I can’t believe it’s already the end of June.   Where has June gone?  It seems like school just dismissed last week.  Already a month has passed and I really have nothing to show for it.  Well, except for the very large dent in my To-Be-Read pile of books.  Of course, those open spots keep getting replenished with new books that I want to read, so that point is basically moot.   We did manage to get through two weeks of swimming lessons and one week of fossil camp.  Still, my grand plans of cleaning out closets and inviting friends over just haven’t come to fruition as of yet.  I still have July, right?

I’m planning a no-spend month in July.  We have two refrigerators (one upstairs, one downstairs) and both have fully stocked freezers.  We simply cannot buy any more frozen foods until the freezers are cleaned out, and that required eating!   The garden is going to be giving us lots and lots of extras to freeze in the next few weeks so we just have to make some room.  I’m going to try to convert some of that frozen meat and produce into make-ahead dishes for the beginning of the upcoming school year.

Yes, I said it, I’m thinking about the busy back to school season.  While I’m at it, I need to clean out my kids’ closets to get their wardrobes ready.  In the past couple of years I’ve been pretty lazy about getting rid of the outgrown clothes.  For a long time, eBay was my friend.  That’s just too much work at this point.  Even preparing for a consignment sale is overwhelming.  Last year I just gave bags upon bags to my friends.  This year many of the sizes won’t work as hand-me-downs, so the bags will be going to a consignment sale.  This time, however, I plan to use the express tagging service.  I did that once before and it was SO worth the lower commission rate.   Instead of getting 60% back on my items, I got only 50%.  But the wonderful consignment volunteer tagged ALL of my items for me and took them to the drop-off point.  Awesome!  I just sat back and got a $600 check in the mail a few weeks later.  The great thing is that making room in the closets will clear out space for new items. 

What are your plans for the month of July?   Are you looking forward to the beginning of the school year, or do you dread it?