Real-Life Routines That Let You Enjoy Summer Without Letting the House Fall Apart
If you have ever experienced the silent panic or anxiety attack as your house piles up in laundry and things go undone while giving your kids the best summer by the pool or lakeside, you are not alone. It’s because we need a realistic cleaning schedule during the summer.
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Summer is a lot of fun with my kids, and even I need a break from the normal school routine hustle and bustle, even though I thrive on routines. But I have had moments where I look around the house, thinking about the many things on my to-do list.
I love a more relaxed morning and no set wake-up times for the kids in the summer. However, I still get up with my hubby since he works from home.
Summer mornings are no longer a marathon against the clock, and listening for Google to tell us it’s time to leave for school.
We like to relax in the mornings. Unless it’s an outing day, we ease into the day.
Summertime also means visiting with family, swimming almost daily, and having weekly adventures. But even with all the fun, we still need to get stuff done, and I have learned to let some things go. These are my best stay-at-home mom summer cleaning tips.
My summer cleaning list is much less intense because I work hard on my spring reset and organizing goals for the fall and winter months.
I want to ensure that everything doesn’t fall apart while we are at the poolside, taking in the sun. I also have to change my blog work schedule since everyone is home full-time, but I still need to keep things going with content. I work less on social media, which can be a great mental break from social media.
These six summer routines help me stay focused, avoid losing my cool, and engage more in summer fun. And when it comes to taking care of other things that I need to attend to, I use the Condition and Calamity method. I will explain more about this at the end of the routines I do use.
Early Laundry Routine
That’s right. I change my laundry routine. In my household, kids wear fewer clothes in the summer because they practically live in their swimsuits and Crocs all summer.
In fact, I end up washing more towels than anything. No one really uses socks since we are all in sandals and Crocs most days, so that load is less intense.
So I wash towels weekly, but change them out twice weekly because we have two towels each.
I wash bedding weekly.
And I do a dark and white load every 2 to 3 days.
Shorts and T-shirts take up less room in the laundry baskets, and because I am a huge supporter of a capsule wardrobe, we don’t have a ton of clothes either.
This summer, my son only owns seven pairs of regular shorts and two dress shorts.
Now, for me, we spend our summer in our lake home and don’t have a washer and dryer inside, so I use the laundry mat. The laundry mat is not far away at all, and technically, I could keep the daily laundry routine going, but that would also mean I would have to give up every morning to head out and do laundry.
So switching it up to a couple of days a week routine works, and having multiple machines makes it go faster, of course.
But even if we were home with my own machine, I tend to cut it down. Again, everyone uses fewer clothes, and cycle rotations are less frequent because we also let go of all the organized sports. I know many families go full force with summer sports, but we like to make our summers family-focused, since during school season we are on the go daily with all the after-school activities.
In the cooler/cold months, it’s like a couple of days, and the laundry is in piles. From pants, socks, hoodies, sweaters, gloves, hats, scarves, blankets galore, and snowy wet stuff, plus all the carpets get so much dirtier, and having to mop the floors more often means more laundry loads of mop heads, etc.
I love summer for this reason. I know that some moms feel like it can be more laundry, but it ends up being less for our family.
Also, the gift of rompers for girls is like a huge blessing. Athletic summer dresses with built-in bras are also amazing for me!! They’re put-on-and-go outfits all in one. My daughter could wear a week’s worth of rompers or summer dresses, and the laundry basket still wouldn’t be that much.
Ditch the deep cleans, only focus on weekly tasks
Summer is not the time that I do deep cleaning of anything, except for when we open the lake house for the first two weeks. I leave a lot of deep cleaning tasks to the fall. Plus, we are out and about so much that the house is not being used as much either. This is a bonus for sure.
The lake house gets sandy from beach days, but a washable carpet has helped, and I vacuum multiple times a day in the entry to keep it from getting gross.
Simple Weekly Routine
- Change and wash the sheets.
- Mop the floors
- Toss the garbage
- Clean the bathroom top to bottom
- Flat surface dusting
- Vacuum the carpets
Simple Daily Routine
Once we are done with breakfast, we are out the door and going for most of the day, so I adopt a simple daily routine.
Daily, I do the following:
- Wash the dishes
- Wipe down the counter
- Wipe down the stove
- Wipe down high-touch areas like the glass door cause kids touch it every day
- Whole house pickup, putting things back where they belong
- Vacuum the floors
Bi-Weekly cleaning
The rest of the house will sit more without being touched, but on a bi-weekly, loose schedule, I will straighten the bedrooms, wipe surfaces, and vacuum. I keep it simple and easy: just put things back where they belong, wipe down the dressers, and vacuum the bedrooms.
No decluttering, no deep cleaning, just basics.
A weekly outing
My kids have daily activities like swimming and pickleball lessons, but I like to plan an outing once a week.
I plan ahead in May and review all the summer activities I may want to attend, purchasing tickets as needed.
On those rainy days, I will also fill it in with an indoor outing, or we can play board games.
I like to plan our outings first thing in the morning before the sun gets too hot and before the crowds arrive. Then, we can plan to leave around lunchtime or soon after.
I am not one for overcrowded museums and such.
Weekly Grocery Run
If you have followed along for a while, you know that systems and routines keep me grounded. Since grocery shopping is one of those things that I do not enjoy doing, I try to only go out once a week and get it all done in one shot.
I also plan them around cooler days or rainy days.
Summer Garage Sales
I take full advantage of garage sale time and hold them at our lake house. I bring a lot of things from our home to the lake house that we want to get rid of, and that will sell. I sell as much as I can to declutter our house and lake house.
It’s a lot easier when the weather is nice. I also post a lot on Facebook, but decluttering and making some summer spending money are, in my opinion, the best.
Condition and Calamity Method
Sometimes you can walk inside your home and feel like it is closing in on you. And feel like you don’t know where to start? That’s why I like using the Condition and Calamity Method. Alternatively, I usually suggest focusing on specific areas of your home that will improve your productivity.
However, in this case, you need to examine the factors that may be causing stress or identify the potential problems that could arise if left unresolved. For example, leaving the laundry for days means you’ll be wearing clothes from the back of the closet, and leaving spoiled food means you don’t want someone to eat it accidentally.
If you’re overwhelmed this summer trying to figure out what to work on, use this as your guide.
If the state of the area is in poor condition but won’t cause any harm, this is the last place to take care of.
If the state of an area is poor, it will have an adverse effect on your immediate daily life. Then we prioritize this first. I know my perfectionist will want to get everything done, but if time is lacking, we need to be realistic on what we can get done and why we choose specific areas of priority over others.
What do you struggle with the most regarding summer and managing your home? Comment below