August – Recap and Update
I cannot believe that summer is over, but it’s hard to ignore the fact with it being Labour Day weekend. Even the weather today is a little on the cool side, as though it to wants to remind me that it’s time to get back to routine riddled days and crazy schedules. Sad as I am to see summer go, I’m excited for autumn to arrive. It wouldn’t be the end of a month without a recap and the sharing of some thoughts for what is to come next month. Wanna take a trip down memory lane with me?
August Recap
I started a new series this month, all about being prepared for emergencies. I’m not trying to be an alarmist, but this is something I have been meaning to do for my family for a while.
We started out with an often overlooked item in the home: The First Aid Kit. I shared why first aid kits are good to have one hand, what goes into a basic first aid kit as well as ideas for what you could use to store your first aid kits. Some things to remember with first aid kits:
- Restock as needed. Many items in the first aid kit will hardly ever get used, but make sure you replenish the items you do use.
- Keep it some central in your home. I recommend near the kitchen because that’s where most accidents happen.
- Keep it easy to reach. I know that when it comes to organizing they say that you should store not often used items in the back of the cupboard or on the higher shelves, but this is one item you want front, centre, and easy to get too.
- Keep it portable. At some point you’re going to need it, and you’re probably going to need it somewhere else in the house. Keeping your kit portable will mean you can quickly get it to where it needs to be.
- You need to make sure EVERY member of your family knows where it is. Show them exactly where to find it. If something happens to you, and you’re home alone with the kids, you might need one of them to be able to grab it for you. This is not the time to have to explain what it is and where it is. Keep them in the know. (obviously with really young children you need to decide, for yourself, if you should tell them where it is)
An ounce of prevention, is worth a pound of cure
Next up was power outages. Being prepared for those pesky times when the lights go out and might not be back on soon. I shared the items I have on hand for when power outages strike, as well as few tips such as learning the signs for when a power outage might happen and taking some simple steps to be prepared. Things like filling the tub so you can flush the toilet if you’re water gets into your home through a pump. Or things like using solar powered lights for indoor lighting.
Lately I’ve been feeling rather uninspired when it comes to organizing, so I thought I would shake myself out of my funk by sharing my tips for finding the motivation to organize.
If you follow along on our Facebook page, you may have notice that I put some of those tips to use when I tackled my office. I even found a nifty setting on my phone’s photo editor. It’s a filter called Invert, but I’ve decided to rename it the Clutter Highlighter.
In other exciting news, I hosted my very first give-away, thanks to the lovely folks at Sears Canada. The give away was part of a post I wrote to help get the word out about their Back to School surprises happening in stores all across the country.
What month would be complete without a new printable? Now that the printable pages are nicely organized, I feel a little better about making more…. speaking of which, I guess I better add these new one to the pages huh?
And what better way to end the month than finding out I’ve been featured as blogger of the week over on The Super Mommy Club! I’m thrilled and honored to be chosen.
If you haven’t yet check out my friend Clare’s site, you really should. She shares so many wonderful ideas from activities to help keep the kids busy to recipes to ideas for WHOLE month of school lunches.
Coming Up
September is already shaping up to be a great month, even if it is going to be a busy one. We’re still awaiting word on whether school will start as planned, on Tuesday. Talks are continuing today, so hopefully we know one way or the other tonight. On top of the uncertainty of when the kiddos are heading back to school we’ve got a pretty big birthday this month. Our teen is turning 16, and I’m still in denial. Where have the years gone? Even with treasuring every moment, they feel as though they have gone by too fast.
Many of you have been sending emails asking about the Printable of the Month, and if/when it’s coming back. I had every intention of bringing it back in September, but with so much happening family wise, I feel like I need to put that on hold for a little bit longer, buuuuuut it will be back in October for sure! I might have to make it an every 2 months thing, because the number of requests have gotten huge, and I love that. I love making something that’s a little personalized for all of you. We’ll see how it goes in October.
As for September, I’ll be continuing the Emergency Preparedness series. I’ve been working on some printables to go along with it. I can’t wait to share those. Don’t be shy, if there is a printable you would like to see included in the Emergency Preparedness series, drop me a line and let me know. I have a few organizing posts in the works and some tips and tricks to share.
Lots will be happening behind the scenes too, as my hubby and I get the site ready to move over to a new host. I’m super excited about this. Testing of the new site has so far shown that load times should be a lot faster for you. Also, I’m working on a few new additions to the site to help make navigating a little easier, and because we’re going to all this work to move the site over, I decided to take the time to clean up the design a little. I’m hoping the new tweaks will make things easier to find, the posts easier to read, and generally I’m hoping it will feel more clean. And I’m busy planning and prepping for October. I’m taking part in the 31 Days series again, and I hope this year’s choice of topic will make many of you happy.
All in all September is shaping up to be one fun month.
What were some of your highlights from August? Do you have anything fun planned for September?
