The Summer of Less – How we’re Simplifying at Home

This is going to be The Summer of Less for our family. We’re embarking on a summer of simplifying at home. I’m tired. I’m tired of all the stuff that I’m constantly picking up, I’m tired of making a million decisions a day. I’m tired of the laundry and the dishes. I’m tired of constantly being surprised that I need to cook dinner again. I’m tired of the kids having so many toys they can’t reasonably clean them up. I’m tired of feeling like I have a million things to do and no way to accomplish them all.

Does anyone else feel this way?

It’s not all doom and gloom though. The Summer of Less is an attempt to give myself more of the things I really love. I want to spend more time in the garden this summer, I want to read more books. I want the kids to spend more of their summer outside playing, and more time being creative and imaginative. I want more time to spend with my husband and friends.

So we’re going to be simplifying around here. I’m not exactly sure how this is all going work, and I’m sure I’m going to eat my words a few times this summer, but I’d like to try anyways. We’re going to be making some changes around here, and I’m going to use the blog as my way to keep myself accountable.

Here’s where we’re going to start.

Simplifying Screen Time

The kids are getting cut off. No more Ipad time, no kindle, no Netflix on the phone. In all honesty, this is going to be harder for me and Jake than the kids. The entire time we were traveling (epic three-week road trip), if the kids didn’t have access to screens they didn’t seem to notice or care. Screens are incredibly helpful for me when I just want a freaking break.

But the thing is, it never actually helps all that much. Even if I buy some quiet time to work on things I pay for it on the back end. They fight more, they are less able to engage in meaningful play, and the day (generally) doesn’t flow as well.

In my mind this will be amazing. The kids will play so nicely, never fight, never give me crap, and just generally be all “mom you’re amazing!”

Are you laughing at me yet? You should be. I have more ambition than common sense.

Acceptable uses of screen time will include family movie nights, watching sports together, watching home videos and looking at family pictures. Those things are fun ways to connect as family, rather than a way to tune each other out.

Simplifying Meal Time

This summer I’m committing to buying fruits, veggies, and basic staples like bread, chicken and tortilla chips and skipping all other specialized ingredients. If dinner is buttered bread and watermelon every night so be it. The laziest of meals will be had around here. The less cooking the better.

Since I’m not buying a lot of items, the whole meal planning/grocery list making arena will hopefully be a lot less work. I’m not meal planning all summer. Sure I’ll probably get ambitious once or twice and make tacos, but I’m taking the guilt out of the game.

If I don’t cook a proper meal all summer I’m giving myself permission to give zero fucks. We’ll all survive one summer on bell peppers and deli turkey. This is really all my kids want to eat anyways.

Simplifying Shopping and Impulse Purchases

I’m allowing myself to shop only for consumable items, and things that legitimately need replaced. We have soooooo much stuff already, and everything that we really need to be happy. I always fall into the trap of purchasing new chairs or backyard toys etc. when summer hits, but I can’t take care of the shit we already have. Adding more crap to the mix isn’t going to help the situation.

This will be very challenging for me, because my relationship with Target is deep and intense.

This will be super easy for Jake, because I’m pretty sure he only accounts for about 1% of the annual purchases in our home. And not because he doesn’t help out or participate around here, but because he has never walked into a Target and thought to himself “Gosh, this throw pillow would just MAKE the room, you know?”

Obviously if the kids need new underwear, or my foundation runs out, then ok yeah I’ll go ahead and purchase those items. But I’m not going to add another eyeshadow palate to that Sephora order.

Simplifying Toys

Our dear and beloved children are losing their playroom. Yes. It’s happening.

*** SIX MONTH UPDATE HERE ***

The playroom was once a magical place where I could close the baby gate and be reasonably assured I could throw in a load of laundry without a baby choking on something in my absence. Now that the wildlings are older and have kicked the gate out of the wall, the playroom is no longer the safe haven it once was.

Instead, our playroom is dumping ground. The kids go in there, dump the Legos and the dress up clothes, and then leave. They don’t care because they can just walk away. They don’t really even play in there anymore!

Getting them to clean up the playroom plus their bedrooms is a huge struggle that I often avoid fighting, but then they see no reason to treat their toys with any sort of respect.

So the toys are getting edited, sorted, and moved to their bedrooms and the living room. I’ll still have to nag them about cleaning up, but at least its confined to less space!

Simplifying the Clutter

We are purging. Hardcore. After living with only what fit in the minivan during our three-week road trip to the Grand Canyon, I’m realizing just how little we truly need.

I also realized that we have an entire basement and spare bedroom that we use as storage, and if we just gave away 95% of that stuff we’d probably never notice the difference.

I’m tired of picking up stuff all.day.long. So out it goes. I’m a wannabe minimalist. I realize that others will probably walk into my house and wonder what the hell I got rid of because we still have a ton of stuff. Maybe I’ll document my purging on Instagram stories to keep myself accountable?

Simplifying The To Do List

I’m a fairly productive person. I like to be busy. I like the feeling of completing something on my to-do list.

But completely tasks is hard with two kids. So this summer I’m going to try to reduce my list. I’m going to try to take on fewer projects, or at least be ok with going slower on those projects. Honestly, I don’t know how I’m going to do with this. It might be an epic fail.

So there you have it, the Summer of Less.

I don’t know if this experiment will go well or cause mass chaos around here, but hey, at least we tried right?

What would you love to simplify in your home or life? Let me know in the comments!

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