The last week of July always incites a slight panic in me. Summer is almost over. Three weeks until it's back to teacher meetings. And I didn't do a darn thing I wanted to!
The first month of summer is usually filled with pool and sleeping in and catching up on all the things I feel like I have missed out during the school year. This June I feel like I just played played played with my kids. And I LOVED it.
After the 4th of July passes I always feel like, "ok, time to get to work on some of my summer goals." And I kind of dink around on them a little bit and then all of a sudden it's July 30 and I realize I haven't come close to finishing any of my goals yet. Hence, panic.
I had four big summer goals this year. I have so far accomplished only the first one. (It is the most important one, though, so I am willing to give myself a little break.)
1. ENJOY my children. Swim, play, read with kids.
2. READ Heart of Darkness, Sense and Sensibility, Lolita, and Handmaid's Tale. I've read none of those. I am halfway through Sense and Sensibility, though. So far it's meh. It's got nothing on Pride and Prejudice, I'll tell you that much.
3. WORK on creating a line sheet for Hey June and contact 20-30 small shops, boutiques, and salons about selling our product in their store. I would love to generate a lot of wholesale business that can provide a more steady income during some of the slower months. (Ahem, July.)
4. ORGANIZE and tidy my home completely. Make it a place where I can feel so much joy.
This past week I have really been getting to work on goals 3 and 4. My goal is to have my line sheet finished and sent to small businesses on August 4. (If you know any small boutiques or salons that you think would do well with Hey June product in their store, let me know!) Our business continues to grow and that has been an incredible blessing for us.
The tidying of the house has been in full swing as well. Almost impossible with a toddler and a baby, but I am giving it my best shot! Last year I read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (Summary of how I felt about the book is here.) and I just finished the book's sister, Spark Joy. I really enjoyed both of them and I honestly do feel like it's been life changing in the way I clean and organize my house.
My two biggest take aways from the book:
1. THROW THINGS OUT. I have a much stricter screening process on what is ever allowed in my house in the first place. June's rando art projects, kids meal toys, free t-shirts I will never wear--- that stuff hits the garbage before it gets inside. Anything that is broken, I don't know where the other part to it is, doesn't fit me anymore... it all gets the boot! I have also started throwing out a lot of the "some day" things realizing that some day never happens. Some day I really wanted to read that article in that magazine. Well, if a month has passed and I haven't made time for it, it's probably not that important to me. Chuck it.
2. Fill your home with things that SPARK JOY. I have invested more money in my home including dish cloths, cleaning supplies, dressers, blankets, etc. in order to have the things I really love and that make me happy when I see them. It's a long process, but I enjoy being in my home so much more than I ever have in my life because I have deliberately put the things in the house that bring me a lot of joy. And I get rid of the things that don't.
All that being said, I do still have a long way to go. When I attempted our big round of "tidying up" a year ago I was in my first trimester of pregnancy and sick sick sick. I started to feel better and school started up and then it was Christmas season with jewelry insanity and then it was baby time and subsequent months of blurred bouncing bouncing bouncing of a hard baby. I remember little of any of that. Just that I'm here on the other side.
SO... here I am now, ready to give the tidying up another go. I gutted out the basement and I am in the process of our garage. I spent about five hours one evening going through all of June's old clothes and only keeping my very favorite ones. There were garbage bags and garbage bags of clothes that I gave away. It felt amazing! A very real purge, if you will.
I also made Greg do his closet. (I was tempted to handle it myself but the book's author is big into not throwing anyone else's stuff away!) More garbage bags!
I LOVE how much cleaner and less cluttered our space feels already. I have stocked up on garbage bags, rags, and cleaning supplies. We're definitely making headway over here but I will have to work pretty hard to be done by the time school starts (Cue crying emoji face.)
Stocking up on garbage bags has been nice, too because I've been able to save the box tops for when it is time to go back to school. Reynolds Kitchens™ and Hefty both support the Box Tops for Education program- helping schools raise money for supplies, technology etc. Obviously, as an educator, I am all about buying anything that can in any way give back to schools. You can find Box Tops on Reynolds Kitchens™ products Parchment Paper, Oven Bags, Slow Cooker Liners and Bakeware Pans. You can also find them on Hefty Trash Bags, Hefty Foam Plates and Hefty Cups.
Now through August 29 you can enter here to be one of 50 daily instant winners and enter to win the grand prize of $1,000 worth of Box Tops for your school! A total of five schools will be chosen for the grand prize and you can enter once a day until 8/29 so bookmark the site.
My next big tidying projects are the junk drawer (the bane of my existence), the pantry (it's so gross), and June and Hugh's closets. Having kids and dealing with their clothes and toys added a whole new level to the clutter chaos.
(Also, I am feeling weirdly guilty now because one of the key things in the book is not to organize by room or by closet but to organize by item instead. I think this is an awesome idea but I have absolutely no idea how to implement it when I don't have large chunks of time to dedicate to tidying. I have to steal 15 mintues here and 15 minutes there so it doesn't really work to scour the entire house of every art supply and then organize them. It'd probably be more effective. But one tidying woman can only do so much!)