Summer Goal Setting For Moms

Summer Goal Setting

The weeks and days leading up to summer seem to crawl by. As the weather gets nicer we come up with all of these grand plans and ideas for how to fill the time. But guess what? Sooner than you can blink (or so it seems) September is right around the corner and few if any of those plans actually happened.

Oh no! What can you do to make your summers more fulfilling? Setting goals can be a great way to be sure to get stuff done this summer.

Goals can take different shapes. Try to break down what your summer priorities are and how you can best meet them. Keep in mind, you don’t want to overwhelm yourself with hundreds of goals. Be sure to set some short term goals as well as long term goals.

Here are some example goals:

1. Family Goals:

As much as we want to just veg out when summer rolls around, we usually have some ideas of things we would like to do as a family during the summer. This might include events such as going to the zoo, going to a museum, going to the beach, or summer camp for the kids. When setting your goals consider affordability, ease of access, transportation, and how to solve any related problems!

Potential Solutions: It’s easy to shoot for the moon with our grand summer plans, but let’s try to be realistic. It might not be in our budget to travel to a museum every single week. Admission to the zoo may be pricey. What can you do to combat these challenges?

Consider seeing if you could carpool with other families. Research local sites to see if they have cheaper admission days or sales. Maybe you can bring your own drinks or snacks so that you can save money at different venues. Try to plan your schedules around weather and events.

And if you do end up wanting to take a family vacation, it’s not too late to plan and find a good deal! Check out my 3 secrets to an affordable family vacation.

 2. Household Goals:

Sometimes we have some specific things we’d like to do for our house during the summer. These can be things like having a yard sale, keeping up on chores, and other household repairs or projects. Here are some ideas:

Declutter/Organize: Shooting for the entire house would be an admirable goal, but don’t be afraid to start with smaller goals such as specific rooms. Or perhaps create a schedule for organization, one room a week or something similar. This way you don’t get overwhelmed. Organization does not need to be expensive, often times you can organize simply by utilizing things purchased from the dollar store.

Yard sale: It takes time and dedication to have a yard sale. You need to be committed to getting rid of GOOD things (not just the junk you don’t want 😉 ) for a reasonable price. You need to be able to sit and manage the sale all day, take the time to advertise, and all of the other parts of having a good yard sale. But they can be so worthwhile in terms of getting rid of stuff that is taking up space and earning some extra cash!

3. Personal Goals:

You may have your own individual goals for yourself this summer. Don’t be too hard on yourself but don’t be afraid to challenge yourself either. You never know what you can achieve if you put your mind to it! The same principles apply to personal goals as they do to other goes. Consider sustainability and solutions for potential problems.

Save money: This can be a very vague goal, but is definitely a sentiment most of us would share! You may have more motivation by setting a specific amount of money you’d like to save, but you may find more success with the more vague goal. Your specific goal could vary greatly. For example your goal could be “Only spend x money per shopping trip” or “save x amount per month”. Money can be a tricky goal to set because life tends to throw a lot of curves.

You can learn how to coupon, try meal planning, sell things, have a garage sale, and much more. A goal like this can give you a lot of freedom and flexibility in order to achieve it.

Learn a new skill: Who doesn’t want to learn something new? This is a goal that has the potential to be a lot of fun. The internet gives us a lot of ways to learn how to do new things. There are YouTube videos on all sorts of topics, everything from knitting to playing an instrument. Figure out something you’ve wanted to do and research ways you can learn it!

Keep in mind you may need to purchase supplies depending on your goal. Consider checking out yard sales or thrift stores for things like knitting or sewing supplies.

What’s on your summer goal list?