Surviving Our Summer Bucket List

  



I read somewhere that keeping a clean house with young kids is like trying to brush your teeth while eating an Oreo. At no time of year is this more true than summer. School is out, and it's like our little ones have superhero powers in mess-making. 

To give our summer a bit of direction and structure, we planned out some fun outdoor adventures and listed everything we wanted to do on a Summer Bucket List (which we recored on our chalkboard wall). When the days are beautiful, we select mini golf, feeding the ducks, playing at the botanical garden, picking blueberries - anything that gets us outside!

For the days that are stormy or when it's too hot to be outside, we also wrote down tons of indoor crafts and activities. Anything we do at home, though, turns our kitchen and/or craft room into a hot mess. Making homemade ice cream, finger painting, baking a pie - all items on our list! The secret to keeping things in order? Tackling the messes as soon as we're finished with the perfect Clean Squad: Viva and Clorox! (Click here and here for online rebates on both!)

I feel like if I get whatever surface we had been working on wiped down immediately after the craft or activity, I can actually keep up with everything we're doing (and I avoid the whole "Oreo while brushing my teeth" feeling).

Our latest endeavor from the bucket list? Making homemade ice cream! You know, which takes approximately 267 steps and is all sorts of messy. But results in all sorts of yummy ;)

While mid-mess making, I know that if we're just making one disaster at a time, it's totally fixable. Seriously, just keeping all the surfaces of our common areas wiped down makes such a difference in the look of the house, which makes this mama all sorts of happy. Of course to clean the surfaces, they need to be empty. Having a place for everything totally helps here, as does using those kiddos! I like to either play a fun song, or give an immediate incentive (practicing t-ball/playing on the computer/leaving for the pool) to get Parker to help tidy up, then I swoop in with the Viva and Clorox. 

Parker also loves to help when shopping for our cleaning gear!



Walmart is our go-to because we can pick up our cleaning supplies, plus items for our Summer Bucket List at the same time!



Save time and money by ordering the bundle online here!

Happy Cleaning & Happy Summer!

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