July is probably my least favorite month of the year so I try to do things in July that motivate me and get me to August. I am not a fan of summer because I hate being hot and I don’t love the long days, so I can often feel myself getting a little down in July. I’ve been doing a really great job the past few years of having a list of things to accomplish in July that keep me busy and make me feel less down.

Buy Boots: Boot season is right around the corner, but most people aren’t thinking about that quite yet. Which means, boots are on sale everywhere! I found an awesome pair that I have been coveting on Amazon for $15.00 last week. These normally retail for $60, so it was a huge find for me. A ton of stores also have their clearance areas stocked with fall and winter clothing and shoes, so that is a great place to look too.

Go Through Seasonal Items: I have a cute little doorstep at my house and I love to keep it decorated with seasonal items. Right now I have two little planters with summer plants, a bright flower puff hanging on the door, sidewalk chalk in a pot and a few other items. One of my favorite things to do in July is to go through my stash and see if there are things I no longer use and then donate them. I also start to look for ideas for upcoming seasons or holidays to either start crafting them, or to start looking for items in stores.

ADVERTISEMENT

Purge: Ok, so this is actually more like a year round thing for me, but I love purging items from my house. I tend to go through the kids toys and clothes every few months and I get rid of the things they are no longer using. I have an area in my garage that is fort things that need to be thrown away, another pile of donate items, and then a bin of clothing. I donate as much stuff as I can or sell it on facebook marketplace. We occasionally have items like the disgusting old dog bed my basset hound has been sleeping on for two years that has to be taken to the dump, so we try to coordinate with my family members to do one run to the dump. I also have a couple of friends around my town that have kids that are either a little older or a little younger than me that we have a running exchange of clothing. July is the perfect month for me to get the clothes all distributed and start to get organized for fall.

Start Christmas Shopping: I know, I’m weird, but I prefer to start my shopping early so I am done by November. The great part about this is that there are a ton of sales in stores (like Target) where they are getting rid of old inventory. My kids are still young enough that they don’t care if a toy is last year’s model. I’ve already scored an awesome doll house and two winter coats that were on serious clearance. I’ll pick up a few items each month for the next couple of months and be ready to go by November. One tip here, make sure you have someplace to store these items. I’m lucky and I have a space at my parent’s house that I can hide my early finds.

Go On Vacation: For us, it gets pretty hot for July and August in Oregon. So July is the perfect month to escape and go to the mountains or to the beach. The coast is busy in the summer, but is also super fun. The water is almost always frigid, but when it’s 80 outside, the ocean feels refreshing instead of painful. There are a ton of activities in the summer months at the town we go to like a sandcastle contest, a kite festival, and some awesome art displays. The mountains are another great option here because there are some really cool activities at the ski resorts during the summer. We try to get out at least once to do some of these trips.

Can or Pickle: I’ve posted before about my family making pickles each year and July is a prime month to get this done. We also do some tomatoes (for the early ones that we grow) and start on blueberries and strawberries. My mom is awesome and makes some strawberry jam each year and that has become a staple in my house. My town has so many farms around it that we can go to get all kinds of fresh produce and in large quantities. I love freezing or canning as much as I can to use during the rest of the year.

Work on a Puzzle: I love puzzles so much and July is one of those months where I am too hot to be outside and I don’t want to just sit in front of the tv, so I work on puzzles. The kids are finally getting old enough to help a little, which is awesome. We have a large dining table that rarely gets used, so I set up the puzzles there and we spend time putting them together. This has actually been going on since Mr. Cereal and I were dating, which was forever ago. I donate the puzzles we are done with at the end of the summer and then I start getting new ones for the slower months.

Build Something: Each summer we tackle a home improvement project, and this year we are doing our back deck. The kids spend a lot of time in the yard, so we are slowly making it safer and cleaner. This mean that the old deck, which is in great shape, needed to be re-formed and re-vamped. We were lucky that the materials were able to be re-used so that saved us a ton of money. The kids are also old enough now to help, so they’ve been learning how to use the drill and the hammer a little. I love being able to teach them these kinds of skills.

What are some of your July activities (or your least favorite month activities)? Do you have a list of things you like to get done over the summer months?