Summer Bucket List | 2016
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.
I think this may be the latest I've ever done a summer bucket list.
(Update: just checked, and yes, this is my tardiest list ever.)
But! There are still a solid two months of summer left, which leaves me with a fair amount of time to finish tasks and also get fun things done.
Plan/Sign Up for 2016-2017 school.
Joshua: I've got to sign him up for college classes and also get curriculum for some subjects he'll still be doing at home.
It's his senior year, people. I have a senior. What the what?
Lisey: I think I'm going to have her take a few classes at a tutorial, so I need to figure all of that out. And then I'll need to sort out what books/resources she needs for her at-home classes.
Sonia and Zoe: They're easy! Nothing much is going to change for them this year, so I mainly need to buy some consumables and then we'll be good to go.
Declutter my house.
I did my linen closet and coat closet already, plus the kids' bathroom, so here's what's left:
- my room
- the living room (should be EASY)
- the kitchen (the dining room has nothing in it but a table and chairs, so it's good to go)
- Sonia and Zoe's room (they did work on this themselves, but they need some help for a deep decluttering)
- the office
- the laundry room
- my bathroom (should be quick and easy because it's tiny. Not much stuff can go in there!)
- the under-stairs closet
Make photo books.
You guys, I am woefully behind on doing photo books. I was doing so well there for a while, even getting caught up on my backlog of photos, but now I'm a good two years behind again.
I need to buy a Groupon or something, to light a fire under me.
Make new chore lists.
These need some tinkering, especially since Joshua has a job and college classes, and isn't here for some meals.
Teach my kids to do their own laundry.
When I did my time-tracking exercise, I noticed that laundry was consuming a fair number of hours. So, I'm delegating!
My kids already fold and put away their laundry, but I've been doing the washing and the drying.
Joshua and Lisey will do their own separately, and Sonia and Zoe will work together to wash their laundry, since they share a hamper.
Power-wash and restain the deck.
It's been a good 6 years since we did this, and the deck definitely needs a re-do.
Paint my front door. And the trim above it.
The front door never got painted (Do you like how I used the passive voice there? Ha.), so it's just been sitting there with its factory primer on it for a REALLY long time.
We did paint the trim above the door years ago, but it needs a fresh coat.
Painting the trim will be easy, but I've never painted a door before, so that will be an adventure.
Paint my mailbox and post, and buy new numbers for it.
I think this will be a fun and easy project.
I like fun and easy. So much more fabulous than un-fun and difficult projects.
Paint my laundry room.
I halfway did this when we bought the house (ummm, 11 years ago) and never finished. Since my kids' rooms are all painted now, this seems like a good summer to finish what I started.
Do you see the tan paint there on the back wall? I'm going to cover it all!
Get my kids to the pool at least once a week.
Our neighbor with the pool has moved (goodbye, backyard pool access!), so I'm not sure my usual goal of twice a week is realistic because my parents' pool is a farther drive.
But I'd at least like to make this happen once a week.
Keep my kids supplied with books.
Sonia and Zoe especially love to read during the summer, so I need to keep a steady stream of library books flowing for them.
Go see three movies.
We have a cheap theater close by, and there are also the $1 Regal summer movies.
And I'm feeling pretty sure that we are going to spring for a matinee showing of The BFG at the regular theater when it comes out (which is less of a spring than a prime-time movie, but even matinee prices add up with six people!)
Write to my grandpa three times.
He's 99 (still living in his house, which is great), and even though his short-term memory isn't great these days, he does seem to enjoy getting letters from me.
So, I want to do a June, July, and August letter. And maybe include some photos.
_________________
Considering that I've just got a little over two months of summer left, I think this is probably an ambitious-enough list.
Of course, if by some miracle I finish all this with weeks left in summer, I can always add new stuff. 😉
I'll report back on any progress at the beginning of July, with another report at the beginning of August and September.
If you have a summer bucket list you blogged about, feel free to share your progress here each month too (and link us up to your bucket list if you'd like!)
I don't have a bucket list this year, mostly because I'm working on one big, overarching goal: saving up a down payment for our first house. So I've been getting up at 5:30 to work until the kids get up.
I love the idea of writing an elderly relative a letter. I sometimes feel bad that I don't get to visit my 96-year-old grandmother often. I think I'll drop her a line along with some new pics of the kids. A letter is nice because it can be read over and over - especially helpful with an old person who may be having memory problems.
You should move painting your door to the top of the list. Ours is only factory primed and needs painted too. It's been like that since we moved in over a decade ago.You to figure out the details, and I'll learn from you. 🙂
I agree. We just moved in to our "new to us" home last week and the front door is in desperate need of paint. I would love your tutorial!
Here is a great door-painting tutorial that I have used, from one of my favorite frugal bloggers, Thrifty Decor Chick!
http://www.thriftydecorchick.com/2011/10/how-to-paint-door.html
I was hoping this would be today's post! Your list always inspires me.
I'm moving cross country (2,511 miles) in early August and having baby #4 in early September, so my summer bucket list is pretty unconventional. In the next five weeks I need to finish decluttering the entire apartment before the moving company comes. The road trip/move will be somewhere between six and eight days, so I'm working on finding fun sightseeing adventures along the way. Finally, we hope to put an offer on a home within a week of arriving in our new city. After that, we'll have about a month to explore new libraries and parks while swimming in the hotel pool most days. The baby's arrival will top off our crazy summer.
By the time we close on our new house it will be autumn, and I'm assuming that to-do list will have a lot of minor home repair projects like your list. 🙂
Wow! What a summer of adventures! Congrats!
Summer bucket list time!
Last year my bucket list sucked because we had just moved into our new house, was still caring for the old unsold one at the same time, and that summer was work-work-work on houses. But this year it's different, and much more enjoyable. So here's my summer bucket list :
- Get my kids to the pool once a week also
- 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, even when on vacation (next week!!)
I love summer!!
This is a great idea!
This summer I want to:
1. Buy a house. Oh please oh please, I want to buy a house so badly. Mr. Picky Pincher and I have been looking for a week and it's easy to get discouraged. Sigh.
2. Scrapbook our honeymoon photos. We've been married for over a year and I still haven't scrapbooked our honeymoon pictures. Oops! It's hard to do in such a small apartment, but I need to stop making excuses. 🙂
3. Sew more. I have fabric cut out right now (that I bought for cheap at Goodwill!) to practice making a peplum shirt. We'll see how this goes!
4. Read more. I have several books from the library sitting on my shelf. I've been so focused on blogging lately that I've neglected to read as much as I should!
Mrs. PP, your first item scares me. A LOT. A house is arguably the biggest purchase you'll ever make. It is not something to be rushed into, as mistakes cannot be easily or inexpensively undone. It is fiscally unwise to get all emotionally attached to a particular house during the search process.
So, please, oh please allow me to get out my megaphone to shout "Slow the heck down!" No good comes from rushing into a house purchase.
Owning a home will not make your life perfect. In fact, home ownership comes with its own set of extensive and frequently expensive challenges and frustrations. Take your time. Be patient. There is never just one perfect house. In fact, there is no perfect house. What makes it come close is the life you build with the people inside the house and in your community, so choosing wisely is crucial to your future happiness.
Amen, Diane.
Mrs. Picky Pincher, there will always be houses and maybe the right one for you isn't on the market until next week. It will all work out.
And while you're waiting, save as much as you can. 😉
Thanks for educating me on what a peplum shirt is, too! Happy sewing -- I hope it turns out great! And the honeymoon scrapbook, too... (I know all about unfinished scrapbooks, ahem)!
I second all the "no rush" advice. It's hard to find a house that is right. The last time I was house-hunting (in the wake of a divorce and being very stressed out), I looked at hundreds of houses, both online and in person, over the course of 6 months. There were only 3 that seemed right for me, and the first two fell through. The last house is perfect for me; I am so happy here. It was so worth the wait and all the looking. One thing about looking at tons of houses is that you find out what you like and what you really want and what you really don't need. I had three things I really wanted: one floor (better for aging in place), a fireplace and a full dining room. There are tons of smaller houses that don't have a full dining room and that was a big no no for me.
Good luck and enjoy the hunt! It can be tons of fun.
It took me 7 months to find a house I liked, and that was in an area I was supremely familiar with and already having sufficient financing lined up. Take your time, don't jump on the first thing you like, use the first few weeks or months to learn what you do and don't like.
Katy Riker - your comment about the dining room make me chuckle, because I removed the dining room from the house I bought. Took that wall right out and made the kitchen into a kitchen + "family" room - one giant rectangle separated by an island large enough to be called a continent. Never regretted it for a minute.
That said, when you find "the one" you'll know! We visited about 5 houses and then we visited OUR house and it was love at first sight. It had everything we possibly wanted. A year later I am still completely in love with my house!! But it is a crazy-big decision to make.
Since we are, in essence, talking to someone else, I am going to disagree about knowing "the one" when you see it. Some will know - which is terrific when it happens - and some won't.
The important thing, in my judgement, is to have the knowledge/experience to recognize what is and is not a good place for you to buy; to be able to look beyond the superficial (such as the staging) to see the underlying fundementals, determine what features are important to you, assess the neighborhood, and so on.
Of course WilliamB, you also need judgement. But, this is common sense... no? You can't buy a house juste because "it's sooooo cute".
Don't rush the house. We are moving in three years and my husband and I have been casually checking out towns/neighborhoods in our (very wide) target area for two years. We will continue to do this for another 18 months and narrow it down based on our criteria. We will attend open houses in our target areas and do final research for another year to fully educate ourselves on what is available in our price range and hopefully during the last six months before we move find and put an offer on our new home.
I house hunted for three years. I gave up in April 2015, convinced that what I was looking for didn't exist. In October 2015, I walked past a building with a for-sale sign, viewed it, and made an offer two days later. I moved in a week before Christmas. When you find it, you find it.
That said, I could only do it that quickly because I knew exactly what I wanted, and exactly what I was prepared to pay. It is absolutely fine to fall in love with a house and buy in a hurry; just make sure you only fall in love with things you can afford (so no looking at stuff that's beyond your budget, even if the realtor says the owner will entertain offers!) and be prepared to walk away if it doesn't go exactly as you need it to. Also remember to budget for legal, closing and moving costs - they add up!
Love the house hunting comments. We looked for a house for over a year, we ended up building and it was the right way to go for us. We have a basic ranch with the most awesome yard around. My neighbors call me in spring to tell me how much they love when our trees bloom.
My in-laws were looking for a house or condo and looked 2. They looked at a 3rd one not yet listed and bought it on the spot. It was the right choice for them. When you walk in their door the condo screams..ahhh...love it.
Oooh. Bucket lists!
- paint our living room to complement the new-to-us much larger sectional and new rug. I'm thinking a cool medium grey. The room has a ton of light, white curtains and a very light floor, not to mention and entire wall of white-matted family photos. I think it can take the darker color and it would amp up the cozy.
- Paint oldest child's room. Also grey, oddly. He wants grey with the wainscoting in white, orange curtains and a huge BB-8 poster.
- weekly trips to the pool. The kids can all half-swim but they need practice. Also...slides.
- weekly trip to parks around town. I am planning on going to some parks that we haven't been to because they are a bit far away. A couple are considered the best in the city.
- sign up my artistic oldest son for new art classes. He used to go but we have been swamped with tutoring and haven't gone in over 2 years. He misses it. There is talk of glassblowing. O.O
- have more parties/friends over for dinner this summer...already had one for husband's 40th birthday
- declutter the basement to prepare for some mini-reno down there this winter.
- continue my workout plan with 2 runs, 2 weight sessions and one Pilates.
- the kids are doing some daily math facts and one needs to be made to read all summer due to comprehension challenges. The other two read a ton on thwir own.
Whew! I'm tired.
I can recommend Behr " Armadillo" as a good grey paint. I tried seven samples. Some looked ice blue, some looked silver metallic, some were too, too dark. " Armadillo" looks just right to me. Of course, lighting is different in different homes. I definitely recommend getting a small sample first and painting an inconspicuous area; I removed a picture from a wall and painted there, lol.
" I removed a picture from a wall and painted there"
That's clever. If I ever paint my walls a color, I shall gratefully utilize your idea.
SandyH...thank you so much! I like Behr paint, too, so that is perfect. I will try it!
I somewhat formed a bucket list, but since summer is simply going to work as usual for me, I don't consider "summer" to be my parameter -- I just say "in the next six months" or something like that.
So, some things I set as goals:
Organize the linen closet downstairs. I'm a little over halfway done on this.
Go through a pile of donate-or-toss clothing. I'm about halfway done with this, too.
Clean our my file cabinet -- done.
Finish my herb class -- nearly done.
Do something special with my granddaughter -- still need to plan this one.
Get savings started for a new project we need to do on the house. This is barely started, but hey, it has to start somewhere.
I taught my kids how to do laundry by doing it with them a few times, then writing the steps on the cabinet door above the machines. The doors have a slick finish, so an Expo marker worked very well. Now I'm not constantly clomping down the basement steps to show them what to do. 🙂
You reminded me -- I taught my kids to do laundry when they were 13 and 10. They did their own clothes, sheets and towels, but if anyone had just a small load, we combined them with ours (ours = parents) and I would do those. My kids weren't totally "domesticated" when they left home, but they could clean house and do laundry, and could cook very basic, albeit limited meals. It's worth the hassle of teaching instead of doing it myself.
I gave written instructions, too -- great minds think alike?
Door painting tip (that I'm sure you know already): clean the exterior of the door thoroughly before you paint. We painted a door of our rental place a few years ago and it was very dusty, even after several cleanings. Getting dust mixed in with the paint was frustrating!
My goals this summer are kind of simple and with an 8 month old, it's hard to think long term.
1.) Finish the basement, or at least start the process. With the kiddo around, our upstairs storage and living area is kind of limited. She also doesn't have any big play areas indoors and while that will be okay in the warmer months, I am dreading the idea of a toddler full of energy with no place to try and use it.
2.) Have more cookouts. I like to entertain and have people over so I look forward to that. Of course it would be nice to be invited to one now and again ...
3.) Maybe take a road trip. This is much more difficult with baby in tow but we'll see if we can do anything.
So yeah, I anticipate a summer spent mostly at home and very much unlike ones from the past.
I roadtrip with my kids all the time. Most babies do better on the go than you'd guess. I just took a six day roadtrip at 28 weeks pregnant with my three kids that are 3, 2, and 15 months. (We were meeting up with my husband, but he didn't travel with us.) I loved roadtrips pre kids, let parenting hold me back for a couple years, but now I've come to embrace them again even if they take more logistical planning. If I want my kids to enjoy the same things as I do, there's no time like the present to get started.
No set list yet still working on it. For the movies if you have an AMC nearby and can go before noon it's anywhere from 4-7 dollars. I always go on Sunday mornings and pay 5.85 for a standard movie. 3D,IMAX are a little more expensive so I ration out which movies I am willing to see in those formats.
Oh my ! Just writing this makes me feel crazy like the fruitcake I am. We have a special needs 28 year old daughter. Our bucket list starts off with a trip to Las Vegas . My sugar cookie has dreamed of going and seeing Britney Spears her whole life. I will be doing major research to make this as budget friendly as possible. No alcohol or gambling so just as family friendly as you can get in Vegas. I have questioned this decision repeatedly but ultimately it comes down to quality of life. She may not be with us for many more years. She is so excited that I could never regret this decision. On a brighter note, I have been cleaning out all the closets and am amazed at what I found. I have a stack of items to resale . I also need to add several of your items to my list. I hope there is enough summer to squeeze it all in.
Sounds like it will be a meaningful trip for both of you!
This is the sweetest summer plan. 🙂
I second that!
I will ensure my child gets books flowing from the library. It gets expensive when they are bought from the bookstore, although Costco sells them usually for a huge discount. I also am offloading a number of items from my wardrobe! Can't wait to streamline my wardrobe!
Kristen, My husband manages admissions for the dual enrollment program at the local state run community college in MA. The program is for high school students who get dual credit for classes through their high school and his college. Tuition is discounted 50% for these students. He has many home school families who participate. Does your state offer anything similar?
Yes, indeed! Joshua can take a certain number of credits each year for 50% off. So great!
If your son is old enough to go to college he is old enough to know about deadlines and register himself with a guiding hand. My daughter does it all and I plug in the credit card info. One more thing off your list.
I definitely will transition him to that once he's a little further down the road. Right now, he's still in high school and is doing dual enrollment, and I had a bunch of questions about that for the advisor. Plus, he's still doing some stuff at home, so I need to figure out I still need to provide for him here.
I think we have a pretty good path figured out for the next two semesters after our advising appointment, so registering should be pretty easy from here on out.
We do actually have to pay in person because in order to get the 50% discount, we have to present a form that says he's still homeschooled.
Our wooden deck is in need of a redo, too. We stained it five years ago, right after the house was built. I think it looked good for 2 years. (The vertical surfaces still look fine.) Can anyone recommend a product that never needs maintenance? Thanks!
Re the pool item -- clearly you need to quickly make friends with whoever moves into the house your old neighbor vacated. I assume they didn't take the pool *with* them when they moved??
Haha, yes, the pool is still there. A young single guy moved in, so we shall see how that all shakes out. 😉
I hope you have/will welcome him to the neighborhood with homemade baked goods like cinnamon buns. Yum. That's always a fine start. Maybe go over with Mr. FG so it's a little less odd then his being approached by a pretty married woman.
I envy you! Here school is still 4 more weeks, and holidays are "just" 6 weeks. week 1 will be scouts camps for all 3 (different camps). I plan to declutter that week, do photo's, eat out with my husband and go for walks in the evenings when he gets home. 2 weeks in the mountains with the family and the other weeks will be sleepovers, a sailing course for the oldest, the 2 oldest (15 and 13) will do some extra work at their "jobs". We also love the library, we will go swimming and do some cultural things. like visiting a museum, church or castle. You often forget to visit your own area, cultur as well as nature.
I don't have a bucket list per se, but there's always the list of Things To Do. I judge my progress by how critical the items are. I'm pleased to say that I have moved to the less urgent items.
Now.... the laundry teaching thing.... My husband separates colors and I don't (I don't separate anything. All fabrics, all colors, they go in at the same time. Regular wash. Never had a problem). So.... do we teach the kids to separate or not?! Ahah.
My family refuses to separate laundry while I'm a diehard separater. I also wash several things that I hang to dry. It drives me nuts when laundry is all thrown in together, but to each his own.
Since I'm off during the 3 summer months, ( I'm a teacher.) I always have a summer bucket list.
1. Paint the exterior doors.- done
2. Organise and paint my office/craft room. - in process
3. This is when I do my deep spring cleaning. - in process
4. Read at least 10 books. - almost finished with book 1
5. Recover the patio furniture. - material and supplies purchased, I found new foam cushions at a yard sale.
6. Plant some lavender along the pool fence. - I just bought the first 2 to plant.
7. Make some jewelry to sale. - have supplies, ready to start
I not sure I will complete everything, but I feel as if I have a good start.