It is that time of year again, summer, here in the northern hemisphere. If you are anything like most North Americans, then summer means at least one trip on the calendar. If not a trip away then perhaps you have an event to plan for. It might be a Fourth of July cookout, in which case you need to plan the menu and make a list of all the foods and drinks you plan to make. Before you can make the foods and drinks, you will need a grocery list or maybe even a to-do list to help you get everything done in the right order and in a timely manner.

Maybe your summer plans involve a trip away for a weekend or longer. First, you need to decide if you will be away long enough to need to do laundry during your trip or if you have enough clothing and luggage space to pack clothing to last you the entire time you are planning to be gone. Once you have that done, you can either be very general like I was in the list below or get super specific planning each day’s outfit down to shoes and accessories. You do you. Whatever works. Make a list and reuse it each time you go on a trip to save time and help you not to forget anything.

If you think of something you forgot to pack while you are away, add it to the list so you will remember it next time. My hubby has what he calls vacation rules. Basically, if you forgot to pack something that you really need, you have permission to go out and buy it. He joked about forgetting to pack the car when we flew someplace on vacation. I told him that was over budget. We have been known to go out and buy jackets while we were on a beach vacation because we forgot the evenings might be chilly. On that same trip, we decided we needed clothespins because it was so windy the beach towels were in danger of flying away. Unfortunately, the grocery store we went to didn’t have clothespins so we bought a bunch of chip clips with magnets on the back instead. We still have and use those chip clips to this day, so it was a good investment and certainly cheaper than replacing the beach towels would have been had we let them blow away.

When it comes to making lists, I really like using Google Keep. The list below is an example of a list with checkboxes. When you have added the items to your luggage, you can check the box. The items go down below the list and when you need the list again, you just uncheck the boxes. I use this sort of list for my grocery list all the time. You have the ability to drag the items to rearrange the order of the list. You can tag the list with search terms or color code it, like make the background green if it has to do with money or whatever you like. Lists are very handy for helping you organize your summer activities. What is your favorite listing apps?