everybody is bringing. But what you want to do is you want to give yourself permission to choose rest. And you do want to ask yourself, does this plan bring me a connection or does it bring me complete chaos? You might want to use visual tools. Again, you might want to use that family bulletin board, that dry erase board if you wanted to, a Google calendar with shared access, a printed weekly sheet on the fridge. If not, put it on a cork board off to the side if you wanted to. Also, add a vibe.

You're like, what a vibe, sure. A seasonal summer playlist, why not? I love music, I love playing music. So I'm actually gonna create a new summer playlist. What about maybe if you like this, summer sent a diffuser for the home. Actually even maybe setting aside quote unquote a summer tablecloth for your table or maybe even your countertop if you actually do that or on your island if you wanted to. Bring flowers if that would make you feel. a little bit more summery or maybe giving you that beachy feel inside. These are things that bring rhythm and energy into the home. And what you wanna do is you wanna check in every Sunday. Look at the week ahead. Just like we do with the other months of the year, you wanna also do it for the summer. Do we have too much planned? Is there room to breathe? Is everyone getting a chance to rest, including myself? because sometimes, well, maybe most of the time, I'm always the last to rest. Then adjust little by little. That's how summer stays enjoyable and not exhausting. So here's the challenge for the week. Grab a notebook and make three simple lists. You ready? Number one, a must do this summer. These are your non-negotiables. A family trip, medical appointments.

Maybe even summer reading goals. Or what about even exercising? Number two, would love to do. So number one is must do this summer. Number two is would love to do. Think beach days, game nights, camping, parties, dance parties maybe even, right? And number three, only if there's time. Maybe optional ideas that you don't need to force. Just say maybe some deep decluttering or maybe starting a new course. or joining a book club, then schedule just one joy fulfilled activity this week and include something for you. Now, if the kids are home, create a light structure. I'm just sharing with you that is always still needed in summertime, even though it's not the school time, summertime still does need some type of a structure for your kids.

And my book recommendation of the week is Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adashi. This book is a light, warm hug and a kick into the pants at the same time. Kendra reminds us to be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Her practical guilt-free approach is perfect for anyone trying to simplify without losing their mind. That's what I need. I don't want to lose my mind. If you don't design your summer, someone else will by Gretchen Rubin.

Number four, make summer planning work for you, not the other way around. Now, I want to slow it down and just talk to you like I would to a friend over coffee, because I know you're probably thinking, okay, Deanna, I so love the idea of planning ahead, but I actually just barely made it through spring. And guess what? I hear you. I totally hear you. That is exactly why summer has to feel different.

It's not about doing more. It's about doing things differently with intention. So let me tell you about a time I didn't do this. All right, you ready? This was the year of the nonstop juice boxes. Okay, are you listening? Are you laughing? Are you just thinking what? So, you know, a couple of summers ago, maybe even longer when my youngest was going through the juice box and snack every 30 minute phase.

Do you have one of those kids? Maybe you have all of those kids. Maybe not. Maybe you have the friends of the friends that are that. But any event, anyone with young kids, you get it, right? I had no plan. I had no rhythm. I had no prep. Just survival mode. The fridge was a complete mess. The days were a complete blur, completely altogether. I can tell you that right now. And by July, I actually started to not like summer. Like I was resenting it. I felt like it was a...

Like I was a cruise director, you hear me? Short order cook and you know, there was a complaint hotline all rolled in one. But you know what? Here we go. What changed? I created a snack bin system. Yes, you heard me right. I prepped grab and go lunches and I wrote snack time 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. There you have it. Put it on the board and I had to stick to it because I needed to keep myself sane.

I even included them in the planning. What snacks do you want this week? Let's pick three. You pick three. We'll do it together. And guess what? The snack whining dropped and I felt less needed in the best way possible. Try this. Create one low effort summer system this week. Examples. A weekly meal plan. A snack bin. What about a shared whiteboard for the day's schedule? Or even this, try this one. making a morning checklist for the kids. What does that mean? What would I include in this? Okay, basic, ready? Brush your teeth, make the bed, play outside. There you have it. Three basic things to do, right? It doesn't need to be perfect. It just has to give you some sort of air, like so that you could breathe, something, just something for yourself. Give yourself permission to slow down. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about you, not your kids. not your family, not your clients, not your neighbor who somehow already has matching outfits picked out already for the 4th of July. Do you have one of those neighbors? What do you need this summer? What about journal prompt for the week? Okay, you ready? I'm gonna give you an example of this. you might wanna think about this while I'm saying it and then I'll repeat it again. But here I'm gonna read out some sentence, a sentence and you can maybe fill in the blanks.

When I imagine a peaceful summer, I feel blank. I hear blank. I need more blank and less of blank. I'm letting go of. This isn't fluff, it's just clarity. You can't plan for a peaceful summer if you don't know what it looks like for you. So here we go again. When I imagine a peaceful summer, I feel, I hear,

I need more of and less of, and I'm letting go of. That's for you on one of your homework assignments for this week. Okay, so the summer of saying no. I worked with a client who used to say yes to everything. When I mean everything, everything. To organizing the block parties in the neighborhood, hosting family from out of town always because of course, what do they do? They have more than one guest room, managing the carpool and coordinating all those swim meets.

She came to me in July and said, I'm not enjoying anything, nothing at all. So we sat down, we literally drew a line in the sand and made a list of everything she could opt out of, or basically even better, delegate. She decided not to host the 4th of July. She skipped the last week of day camp and booked two days at a local hotel with, guess what, her own room.

She told me that summer didn't look like that Instagram worthy pictures, but you know what? She didn't care because she felt rested and she remembered what it felt like just to be, which is kind of nice. And that's it. That's the win. So your challenge this week is to say no to one thing, one invitation, one task, one guilt laden expectation and say yes to the moment of.

Mini to-do list for a calm summer setup. Try tackling just one of these this week. Print out a blank June and July calendar and pencil it in downtime. Absolutely. If you don't want to print it out, put it your digital calendar. Set up a summer bin near your front door with sunscreen, bug spray, goggles, towels. If you don't want to do it by your front door, do it by the kitchen, going out onto your patio.

If not, put it then by your laundry room into the garage. Create phone notes for what? Why not? Summer meals. To rotate, you could do your taco, you could do pasta salad, you can do grill out, et cetera. Choose a theme for weeks if you wanted to. A chill week, explore your city week, nature week, out of town week, whatever. Text a friend now and set up a play date swap or a co-working day. Build in the community.

Your summer doesn't have to be epic. It just has to be yours. So here's another final challenge for the week. Make a list of three things you want to feel this summer. Calm, connected, or creative. Then, next to each of those words, write one small action that supports it. Calm could be a no tech hour each day. Connected could be Friday family dinner. And creative could be...

I don't know, watercolor painting on a patio on a Sunday? Could be. Then look at your week. Where can these little moments fit in? And that brings us to the end of this week's episode. Let's do a quick recap moment, okay? We're gonna do a real, we talked about the beauty of May, not just as a seasonal of the blooms, but as your personal invitation to slow down before summer takes over.

We walk through how to simplify your summer plannings with just few intentional steps, mapping out your schedule, prepping vacation must haves, and giving your kids and yourself a little rhythm that makes daily life feel smoother. And of course, we use the fresh start method to guide you in creating a summer that feels like less than a race and more like a breath of fresh air. One decision, one boundary, one moment of joy at time.

Remember, you don't need to do it all. You just need to do what matters most to who, to you. So your challenge this week is really simple. Pick one thing to say no and one thing that brings you joy just for you. Whether that's starting a summer bin, saying yes to a quiet moment or penciling in a to-do-nothing day, this is your season to reclaim ease. And I just want to say that next week, I'm really excited because we're going to be talking about navigating the middle of the day, maybe that chaotic midday slump and you're probably like, what? Yes, I'm going to be covering all of that. So no worries until then step by step, little by little, we are building a summer that feels great. I'm cheering you on my friend. See you next Thursday. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe to organizing with these podcasts. on your favorite podcast platform and leave us a review. Your feedback helps us grow and reach more listeners like you who are passionate about living their best lives. And remember, a new episode comes out every Thursday at 8 a.m. So mark your calendar and join us. Until next week, take care and keep shining bright.