The last days of school are upon us and the trees are almost all leafed out! Finally the calendar and Mother Nature are in alignment! I am shocked as always how fast a school year goes. I like to say when times are good....time flies by and when times are bad time is so slow. So I guess I am blessed that this school year went by in a flash. That just means we need to get ready for summer with a little more urgency! I have been putting together summer survival buckets for the last couple of years and I think they are a great way to spend a few minutes gathering all of all essentials for summer all in one place. For many of us they are scattered around the house and in an emergency we are not even sure where some of the items are located. This is also a good time to take inventory of what you have and don't have. Go to the store knowing what you need and don't just buy on a whim because you are not sure if you have Band-Aids or not. One other thing to keep in mind is expiration dates. I have found out the hard way that sunscreen does expire. I like to start with fresh sunscreen every season to make sure that we don't expose our skin to unwanted sun burns.

So what should you put in your summer survival bucket? Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

• Sunscreen: I like to get several types. I like the spray on and I also like lotion that you can rub on. Sunscreen for everyday use on your face is essential not only during the summer, but all year long. Don't forget to check those expiration dates!
• After Sun Care: Yes, sometimes we spend too much time in the sun and need a little relief. Something with Aloe and a mild numbing agent is a good thing to have on hand.
• Bug spray: Sadly we live where the mosquito should be our state bird. Bug spray is an important element for outdoor enjoyment. I remember lying awake as a child with large mosquito bites and not able to sleep. Find some good repellant so that you don't have sleepless nights like I did.
• After bug bite cream: A little calamine lotion or a cream to take away the itch is always a good thing to have on hand to avoid the night of itching.
• Band-Aids: Depending on the age of your child you may need all shapes and sizes. A sure sign of summer for me was the first skinned knee or toe. Be prepared with what your family may need for the summer. I stay away from character Band-Aids as whenever I bought them my boys seemed to need to apply them more often. There is nothing glamorous about a brown Band-Aid and they typically are only requested when actually needed.
• Ace Bandage and First Aid tape: Yes I am a mom of boys. Yes we had lots of uses for these two items. Someone was forever needing a broken finger retaped.....really...it was just one kid....the middle one with all of the broken fingers....wrists....nose. There was a two year period of time that I thought Social Services was going to be called because of all of his injuries. I made sure to note that we had witnesses for every fall or mishap.
• First Aid Antiseptic spray: I use the same spray that my parents used on me as a child {new bottle however}. Having a tough tumble down a hill and getting a little road rash from riding your bike on a newly chipped road....yeah...that is a pain that is still associated with the smell of Bactine.
• First Aid Antibiotic Ointment: Sometimes we need an extra hand in healing a bad cut or scrape. Make sure you have a good ointment on hand.
• Ipecac Syrup: Just in case a child digests something they shouldn't. A call to Poison Control is the first action followed by their instructions of sometimes needing the Ipecac Syrup. I have only had to use it once in my 19 years of parenting. My youngest ate a foreign mushroom in our yard. Administering the Ipecac was so enjoyable that he wouldn't eat mushrooms for the next 12 years.
• Clear Ziploc Bag: Have one nearby in case you need to fill a bag of ice to take down some swelling.
• Ear Drops: When you spend time in the water usually there is some extra water in the ear. Two of my boys are swimmers as well so they could tell when they had a little too much water in their ears so we needed to add a few drops before a much larger problem happened.
• A Dark Towel Or Washcloth: Often overlooked but very essential. When you are cleaning blood off of a child, nothing is worse than using a white towel or washcloth. Often the child {or parent} will see the blood and become a bit panicked. Keep the hysteria in check by using a dark cloth so that the blood is not as noticeable.
• A Good Bucket: Having everything in one place is essential to taking care of an emergency quickly. I like a good sturdy bucket with a handle that is easy and light to carry. I like my bucket as it has a bright color, is waterproof and flexible. I can quickly empty it and fill it with ice in an emergency. Store the bucket in a place that everyone can get to....with the exception of young children. Let everyone in the family know where the bucket is located. It is so much easier when attending to an injured child to yell to someone to go a grab the green bucket in the hall closet. Make it quick and easy!

Be prepared and be ready for summer because as we will soon forget those miserable snow and wind chill filled days!

I had a friend come up to me at the gym this week and ask me the most thought provoking question: Are we ever done? We talked about how she had left her job 8 years ago with grand plans of getting caught up on everything in life that she had to put on the back burner while she worked a more than full time job. I know she is not alone in her feelings. I feel this every time I decide to take a few days off from work and focus on a project around the house. I haven't scrap booked in over two years, yet I am still taking pictures. I gave up about two years ago thinking that they will ever make it into albums. Right now I am ok with Facebook being my scrapbook! At least the pictures are in chronological order!

But this is the thing, time is not holding still for any of us, so what can we do?

1. Cut yourself some slack. As long as you are enjoying life with your friends and family, what more is there to life? Getting things done can wait, and you need to not beat yourself up about it.

2.  Sometimes we need to call uncle and just give up. If you feel pressure to scrapbook and you don't enjoy it, stop doing it. If you feel like your house always needs to be perfectly clean, please know that it doesn't.

3. Know when to ask for help. If you need to organize the garage, ask for reinforcements. As the saying goes with many hands make light work {unless of course they drive you crazy, then send them out to run errands}.

4. Give up on being perfect. Nobody knows it isn't perfect except you. Stop striving for it because you are going to drive yourself and your family crazy. Cleaning the grout on your tile with steel wool before your party, may be a tab bit extreme. Sometimes just making sure the dust bunnies are not bigger than the guests is good enough.

5. Find something that you can get done and pat yourself on the back. For me, that is having all of the laundry done before 3pm. With my kids being in school and gone for a large portion of the day, I can usually have all of the laundry done for a few hours....and that feels great. Maybe it is having the mail sorted once a week or reading a magazine within a week of it coming into the house. Find something, and feel good about it.

6. Figure out where the pressure of being "done" is coming from. Is it from you or a family member or even a well meaning friend. If it is your boss and you have to get a project done in order for the rest of the company to move forward, that is a big thing and you probably need to get it done. But maybe you think it is from your mother-in-law and it really isn't. Or maybe it is from your mother-in-law and you simply need to stop feeling guilty if she is being unreasonable.

7. Does it bother other people? If you are the only one that seems to be bothered by certain things not getting done, then just go up to steps 1, 2, 3, and 4 and repeat until you feel better.

Remember, life is short and we shouldn't sweat the small stuff. We need to let the little things go and focus on the big things like our friends and family. If we have good relationships with them, in the end, that is all that matters. But if we are too "busy" making sure everything is perfect, what are we missing out on? I would rather sit in your dusty house and have a cup of tea than you be too busy trying to get everything done. Because for some of us....done is not going to be a reality.

So I started making a mental list in my head of what we could share with each other instead of buying brand new:

·         Lawn mower and trimmer: Most of us only use this once a week for a few months. Each person could have their day of the week that they mow. When they are done, they simply take it to the next neighbor on the list.

·         Snow blower: Let’s face it….there is always one guy in the neighborhood who loves to blow snow. Store it at his house and he will probably have everyone’s driveway done before you wake up.

·         Tiller and lawn edger: This is something that we only do once or twice a year. It simply makes no sense to own either of these.

·         Eight foot tables: I seem to need these about twice a year. Owning my own seemed senseless. But I finally caved and bought 2 four foot tables that fold in half. I am willing to share mine with you when you have that graduation party next spring.

·         Fancy evening clothes: A client of mine alerted me of the great idea of renting dress clothes. Think about it, we spend money on an outfit that we typically wear once and then it hangs in our closet for the next 20 years because we feel guilty about getting rid of it because we paid so much for it, but we also know that we will probably never wear it again. I have a shirt that I paid a lot of money for, and every time I wear it I think about my cost per use of it. I think I am going to start to wear it to the gym to make me get more use out of it and feel less guilty.

·         Specialty entertaining items: This would be things like large platters, punch bowls and coffee pots. We use them so rarely and they take up space, find someone to share them with.

·         Specialty kitchen items: How many of us have bread machines, food processors or ice cream machines. If you don’t use them often, call a friend and see if they want to use any of the items for the next 6 months.

·         Crafting supplies: There are those expensive crafting gadgets like die-cut machines with all of their different cartridges. Go in with a group of friends who you scrap book with and share the supplies.

So I challenge you to look around your home and garage and see what you can share. And as you go to purchase new items think about going in on them with a friend. It just takes a little shift in your thinking and you will love this concept. Oh, and for our neighbor that we borrow things from, your bowl of homemade caramel corn is coming soon!

To Joyful, Simplified Living,

MS. Simplicity

MS. Simplicity, also known as Melissa Schmalenberger operates her business as I Did it with MS. Simplicity. She is a Professional Organizer based out of Fargo, ND and her website can be found at http://www.mssimplicity.com/

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