In my mind, I have a lovely Summer planned which will allow me to successfully juggle my work and my blogging as well as making sure that I have more than enough time to spend with the kids enjoying long lazy days in the sunshine.
Whether that actually happens or not is another matter but I’m going to have a good go! 😉
I shared a post last week about how I cope with the Summer Holidays as a working mum and manage working AND family time AND blogging without having a nervous breakdown. I wanted to follow on from that post a little bit this week and share some of the things that I use to help me stay sane over the Summer while I’m juggling everything I need to get done.
1. Make sure you have a plan!
There are lots of reasons why having a Summer Holiday plan is essential to our family but the main ones are budget and organisation!
Budget – I don’t want to be bankrupt by the end of the Summer and I certainly don’t want to spend a fortune over the six weeks but I do have some extra money to spend so I want to spend it well and make sure it lasts for as long as we need it to. Planning our activities (even just roughly) means that I can is up the trips or activities that will cost money with the free days out and the days at home.
Organisation – There are a lot of free events go on in the various museums and parks around us in the Summer and I like to find out about them in advance so we can take full advantage. Once I have a rough idea of these days then I can plan the ‘big’ days out around them.
We don’t stick to our plan rigidly and plans change frequently but it’s good to have a guide so we don’t miss out on some of the great free activities or cram all the big days out into the start of the holidays then have no money left for the rest.
Here’s a couple of posts that might help with planning your days:
Planning the best Summer Holidays every…. Part One.
Planning the best Summer Holidays every…. Part Two.
They’re from a few years ago but I still plan in the same way. 😉
2. Have a bucket list or a list of ideas!
Have you ever spent ages deciding as a family what you want to do and trying to find something you all agree on? It can be a nightmare so we have a list of ideas that I print out and we just work our way down the list until we find something we want to do. In the past we’ve added some of the things we know we want to do to our plan so we make sure we have the time to do it!
There are more Summer Holiday ideas here too.
3. Stop the Boredom!
I hate the kids telling me that they’re bored so over the years, I’ve made a couple of bored jars which are filled with ideas for things to do when the kids are bored. I have one for younger children and one that I made when my two got a bit older….
You can find out about my bored jar for older children here and even print out all of the ideas I’ve used.
And here are all of the ideas that I had for our bored jar when the kids were younger….
I even have a fridge door printable that I love as it gives the kids more scope to come up with their own activity.
4) Cut down on any attitude!
I’m good with the kids using electronics and have very few screen time rules because they’re pretty good with them on the whole and mixed in with everything else that we do I genuinely don’t have a problem with them. They are great for discipline here though as any moderate attitude or poor behaviour means that the kids electronics take a trip to the electronics prison where the only way to get parole is to change your attitude and do one extra chore.
5. Keep track of your own to do list!
I find that I always feel better when I’m feeling in control of everything which is why in the past I’ve struggled a bit with the holidays as I can get so far behind that I lose track. This year Ill be printing out one of my daily trackers every day to make sure I keep on top of everything and prioritise where I need to.
Do you have a Summer Sanity Saver that I should know about?
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