Planning Summer Vacation

I asked Lisa Woodruff, who is a professional organizer, blogger and podcast host at www.organize365.com, to share how she plans her summer vacation! She's sharing how she does it! 

Every Sunday night I sit down and go through my Sunday Basket to plan my week and catch up on my mail. This week I am planning our summer.

   

I could not do nearly the amount of work I do if I did not have a weekly paper organization and planning system.

The Sunday Basket has increased my productivity, reduced our late fees and generally created sanity in our home. If this is the first time you've heard of the term "Sunday Basket," well, that's because I made it up! 

You can read all about how the Sunday Basket came to be here.

I am a very visual person so I like to see my WHOLE summer on one piece of paper. This helps me see where we have too much or too little scheduled.

Then, I number the days of the months using a different colored pen for each month.

 

Planning Summer Vacation using this free printable.

Having this master calendar helps me see how evenly the activities are spaced out, where our annual trip to the beach falls and where we have long stretches of non activity.

I also try to keep some routines in place. Every night, I take my daughter up to the pool to swim for an hour so hubby can get dinner going and relax.

But for our family, the best way to have a routine is to sign the kids up for a camp or program!!

Filling in the calendar

I start planning our summer by adding the 2 activities I know we will do: the week at the beach and our church camp.

Then I use a pencil to add in all the other camps and programs that look interesting to the kids.

I try to find friends to go with them to the camps and trade off weeks with full day camps and less structured weeks.

Next I pick one or two weeks to schedule all the summer doctor appointments: new glasses, yearly physicals, dentist and orthodontist appointments and each of my kiddos sees a specialist. 

After the summer is starting to flesh out I find a tutor and schedule them for about 10 sessions. 

About 2 weeks from the start of school I schedule one day for each of my kids to spend the day with me getting their school supplies, hair cut, new shoes and clothes for back to school.

Download your free summer planning printable here!

Lisa Woodruff is a professional organizer, blogger and podcast host at www.organize365.com. Creating a Sunday Basket is the first step in her 40 Weeks 1 Whole House Challenge.

 

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