An Ode to Summertime Fun!

It’s hard to believe that we’re already in the middle of summer and that back-to-school time is right around the corner. But don’t press the panic button yet! There’s still lots of sunshine and fun activities left for you and the family to enjoy!

If you’re looking for some simple ways to engage the kiddos while also getting a little summertime tidying done, we have you covered. Let’s look at 4 easy ways to keep things neat around your home without skipping out on any of those summertime vibes!  

Trade Indoor Activities for Outdoor Fun in the Sun!

Listen, it’s easy for kids to fall into the Netflix bubble or get sucked into hours of scrolling on their device of choice – especially in the summer when there are many more hours in a day.

While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with chilling in front of the TV with the kiddos, summertime is a great chance to move our indoor activities outside into the sunshine. Encourage your family to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. It’s a great way to get everyone moving out in the fresh air, but it also helps to mitigate the amount of messiness and clutter that can show up in your home now that the kids are home for the summer.

Outside pools, splash pads, bike riding, roller skating, chalk-drawing, reading, backyard camping, arts-and crafts… these are just a sampling of the fun activities that can be done outside the home! And if you’re looking for everyone to soak up a little more vitamin D, consider enjoying your snacks and meals outside in the sunshine – an easy way to keep the kitchen clean and relatively crumb free!

Remember: Slow and Steady Wins the Race

When it comes to household chores, completing small tasks on a consistent basis is way less stressful then trying to tackle a huge, multi-facetted project all at once. Especially in the summer when you want priority one to be relaxing with the family.

Break up your larger cleaning projects into smaller tasks that you and the family can complete together.

For example, cleaning out the kid’s playroom may be on your summer to-do list. Give the kiddos a couple things that they can help with, like picking up the toys off the ground or using the feather duster, while you complete a task like organizing the toy chest or vacuuming. The next day, pick a couple more things that you and the kids can work on together. Keep doing this each day until you’ve completed your goal.

To kick up the excitement factor, make sure to do something fun once the work is done! Maybe it’s building ice-cream sundaes in the kitchen or blowing bubbles in the backyard… remember, a little goes a long way! And it makes doing things together as a family the fun, bonding experience that it’s meant to be.   

Turn Chores Into Family Fun

All work and no play… is absolutely no fun at all! Cleaning doesn’t have to be boring and tedious. Like most things in life, it’s all about spicing up the ‘less fun’ chores to make them more enjoyable for everyone.

Turn a quick 10-minute tidy into a game by seeing who can put away the most clutter first. Have each ‘player’ call out when they either (1) put something away or (2) tidy something up, each item being worth one point. The player with the most points at the end of the ten-minute tidy gets a prize. Maybe it’s picking the next family activity, or choosing the next movie to watch, or deciding what’s for dessert that night – get creative!

You can also do an ‘against the clock’ version of this game where you all work together to clean a space within a specific amount of time. Pre-determine what needs to get done as well as what the reward for completing your mission will be before you set your timer.

The perk of tidying up as a family is that it takes half the time while also teaching communal responsibility. If you can make it fun, then all the better! Many hands make for light work, after all!

Simplify Your Cooking Strategy

The kitchen is one of the easiest places to spend a lot of time, especially if you’re cooking something that requires a lot of preparation time, cook time, and clean up. While we absolutely encourage you to get adventurous in the kitchen if that’s something that brings you joy, there are many ways to simplify the meal-time experience while still providing delicious and nutritious food.

One-pot meals and sheet-pan meals are an excellent way to reduce the amount of time and energy spent cooking and cleaning up.

For example, rather than tending to a sauce, steaming vegetables, cooking rice, and minding the roast in the oven, you can cook something like sheet-pan chicken fajita kebabs where all your ingredients are safely roasting in one pan. Or a delicious one-pot sticky salmon that you can throw together quickly and leave to simmer while you tend to other tasks. Or while you relax – because, let’s be honest, that’s really what it’s all about at the end of the day.

Need a Hand Keeping Things Clean? We Can Help!

Alberta summers are far too short to waste cooped up inside! If you want to spend a little less time cleaning and a bit more time enjoying the summer sunshine with the family, we’ve got you covered!

One of the many things that we love about cleaning is that it affords our clients the opportunity to get out and do what they love with the people they care most about.

Whether you’d like to schedule a one-time clean or add something extra to your regularly scheduled session, we’re always happy to help!

Remember: We love cleaning so you don’t have to!

Your friend, Anna