A two-weeks-left bucket list update
My annual summer bucket list isn't a list of things I want to do before I die; rather, it's a list of things I want to do before summer kicks the bucket.
We start school two weeks from today. Which means I haven't got much time left to finish knocking things out on my list.
Plan/Sign Up for 2016-2017 school.
Totally DONE. Books are here for homeschool, Joshua's signed up for college classes with books in hand, and Lisey's tutorial stuff is all taken care of too.
Oh, except I'm waiting to hear what books I need to buy for her two classes. So I guess I'm not quite done.
Declutter my house.
Sonia and Zoe I tackled their room yesterday, and after 3-4 hours, we can call that job done. I posted photos on Instagram as we worked, and you can see those photos here, even if you don't have a smartphone.
my roomthe living roomthe kitchenSonia and Zoe's room- the office (started on this)
- the laundry room
my bathroom- the under-stairs closet
Make photo books.
Nothing done here.
Make new chore lists.
Done.
Teach my kids to do their own laundry.
Done!
Power-wash and restain the deck.
Powerwashing is done. Staining, not so much. But some sunny days in the 80s are promised for this week, so maaaaybe I will get this done.
Paint my front door. And the trim above it.
I painted the trim above the door, but I think I've decided to paint the actual door in the fall, when it won't be such a buggy, hot situation.
So, I'm crossing this off for now.
Paint my mailbox and post, and buy new numbers for it.
Done!
Paint my shutters.
Done!
Paint my laundry room.
Nope.
Get my kids to the pool at least once a week.
Yep.
Keep my kids supplied with books.
Yep.
Go see three movies.
Done! We saw the BFG at a matinee. Then we saw Alice Through The Looking Glass and Finding Dory at the cheap theater.
Based on your feedback, we decided to wait to see The Secret Life of Pets when it hits the cheap theater.
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So, I have 3 areas left to declutter (laundry room, under stairs closet, and office), I want to stain my deck and paint my laundry room, and I'd like to do at least one photo book.
I can totally get that done in two weeks.
I think.
If you have a summer bucket list, feel free to share your progress here each month too (and link us up to your bucket list if you blog!)
Would you mind sharing what is on your kids' chore list? I need to revamp ours, so I'd like some fresh ideas. Thanks!
Wow! Hurrah for you and yours, Kristen, on decluttering project, . Back in July, I endured two weeks' of high anxiety and panic states undertaking to declutter kitchen island and oak-kitchen table which substitutes for a study desk. The evidence is that these surfaces are observable since several layers' of stuff have been cleared and placed in boxes.
Part of the time I had a sense I was kind-of 'rearranging the clutter'. Once I had related materials in boxes, I felt confident the clutter was truly becoming uncluttered.
I have basically succeeded in these tasks' and i believe ready to resume college class (another organizing challenge) in Sept. with a fair degree of order in place and with lessened high anxiety.
A loud round of applause for you and yours, Kristin.
Richard Zorniak
from Beauty-full Vancouver BC, tonight.
If I had your list, my answer as to whether it could be done in 2 weeks would depend on whether I was decluttering by myself or if someone else had to participate. If the former, then absolutely ... unless there's a lot of paper involved. If the later, then who knows.
Recently I've been on an fed up, declutter the damn stuff, and make it look good tear. I even bought things to help, such as nicer photo frames [1] and covered wicker baskets. I'm happy with the results and find my decluttered, prettified spaces much more relaxing.
[1] To give you an idea of how unnice the frames were, the "nicer" ones came from Michael's.
What you can get done in 2 weeks would take me a few months. It's encouraging to know that has my littles grow past the infant/toddler stages I will once again be able to move through lists with more efficiency!
Good Morning!
Lovely post and very inspiring...
I have two quick questions and you may have already answered them in another post?
1. Where do you get your photo books, and are they just photos inside, or do you have space to write as well? I love the covers!!
2. Can you share with us your chore lists and how you made them. They look attractive, efficient, and easily read. ;o)
My very favorite photo book service is Adorama Pix: https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2014/11/so-i-tried-out-an-adoramapix-photo-book-and-im-giving-10-away/
I've also made a lot of books with MyPublisher, which isn't quite as high quality as Adorama. You can see my My Publisher books here: https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2013/07/thoughts-on-my-publisher-photo-books/
And here: https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/7-tips-for-making-great-mypublisher-photo-books/
Several of you asked about chore lists, so I'll write a post about that. I just print 'em up in Microsoft Word...easy peasy!
- move into my own apartment - everything is set up for this except insurance, and move in date is set for mid- September
- go to the beach with friends- Done!
- read 12 books - I've read 5, but started about 4 others.
- start blogging again (1 post per week)- I blogged once
- train for and do triathlon- Swam 3-4x, regularly working out, registered!
- transcribe family interviews - Nope.
- watch Olympics!- Done!
- make a budget - Done!
- register to design t-shirts - Nope.
- buy a bike - Looked at a store and on Craigs List- work in progress.
Man, I can't believe summer is almost ending! Although I do have to say I LOVE fall (it's an excuse to eat pumpkin everything), and the cooler weather.
For the rest of summer (which is unfortunately until October in Texas), I want to start decluttering our house as well. If all goes well, we'll be closing on a house in the coming weeks, which means renovating and moving. I think it'll be a much easier process with less stuff to move!
And hopefully we can make some quick cash at either consignment shops or Craigslist off our stuff!
Congrats on the house! Moving is a GREAT time to declutter.
Hi Kristen!
How does a homeschool tutorial work?
A tutorial is a service that comes alongside homeschooling families, but doesn't replace the homeschooling parent. So, the kids go to a class once or twice a week (depending on the tutorial) and get sent home with homework, but it's a little different from school in that the parent still assigns the grade.
It's a bit of a hybrid approach to homeschooling. Lisey is just taking two classes there and she's doing the rest of her subjects at home with me. I think this will be a good way to get a taste of the classroom environment before she starts dual enrollment at the community college next year.
We start school in 2 weeks, too. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one starting that late in the year. We have a trip to a conference that will take all next week, so this is my last week to get things done. I was feeling really stressed about it this morning, but I have knocked almost everything off my list, so I can breathe a little better.
My main things to do this year were study French (my 2nd language, needs much improvement) while learning Bambara (my 3rd language, a hard one for an English speaker to learn.) That was the main focus of my summer in addition to doing a few school things with my kids to reinforce some things. Last school year we were on 4 continents, and I felt like a few subjects suffered. I still have four small things on my list, and I'll be ready for the start of school.
My kid also starts school in a week (august 31st). Is this late??? It's our usual (Canada).
Do NOT waste your money on secret life of pets. We see one movie a summer at the theater and that was ours. It had great potential. All the best parts are in the previews. The bunny is violent and so much talk and attempts at "murder". Nonsense and such an inappropriate storyline and language for a kids movie. Waste of money ...we almost walked out I have 3 kids ages4-8 Maybe ok for older but I still think it's just Violent junk with horrible storyline! If you must, just wait until you can rent it....that way it'll be 5$ once and not for each person.
I make a list of things I want to do each summer too. As a school teacher, it is time for me to focus and not be rushed. I have 11 days left, and 2 days of inservice before school starts. I've crossed about 6 items off my list, all of which pertain to my daughter, who went back to school last week.
Still on my list: prep my classroom, house clean/spring clean the entire house, call the university to see about another major, spend some time scrapbooking and get my daughter on a horse. Today I focused on the inside of my eyelids as I was not feeling well.
Feel better soon!
Today is the last day of my summer, and I am totally not done!
But I did accomplish a bunch of other things that came up unexpectedly.
And I make a fair amount of progress on my comps lists, potty trained the two year old, and kept the kids in books. So I am happy with that.
Potty training is a HUGE accomplishment. Woohoo!
I did some things on my list, and did some things not on my list, and some things.... just didn't get done. Since I work year round, summer is actually no better for me than any other time of year for planning projects, but the old habit from my school days of seeing summer as time off dies hard. Summer is also too hot for some projects, especially this summer (can I get a witness from Kristen and others?) Still, I did a few things, mostly some organization that really needed done. I finished making a headband for my granddaughter and it fit, so now on to making some more in the same style, I reorganized a linen closet (planned) and my gift wrap closet (unplanned), plus a closet in a former kid's room (unplanned). I went through clothes to donate, bought several Christmas gifts, and actually read a few more books (all planned), hallelujah.
I'm curious about your deck power washing/staining experience. Our new home has a wooden deck that needs both and our research so far seems to indicate that we could damage things easily without experience power washing and that staining is time consuming. I'm a little nervous about damaging something if DIY doesn't go well. Any tips from your experience?
Ah, thanks for explaining, Kristen!
Hello Kristen,
May I request a clear-er picture of the chore list? It will be really helpful since I am working on a chore list :).
Thank you.
My plan is completely unrealistic due to car wreck injuries. So the new plan is to utilize the bucket. Perhaps I can prop my feet on it and watch the sun go down. Maybe I will fill it with popcorn and watch a movie. The best thing about bucket plans is you can adjust them accordingly. In an emergency, I will fill it with jelly belly beans and pick out my favorite ones. I guess I have a bucket of lemons so lemonade is next. patience is a virtue. I don't think I have any of it though.
Love your take on the bucket part of a bucket list but sorry to hear about your injuries that prompted it.
Well, I had to go back to your June posts and find my own bucket list....
which was :
– Get my kids to the pool once a week
– Read outside, in my lounge chair, under my favorite tree, at least once a week
– Eat outside more, go for picnics with the kids, spend time in our backyard, BBQ at least once a week
– Stick to my goal of 300 minutes of exercice per week
I did not do as good as you. One of my kid went to the pool/lake at least once a week (more actually) as part of camp activities, but the other one didn't (we went maybe 4-5 times during the summer). I am NOW planning to bring the young one once a week......
I didn't use my lounge chair once!! And it's been put back in storage yesterday, so....
Can't remember the last BBQ. July?? Yeah....
I did about 250 minutes of exercice per week, so that's not bad.
All and all, not so good.... Still a great summer. I did start working full time again this summer so this changes things.
Great Job Kristen!!