How to have a fun-filled summer
Five budgetfriendly ways to make the most of the season
Summer has finally arrived, but as always, it will fly by quickly.
To ensure you get the most out of the season, it’s best to invest a little time now prepping and planning for the weeks ahead.
Here are five ways to get organized, improve your home and fill your days with fun.
GET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER
It’s much easier to relax when your home is clean and organized. Pack away winter clothes, donate clothes that no longer fit, sort through backpacks that have come home filled with supplies and papers and get rid of toys and household items that are no longer used. Establishing a summer chore chart and/or a cleaning schedule for the kids is also a great idea.
REFRESH YOUR HOME WITH A LITTLE PAINT
There’s no better (or cheaper) way to refresh a home than adding some colour. Recently, my husband and I spent an afternoon painting the patio door on our back deck. The inexpensive coat of bright yellow paint has totally transformed the space.
ADD POPS OF COLOUR WITH ACCESSORIES
You don’t need to spend a lot of money to add pops of colour to the inside of your home and outdoor spaces. Vases filled with lemons, dollar store decor and summerthemed throw pillows are all excellent options.
HAVE FUN WITH DIY PROJECTS
When working with a budget, DIY projects are a wonderful way to add a personal touch to your home. Consider decorating a tiered tray with dollar store crafts and finds, pop summer pictures into painted frames, craft a selfserve lemonade tray from a picture frame and colourful scrapbook paper or fill a bucket with craft foam and summer flowers.
Unique DIY artwork is fun, too. This year, I made some fantastic summer wreaths using placemats and pizza pans. To make your own, glue a round placemat with a colourful summer theme to a pizza pan, wrap and glue jute twine around the circumference of the pan and add a hanger to the back with glue and duct tape.
MAKE A LIST OF SUMMER ACTIVITIES
Every year, my family puts together a summer checklist containing 50 of our favourite summer activities and we spend our vacation checking items off the list. We print it and hang it on the fridge. It provides us with a plan for summer and helps to keep us on track.
When my kids were small, we had a lot of simple crafts and low-effort activities on our list, but as my boys got older, we started adding more sophisticated adventures. We love our summer checklist, especially the ice cream for supper party we have each year to celebrate the completion of our list and the end of summer.
You don’t need to spend a lot of money to have a funfilled summer. With a little planning and these budgetfriendly ways to make the most of the season, you can’t go wrong.