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5 Must Read Books For Entrepreneurs – The Summer List

By Helena Alkhas
Filed Under: Entrepreneur Life, Marketing for Professional Organizers

Refresh, reshape, and grow your business with these inspiring Summer reads for entrepreneurs.

As the Summer days warm up and the days move a bit more slowly, you may have noticed the pace of your business slowing down as well. On a positive note, the “Summer slump” provides business owners a great opportunity to delve into personal and business growth, get inspired, try out a few new systems, and work out any kinks that may pop up so that you and your business are ready when things get busy again in the Fall.

One of my favorite ways to spend the slower Summer months is reading books that help me to look at my entrepreneur life and my business in a different way. There is more time to mull over new ideas and think of how I might positively transform different parts of my business.

5 Must Read Books For Entrepreneurs - The Summer List. — 5 Must Read Books For Entrepreneurs – The Summer List.

Here are some of my favorite books to dive into during the slow Summer months that will have you ready to get back at it with fresh inspiration and new ideas in the Fall.

1. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

An absolute personal favorite, I have it in audio (Audible – affiliate link) and paperback for all my notes. I read it thinking of my kids and the level of interruption they have in their lives due to all the electronics and social media, but it had a huge impact on me. I reviewed my relationship with time, the use of social media and of anything that could compromise the work I’ve set out to do in the world.

Cal Newport writes beautifully and is very compelling on his case for more focused time and less interruption in our lives, giving us easy to implement strategies to achieve it.

I can say it is a must for those who feel they are always busy but struggle to accomplish as much as they set out to during all of that “busy time.”

“Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It’s a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide a sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship. In short, deep work is like a superpower in our increasingly competitive twenty-first-century economy. And yet, most people have lost the ability to go deep-spending their days instead in a frantic blur of e-mail and social media, not even realizing there’s a better way.”- Amazon Books

2. Breaking the Habit of Being You by Dr. Joe Dispenza

I truly believe this book can change your life. At least that’s what I feel it did for me.

Dr. Dispenza explains the science behind becoming who we are and how to create lasting change in any area of your life. If you’re ready for a big, bold move, this book will be your best friend.

Audible version (affiliate link)

Fans of this book love the actionable steps that Dispenza offers to really help you put into practice what you learn in the book and I can attest to that.

“In Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, renowned author, speaker, researcher, and chiropractor Dr. Joe Dispenza combines the fields of quantum physics, neuroscience, brain chemistry, biology, and genetics to show you what is truly possible. Not only will you be given the necessary knowledge to change any aspect of yourself, but you will be taught the step-by-step tools to apply what you learn in order to make measurable changes in any area of your life.” – Amazon Books

3. Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message so Customers will Listen by Donald Miller

An absolute diamond when it comes to clarifying your brand message and growing your customer base by giving your audience what they want. People have problems. You want to be the one to offer them the clearest and best solution.

“Donald Miller’s StoryBrand process is a proven solution to the struggle business leaders face when talking about their businesses. This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides listeners with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Building a StoryBrand will forever transform the way you talk about who you are, what you do, and the unique value you bring to your customers.”- Amazon Books

4. Free to Focus- A Total Productivity System to Achieve More by Doing Less by Michael Hyatt

This book is a must-read for anyone who has ever felt like there are not possibly enough hours in the day to finish their work, let alone the truly important things in life, like family, friendships, our own personal health, relationships, and hobbies.

“In Free to Focus, New York Times bestselling author Michael Hyatt reveals to readers nine proven ways to win at work so they are finally free to succeed at the rest of life–their health, relationships, hobbies, and more. He helps readers redefine their goals, evaluate what’s working, cut out the non-essentials, focus on the most important tasks, manage their time and energy, and build momentum for a lifetime of success.”- Google Books

5. Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time and Energy Management for Busy Moms by Kate Northrup

One of my favorite new releases, Do Less will transform the way women think about how they manage their time, but how they think about time in general. From natural cycles to the cyclical nature of time itself, Kate Northrup gives practical solutions for women who want to successfully and joyfully combine business and motherhood. I love the experiments that are included in this book that encourage you to work through the book.

“The addiction to busyness and the obsession with always trying to do more leads women, especially working mothers, to feel like they’re always failing their families, their careers, their spouses, and themselves. This book will give women the permission and tools to change the way they approach their lives and allow them to embrace living in tune with the cyclical nature of the feminine, cutting out the extraneous busyness from their lives so they have more satisfaction and joy, and letting themselves be more often instead of doing all the time.”

These books are gems in so many different ways. Some will inspire you to change your daily habits and some will give you amazing ideas to transform your brand and grow your business.

Have you read any of these titles? If you have let me know in the comments below! What titles are must-reads for you that I should check out? I’d love for you to share!

Stylish Solutions For The Closetless Lady

By Helena Alkhas
Filed Under: Closet, Organizing, Readers Love

How To Organize A Closet When You Don’t Have One

Not all of us are gifted with a sprawling walk-in closet to store all our clothes, shoes, accessories and do some fun dressing up. If you find yourself looking for closet organizing ideas for the “no closet” problem in your home, you’re in for a treat. Get ready to be inspired by these stylish closet solutions for the closet-less.

From the very creative and artsy to a more “put-together” look, there’s a closet organizing solution to bring you all the storage and organization you need for your beauties.

As you read through this post you’ll see that you don’t have to break the bank or sacrifice on storage with these solutions. The closet organizing ideas below are a good sample of what you can do with a garment rack, a dresser, even storage boxes, and of course, some imagination!

1. No Closet Organizing Ideas: Create One In A Corner

Painting one of the walls in a dark color will bring an instant flair and focus to your dressing area. Contrast it with white or bright colors and use your favorite clothing and shoes as part of your decor. By setting up your closet corner in contrasting colors it will create a sense of purposeful intention for your organizing and storage space.

I love what Alaina from livecreatingyourself.com did and how she added gold accents against the dark wall.

Add a beautiful floor mirror to add function with loads of style.

2. No Closet Organizing Ideas: The Spare Bedroom (or corner!)

Who said your closet has to live in your bedroom?

Have an extra room? A tiny little corner?

Make it pretty with your clothing and nicely organized shoes. Add some sparkle and a comfy seat to make it yours. This gorgeous example of an extra room turned closet only needed a rolling rack and a few accessories to pull together this high-end closet solution.

4. No Closet Organizing Ideas: Shelves On The Wall

Want a more “closet-looking” solution? No worries, you can install shelves and a closet rod to create a unique boutique style solution to your closet.

Don’t you love the shoe storage on the wall?

A combination of shelves, clothing rack and a cabinet to bring more closet storage space.

His & Hers Perfection

Extra No-Closet Organizing Tip!

In the image below you can see how installing the top rod near the ceiling doubles your closet storage space. When you don;t have generous closet space, maximizing space in anyway you can is the name of the game.

I love the contrast of the industrial pipes with the delicate chandelier.

Ikea has a beautiful closet organizing system that can also serve as a room divider. Again, doubling up on form and function is a win-win when it comes to creative closet solutions.

no closet organizing

Let the bed be front and center

5. No Closet Organizing Ideas: Let Your Clothing Be The Backdrop

This closet solution creates a beautiful backstage for your bed while creating all the privacy you need.

Simply use a curtain to create separation and an “official” closet is born. Don’t be surprised if you end up with more space than you would have in a traditional closet. What’s not to love in this Pottery Barn room?

no closet organizing tips

Create a closet with a beautiful curtain hanging from the ceiling behind your bed.

These shelves are a great solution, even more so if you, like us, move so often. The shelves give you flexibility and they can be used from the entryway to your closet.

no closet organizing solutions

Style your new closet anyway you want. Get creative and always remember to bring in your personal style with little touches throughout any space.

Proof that closet shelving can look beautiful!

The perfect marriage of style and function.

closet organizing ideas pottery barn shelf shoe rack

Who said shelves can’t be beautiful?

6. No Closet Organizing Ideas: Modular Systems

Don’t you love this gorgeous and elegant closet built with modular storage?

These modular storage cubbies offer plenty of space for your folded items, purses and, shoes. Use baskets in beautiful textures to add tons of storage options as well as beauty and style.

no closet

Giving cubbies a whole new meaning

7. No Closet Organizing Ideas: Clothing Racks Come in All Shapes And Sizes

These racks have a unique shape which makes them both attractive and extra sturdy. You can use them along the walls of your room and add a dresser for your folded items to create a fully functional closet solution.

Boutique style

This beautiful closet solution is all made with shelves and gorgeous storage boxes from The Container Store. And, of course, the wall color, lighting, and beautiful accessories make this an “all-grown-up” room.

Shelves are all you need to create this beautiful closet by The Container Store.

Now, here is the official garment rack for girls and boys alike.

8. No Closet Organizing Ideas: The Ultimate Treasure

If you have utilized all of your options with shelves, rolling racks, cubbies, and drawers, and you still need more room to store and organize your clothing, let’s get creative and get under the bed with this awesome storage solution.

So much storage int this fun and unexpected space!

What are your favorite closet organizing ideas from this post?

I’ll love to hear what you do to improve storage without compromising in style in your own space.

Closet Organizing Products

Drawer Dividers

Keep everything in its place with drawer dividers. Create a separate section for socks, underwear, scarves and belts.This simplifies finding what you need and replacing items after laundry or use.

Custom Drawer Dividers

Maximize all the space in your drawers by using this customizable drawer divider. Ideal if you have just a bit of each item and won’t need a full section like the one provided in the previous product.

FlipFold Jr.Laundry Folder

Makes folding t-shirts neatly a breeze. This one is the Jr. size, but also offered in adult size.

Over the Door Organizer

Offered in several colors, these organizers can hold every little item that would otherwise be scattered around the room. From socks and underwear to brushes and make up, all stays in one spot.

Over the Door Shoe Organizer

Keeping all your shoes organized and out of your way. If possible install it inside the closet door to avoid visual clutter when your bedroom door is closed and you’re resting.

Hanging Jewelry Storage

Makes it easy for you to spot what you have and what you’re looking for. Ideal to “remind” you of all your jewelry and start using all you have.

Clear Storage Box

Keep your favorite t-shirts, light sweaters and cashmere here.

Deep Clear Storage Box

Ideal for bulky items like sweaters, quilts or blankets

Tall Clear Shoe Storage Box

Perfect for heels!

Clear Shoe Box

The perfect shoe box, that will allow you to easily spot the shoe you’re looking for. Also perfect for scarves or accessories

Clear Plastic Boot Box

Keep all your boots in perfect condition in this boot storage box. Add a boot insert to make it perfect!

Clear Men’s Shoe Storage Box

This is a longer and deeper storage box, made for men’s shoes.

Clear Accessories Storage Box

Clear Underbed Storage Box

Perfect for your bedding or out of season items.

Jumbo Clear Shoe Storage Box

Great storage for comforters, blankets, sweaters, sleeping bags…

5 Tips For A Successful Branding Photo Shoot

By Helena Alkhas
Filed Under: Entrepreneur Life, Marketing for Professional Organizers, Organizing

A brand is made up of many elements, all of which come together to tell a cohesive and consistent visual story to your audience. By creating and communicating a clear brand message, you will be building trust, which is a key element for converting followers into customers. One of the best ways to create a consistent brand message is with a branding photo shoot.

Here are 5 tips that you can use to make your Branding Photo shoot a success

1. Hire or DIY

When you are getting ready to do a branding photo shoot, the first thing you will want to decide on is whether you are going to do the photo shoot yourself or you are going to hire a professional. If you do want to hire a photographer for your photo shoot, check out fiverr for a great pool of talent available in price ranges for every budget. Here Are a few things to consider when you are deciding:

You are a good candidate to DIY your Branding Photo shoot if:

You are comfortable with a DSLR camera. While iPhones take amazing photos, you will want to use an actual camera for your branding photo shoot to get the most professional looking results.
You are comfortable creating backgrounds, flat lays, and setting up the subjects in your photos
You are comfortable with editing photos
You are on a tight budget. When considering budget, remember to keep in mind how much time and how much energy you will spend trying to do the photo shoot yourself in order to figure out the true cost of going with DIY.

You should hire a professional for your Branding Photo shoot if:

You do not own or are unfamiliar with using a DSLR came
You want help with creating the composition and layouts for your brand photos
You are not familiar with, or adept at photo editing
You can invest a little money to have your photos done by a professional

2. Be consistent across the board

Before you do any of the next steps to prepare for your branding photo shoot, you need to have a clear vision of what you want your photos to look like and achieve, and have a path and a plan to get you there.

We are always talking about consistency when it comes to branding and there’s a reason: people buy from businesses and people they know and trust. The best way to make that kind of connection with an audience or customer base is to deliver a clear and consistent message.

When you are getting ready to start your photo shoot you will want to have a very clear idea of the things that make up your brand. These can include things like your brand’s colors, fonts, images, taglines, headings, image formatting, logo, target audience, and packaging.

Depending on the type of business you are branding, what you include in your brand kit might be slightly different.

3. Know your end goal before you begin

Ask yourself what you want to achieve with your brand photo shoot. Is this photo shoot for a specific campaign, or are the photos intended to be used as a general stock of photos you will use in multiple situations for your brand? You will also want to think about where you will be using these photos.

Some popular uses for brand photos are Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Websites or blogs, print, and/or video. It is so important to think of where you will be using the pictures from your branding photo shoot so that you will be creating images in the correct sizes, as well as photos that speak to the users of specific platforms.

Canva is a great tool to use as you are preparing for your branding photo shoot as it has all of the sizes you will need for both digital and print media as templates. Using templates to create different images from your photo shoot will save you loads and time and stress if you are not a pro at photoshop or other similar photo editing applications.

4. Collect inspiration

Before the day of your branding photo shoot begin collecting inspiration. Start this as early as you can to give yourself time to pull from creative sources and be open to inspiration in unexpected spaces.

You can keep all of your ideas together on a paper vision board, or on an app like Pinterest which makes gathering digital inspiration super simple and organized.

Gather a wide variety of inspiration from photos or specific items you want to include as well as photos that exemplify the theme you are going for. You can also gather inspiration from video, quotes, and messaging styles.

As your shoot gets closer, go through and tighten up what your vision for the shoot is and make sure your design is cohesive with what you want your photos to achieve as an end result.

5. Gather your tools and schedule your Branded Photo Shoot

Once you feel like you have everything together to create a clear and consistent branding photo shoot, you should schedule your shoot. If you are doing the photo shoot yourself, pick one date, or pick a few different dates for mini sessions.

You may also want to think about scheduling a refresher branding photo shoot once or twice a year to add seasonal, or specifically themed photos to your stock of images.

If you are having a photographer do your photo shoot, you can see if there are any special offers for mini sessions, or if it is a better deal to shoot everything all at once, and then maybe shoot the refresher pictures yourself to fill in.

Conclusion

One of the best investments of time or money that you can make in your business is to do a branding photo shoot. Your overall goal for your branding photo shoot should be to create a recognizable story through images that your customers can easily attach to your business.

When your audience sees your images they should immediately know they are yours. The consistent and high-quality photos created with a well-prepped and executed branding photo shoot will give you images that will elevate your brand and grow your business.

7 Steps To A Summer Yard Sale

By Helena Alkhas
Filed Under: Garage, Organizing, Summer

Put Together A Yard Sale to Declutter & Organize Your Home

Summer break may have just started, but before you know it, you will be back to school shopping. After such a long break, our homes usually beg for a big decluttering and organizing session.

Mid or late summer is a great time to check what can go and what can stay, replenish the drawers and rotate the warmer clothes out of storage areas.

Having a summer yard sale is a great way to declutter and to generate some extra cash for those “special” items the kids may be asking for.

Here are some tips to help you organize a summer yard sale and in the process, declutter your home in preparation for the new season ahead.

Where To Start

Begin the process by making lists– by going from room to room in the house and quickly listing the items you don’t want anymore. Think about clothing items that don’t fit or that you don’t like. Household goods like that extra set of dishes or those pots and pans that Aunt Tilly gave you that you didn’t want might sell quickly for reasonable prices in a yard sale.

Next, visit your kids’ rooms. Do they have clothing they’ve outgrown that are still in decent shape? Maybe they’ve got toys they don’t play with anymore. Items like toys, games, and clothing that are in good shape but kids have grown out of can be great candidates for yard sales. Children’s clothing and toys tend to sell well, so you’ll make a few extra dollars for school shopping on those items.

Next stop – the garage. Have you been placing boxes of stuff out there that you don’t know what to do with? An upcoming yard sale is a great time to go through the boxes and do a quick sort to get rid of the items you can live without.

Next, getting ready– A yard sale has almost no cost to it, just a bit of labor. Launder all clothing and make sure you wash any household items or knick-knacks. If you want to sell your items quickly, plus get top dollar for your back to school purchases, avoid displaying broken or dusty objects. You might want to pay a few dollars for stick-on pricing tags or group items by price in different tables. If not, use a roll of masking tape to write the prices and place on the objects to be sold.

Getting The Word Out

If you advertise your yard sale in the local newspaper, you’ll most likely pay a small fee. Advertising can pay off, though, as avid “yard-sale shoppers” devote their weekends to driving from yard sale to yard sale advertised in the newspaper. Put it on Craigslist, too.

In a well-trafficked area, you only need to put out a couple of signs directing people to your residence.

Plan on having your yard sale over two days – Friday and Saturday are ideal since most people are off from work and driving around for errands and can see your street signs.

7 steps to organize a summer yard sale to declutter and organize your home for back to school time! Organize a summer yard sale to clean out your rooms and garage and earn you dollars for those back to school supplies and clothing that your kids need as you prepare your kids to return to school! — Free Download – Click to Access

7 Steps To Having A Summer Yard Sale

1. Do a walk-through of your home and list items you want to sell. Bring a laundry basket or bags to help you start collecting.

2. Check the garage. Sort through boxes, separating the items to put in your yard sale.

3. Wash clothing and clean items to be sold.

4. Buy stick-on price tags or a roll of masking tape and price your items.

5. Advertise in your local paper and online at Craigslist if you like.

6. Put up signs in your neighborhood, directing potential buyers to your home.

7. Use the profits from your yard sale for back to school purchases.

Having a summer yard sale will not only clean out your rooms and garage, but it’ll also earn you dollars for those back to school supplies and clothing that your kids need. Who knows, your yard sale profits may be all the money you need to prepare your kids to return to school!

Grow Your List With These Email Subscriber Ideas

By Helena Alkhas
Filed Under: Entrepreneur Life, Marketing for Professional Organizers

Now that you have taken the first, essential steps to growing your email list, you’ll want to keep them coming back for more and continue to gain new subscribers with some awesome free content.

And, one of the best ways to get new subscribers for your growing email list is to create and offer valuable materials to provide in exchange for the right to get into their inbox.

By offering your readers or potential subscribers valuable information for free, you will be establishing trust and authority in your niche so when the time comes to sell a product or service, your subscribers will be on board with what you are offering because they have already had a sampling f the high-quality things you have to offer.

So let’s get started today by first looking at five different kinds of freebies that you can create for your subscribers:

Checklists
Planners
Quick-guides
Short video tutorials
Free email training series

Now let’s look at what types of free content might be best suited for your business or brand.

1. Product-based business freebies

If you offer a product or products through your business, certain types of content are best suited to your brand and will be most useful for your customers. The best free content you can offer your customers as a products-based business are:

Quick- guides – Quick -guides can be used to talk about how you would use your product to solve different types of problems that your subscribers might have.
Short video tutorials – Again, you can offer your customers free video tutorials to show your product in action. If customers like what they see, they will be excited to buy from you.
How –to’s – Downloadable how-to’s in the form of a checklist on how to solve a specific problem or achieve a goal that features your product as one of the essential steps that save time, energy, and or money along the way is an excellent piece of free content to offer.

2. Service-Based Business Freebies

If you own a service-based business, you will want to focus on giving your potential customers free snippets that offer them ”quick wins” in the niche that you are working.

Checklists and planners – Say, for example, you run an organizing business, like me. You may be offering your organizing service or be offering a planner or downloadable home management binder for sale. You could provide a single room or routine organizing checklist as a freebie so your readers can see the value and expertise you offer.
Free email training series – you can also offer a meatier freebie in the form of a free e-course designed to further give great value for free to your readers. The more you share freely of your knowledge, the more people will trust that you are confident you have much more to teach them in the services and products you are offering.

Of course, you can and should mix and match these kinds of freebies up as offers in your business, depending on what your subscribers respond to, whether you have a product or service based.

Finally, you will want to make a plan for creating and implementing the sharing of this free content.

Once you have decided what kind of free content you want to create, you will want to approach it in a three-step process similar to this.

1. Plan and Design With The End Result In Mind

When you are planning and designing your free content, make sure you start with the end goal in mind. Think about where you would like this free content to lead your subscribers. What are they interested in most that is related to a product you are charging for?

This way, when you ask them to purchase a product or service from you will know it is at least it is close to something they would need and want because they accepted a free offer that was very similar.

2. Share and Promote

Once your freebie is designed, you will want to share and promote it. You can add your freebie as a header email grab for people to leave their email in exchange for free download or link.

Place this above the fold on your website for the most significant impact.

You can also send out your freebie to your current email list. You will also want to promote your freebie offer on social media.

3. Follow Up

In the first two posts where we talked about email lists for your business, we wrote a lot about consistency and its popping up again here. Once people have given you their email in exchange for free content, you need to do something with those emails.

This is a simple way to use the new emails you have to convert subscribers to customers. Create a segmented list in your email marketing service like convert kit. (affiliate link)

Send out an email asking people how they like d the free content and did they have any questions. Then offer them your product or service that you are selling that is related to the free offer they accepted.

4. Conclusion

Providing free content in the form of ebooks, checklists, planners, video training, and more is a great way to build trust and confidence between you and your current and potential subscribers.

When people buy products or services, they buy from people they know, like, and trust.

By sharing content that is both valuable and free, you will be well on your way to achieving all three.

Traveling With Kids: Tips To Make Summer Travel Simple

By Helena Alkhas
Filed Under: Moves, Travels & Vacations, Organizing, Summer

Summer is here and we are all gearing up for vacation season. While traveling with kids can seem overwhelming at times, don’t let it stop you. With some pre-planning and preparation, you will be ready to travel with your kids in no time.

Car travel and plane travel will have a few different requirements and mean slightly different preparations for your family, but these tips cover general good practices for either and will have you ready for fun Summer adventures.

A month before you travel

The month leading up to your vacation, you’ll want to start thinking about a broad plan. Here are the things you will want to have squared away the month before you travel with kids:

Lodging-where will you stay? Will you be renting a hotel, home or apartment, or staying with friends or family? Each of these types of lodging options requires different preparations. Tie up all of these ends well in advance of your trip so you don’t have to worry about them as the trip gets close.

Itinerary- Some people are super planners on vacation and want to map out and schedule every minute of the day, while others like to simply go with the flow. Like all other things that involve kids, you will want to keep to some type of routine while you are traveling. You don’t need to make a strict schedule down to the hour, but try to keep bedtimes and mealtimes consistent, as well as map out activities you know you will definitely be doing.

Car or flight preparations- If you are flying, you will want to make sure you have all of your necessary documents and passports for each family member. Keep this all together with your tickets so they don’t get misplaced. If you are driving, schedule routine maintenance and check up on your vehicle so you are ready to hit the road without any unexpected auto issues.

Two weeks before you travel

In the two weeks before you travel with kids, make a packing list for each family member. Put together everything you already have and then make a shopping list for the things you need. Depending on the ages and needs of your kids the things you need to pack will differ, but here’s a list to get you started: ( link to checklist or blog post (s)) ***

Tip for traveling with babies or younger kids: Packing a few items that are their favorites will make them feel more at home while they are traveling and sleeping in an unfamiliar place. Also, try to keep their natural or regular routine in mind when it comes to sleep and eating.

Secure the home front- Two weeks before you are set to leave finalize any plans you have made for who will be taking care of your house and your pets, if you have any, while you are away. Make sure they have important numbers and any special instructions before you leave.

A week before you travel

The week prior to traveling you will want to start packing.

Pack for each person- Take your list and start packing for each person who is traveling. If you have older kids, they can use their own list to pack. If you tend to be an over packer, here’s where you will want to use some restraint. Stick to your lists and avoid throwing in extra things for each family member. Before you know it you will have more suitcases and bags than you know what to do with.

Stick to the list- Another negative to overpacking is that you have to unpack it all when you get back. Do yourself a favor and pack only what you need. Unless you are going deep into no man’s land you can always pick up something you need on the road or when you get to your destination.

The night before you travel

The night before you travel try to have all the last odds and ends wrapped up.

Final check-ins- Check in earlier in the day with house sitters to finalize plans. If you are traveling by car fill the gas tank and check your tire air pressure. Pack up the car. Prepare any road snacks as well as a bag of things you might need while driving, such as any tech gear, music, hand wipes, ect.

Get some sleep- Don’t forget to plan to go to bed early the night before you travel. You’ll want to hit the road early and rested to get the trip off on the right foot. You will also want to have the energy you need to deal with any last minute mishaps. You are a parent, you know these are inevitable.

Hitting the Road!

The big day is here and you are ready to hit the family and travel with the kids. Because you are so well prepared, there shouldn’t be very much you need to do the day you are traveling. Double check your packing list, check that keys are left in the right places for house and pet sitters, make sure all bags are packed and safety kits, tech for traveling, including chargers for all devices and phones and snacks are on hand. Now all you have to do is pile everyone in the car and hit the road!

Conclusion:

Traveling with your kids has so many benefits for them and for you. These tips will have you ready to hit the road this Summer. Remember the best travel trip of all: Plan ahead as much as you can, and then be prepared for anything!

Want more tips on traveling and packing? Check out posts here and here.

Organizing Tips