Beach Packing & Clean Up {FREE Printable}

I like to think of myself as a fairly organized person.

But for some reason, when we go to the beach - which is quite often - I seem to loose all sense of organization.

I get everything in the car - and it seems like we're bringing the entire house with us -  so I feel like I've got everything I need. But then I arrive and I've forgotten something critical...like towels! No joke, I seriously forgot towels one time. And then I had to buy a towel from the beach gift shop and it cost $15. Lesson learned...right?

Apparently not.

The last time I went to the beach, I forgot my entire beach bag. Like my bag that had the sunscreen, hats, reading material and MY CELL PHONE! Oh, the horror!

So, I am finally taking my husband's advice and making a family "Beach Packing List."

But alas...lucky for me, I did a quick Internet search and guess what? The awesomely talented Jen at "I heart organizing" has not only created a fun, colorful beach checklist...she's made it available for free download on her amazing blog. Just click here to find it.

 

I will be personalizing mine and then laminating it and storing it in my beach bag. I have a feeling I'll be using it quite a lot this summer.

One more thought while we're on the topic of going to the beach... the dreaded beach clean up.

No one likes all the gritty sand entering the house after a fun day of swimming and sandcastles.

My solution is an easy 3-step process:

1. Make sure you pack dry clothes and have your child rinse off at the beach showers. If you can do this, you'll eliminate almost all of the sand in your car and in your house.

If there are no showers, bring along a couple gallons of drinking water. (Just make sure they're not scalding hot if you've been at the beach all day.) Then have your children sit on the car bumper or edge of the car door and rinse off their legs & feet as best you can.

If there is absolutely no water available, and your kids are not wet, use baby powder to remove the sand. For some odd reason, baby powder makes the sand fall right off, like magic!

2. Lay a towel down on the floor boards of the front and back seat. This will catch any additional sand that is sticking to people's feet and hopefully eliminate the need to vacuum your car when you get home.

3. When you get home, immediately take the wet bathing suits and towels and throw them into the washer. Don't leave them in a heap on the laundry room floor. That will only cause the sand to dump onto your floors and thus, get dragged throughout the house.

Seems pretty logical and simple, right? That's because it is. And it will make your post-beach clean up a snap!

Happy Beach-ing Everyone!

Vacation Packing Tip For Kids Clothing

Many of you are preparing for your final vacations of the summer, so I thought I'd post a quick packing tip for your kids clothing.

Here's the scenerio:

You're on vacation. You're busy. Your child needs to get dressed for the day so you say, "Little Johnny, please go get dressed. Your clothes are in the suitcase."

To which Little Johnny proceeds to walk into the bedroom, get down on his hands and knees, and TEAR APART THE ENTIRE SUITCASE until he finds just the right t-shirt and shorts he feels like wearing that particular day.

No thank you.

To help alleviate some of this frustration, I have come up with a system that seems to work quite well for my 8-year old.

I simply pack each day's outfit, complete with underwear, in a gallon Ziploc bag. Sounds simple, right? It is! And it works!

I lay out all of the outfits for the week and then put each one in an individual Ziploc bag. The clothes are clean, so when we're done with the bags, I will re-use them (no waste).

And when it's time for Payton to get dressed, he simply takes out a bag and puts on the clothes inside them. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

It also makes packing a breeze (just make sure you squeeze ALL the air out of the bag before closing them). I also did one bag of PJ's and one quart-sized bag for socks. No more getting his clothes mixed up with his brothers. And one more thing to make vacation a bit more relaxing.

What's your favorite packing tip? Please share!