Hot times, summer in the city…

Oh summer. Kids are out of school, the days are long and the nights are hot. Being a Florida girl, I love it all. Except one thing: the extra stuff. The bathing suits, beach towels, goggles, sunscreen, hats, pool toys, and bug spray. Where do you put it all? How to keep it all organized without cluttering up the front hall, not to mention the additional laundry.

 You could argue that winter has its organization annoyances with the hats, gloves, scarves, coats etc…but let’s be honest, who washes their winter gear all that frequently? Not me. Not so with the summer gear. Every towel and suit gets washed after each use. So, how do you do it? How do you keep the stuff accessible but tidy, and the laundry piles to a minimum. 

Over the years, I’ve developed a few systems that seem to work. 

One: I have a large CLEAR shoe bag in the front hall coat closet. You know the type with multiple pockets for each shoe. Well, no shoes go in my shoe bags. In the summer, the pockets hold sunscreen bottles, bug spray, goggles, small pool toys. In the winter the bag holds scarves, gloves, hats etc… but that’s another post. 

Two: The ridiculously large beach bag from Lands End. I keep it at the ready in my closet with extra goggles, toys, sunscreen, the pool passes, some sealed packaged snacks and a tampon. The last two items have saved my ass a time or two. As soon as we call for a pool run, everyone knows to dump either their bathing suit or change of clothes in the bag. I’m in charge of towels and we’re on our way within 15 minutes. 

Three: A hamper in the bathroom devoted only to towels. As soon as the kids get home from camp or we arrive en masse from the pool, wet bathing suits go on the shower rod over the tub and wet towels go in the hamper. Once a week I toss it in the wash. It helps that we’ve acquired huge amounts of beach towels from Target sales or trips to amusement parks. 

So that’s how I keep my summer sanity. How about you? I’m always looking for tips to keep the pool prep time to a minimum without a lot of dashing back to the house because someone forgot or couldn’t find something.