The Lazy Genius Podcast - Crowdsourced Tips for an Easier Summer

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

We are smackdab in the middle of summer, and now seems like a great time to assess what’s working and what’s making summer easier. One of the best parts about being a Lazy Genius is getting better at solving small problems. The more we keep things small, the more helpful change we actually make, and this episode is that in a nutshell. Thanks to everyone who sent in so many great ideas. Helpful Companion Links Order my book The PLAN or ask your library to consider carrying a copy. Let us know how we’re doing in our annual survey Episode #266: How to Lazy Genius a Summer at the Pool Sign up for our every-other-week podcast recap email called Latest Lazy Listens. Sign up for my once-a-month newsletter, The Latest Lazy Letter. Grab a copy of my book The Lazy Genius Kitchen or The Lazy Genius Way! (Affiliate links) Download a transcript of this episode. Want to share your Lazy Genius of the Week idea with us? Use this form to tell us about it or record your idea and share your voice on the show. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, you're listening to the lazy genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi. This podcast is not about hacking the system to find more time or hacking your energy to get more done. Hustling to be the best or to make the most out of every opportunity is exhausting and unsustainable. So here we do things differently. On this show, we value contentment, compassion, and living in our season. We favor small steps over big systems. Here we are lazy geniuses, being a genius about the things that we're. We favor small steps. We favor small steps over big systems. Here we are lazy geniuses, being a genius about the things that we matter and lazy about the things that don't. And I'm so glad you're here. Today is episode 476, crowdsourced tips for an easier summer. We are smack dab in the middle of summer and now seems like a great time to assess what's working and what is making summer easier. Today we're going to hear from all of you with tons of great tips on an easier summer. And I know that there will be something in here that will solve a current problem anyone listening might have to make the second half of the summer easier. One of the best parts about being a lazy genius is getting better at solving small problems. The more we keep things small, the more helpful change we actually make.

And this episode is that in a nutshell. Lots of compassionate problem solving of the small things about summer that can grow into bigger frustrations. We have tips on lunches and snacks and swim meat dinners. We have tips on structuring days and keeping cars less chaotic and helping kids do chores without losing your mind. If the last few weeks of episodes have been my how-toes to get you thinking about all the ways to make summer easier, this episode is the crowdsourced collection of the best of the best, practically applied. So thanks in advance to everyone for sending in so many great ideas. After that, we'll have a little extra something where I share about my day off. In the latest lazy letter, my monthly newsletter that went out last week, I always answer people's

questions in a segment called Reply All. We get tons of email responses every month. And last month, someone asked about my day off. And if I actually take the day off, like for real, don't do anything on my to-do list. And because honestly, that sounds like crazy for a busy person with a job with kids and responsibilities. It is a fair question. And I did answer it briefly in the newsletter, but I actually wanted to go into it a bit more today. So that will be today's a little extra something. Then we'll celebrate the lazy genius of the week, even though this whole episode is full of lazy geniuses of the week with a brilliant tip about the bane of my existence, Dirty Sox. Then we'll close with a mini pep talk for when you don't feel like you can stop.

Now before we get into all that, we need your help. So you guys are really smart. And your thoughts about what we do here always matter. We have made decisions based on your feedback for years and it's time to get your feedback again. Every year we have a survey that helps us make decisions for the upcoming year and we for real listen to you. Like last year's survey led us to putting my dozen or so book reviews into a separate reading email every month and that has been a wildly good idea. The latest lazy letter where the book reviews used to live, it feels like it can breathe more. It has more room for like personal essays and ideas to share, plus this new reply all segment that I already mentioned. And then the book list, the reading email,

it is a more easily digestible email for readers with more room for me to share what I'm reading next, what book suggestions you have given me that month. And like even an essay on how reading is going right now. So those were tremendous ideas that we got from your survey feedback. Your survey feedback also led us to adjust the formatting of this podcast. We're lucky to be a show popular with sponsors, but because we had so many more ads, the show sometimes felt like it was half ads, half show, when it used to be 20 minutes long. Plus, so many of you indicated on past surveys that you wish the podcast episodes were longer. So guess what we did? We expanded the episodes to include a little extra something and mini pep talks, which offer a more balanced ad load as well as a

listening experience that you like more. We have used survey data to plan book tours, create email resources, and even make the playbooks. I just cannot tell you how impactful your feedback is to Team LG. We're coming up on our annual team retreat where we get together in person and we're going to cast our vision for this next year, figure out what we want to create for you, and make adjustments that benefit the majority as best we can. In order to do that, we need your feedback. And you can give by filling out our lazy genius survey. It's a few minutes of your time, but incredibly important to us. And as a thank you for that time, we're going to randomly select three participants who are willing to share their name and email address just so we have a way of contacting you.

And those three people will receive a $100 gift card to the store of your choice. So you get to help us make better stuff for you and you just might want $100. So that's pretty fun. Participating is super easy. Just go to the link in the show notes. either on your podcast app or on our website. Fill it out, include your name and email address at the end if you would like to be in the thank you gift card drawing, and then you're done. Since we need time to analyze the survey before our team retreat, the survey will close on July 17th.

That's about a week and a half from now if you're listening to this episode on the day it comes out. So there's plenty of time. But if you're like me, you hear about something to do, you think like, oh, yeah, fine, I'll do that later. And then like your middle-aged female brain walks into the metaphorical woods and never returns. If that is you, my deepest sympathies for our hormonal brains that need extra reminders, and maybe you can like just pause the episode now and pause what you're doing and just click on

the link and do it now. Or like send yourself a text reminder or set an alarm for later when you're less busy to fill it out if you want to do that. I also think it's important to note that even though the survey really does give us like the majority breakdown, there are some of you that have a very minority experiences, and it's really lovely for us to know that. So even though we are trying to serve the most people as possible with our choices, we also get to serve people better by knowing the minority. So even if you're like, well, I might not feel the same way about the podcast and the email as most people. Actually, that is just as valuable. So please share no matter what. I'm just so grateful for all of you to this whole community for being such smart, thoughtful, kind people.

I want to continue making shows and writing books and sending emails that make your life easier, better, and kinder. So thank you for helping me do that. All right, before we get into your tips for an easier summer, let's take a quick break to hear from our sponsors, which makes this show free for you to listen to. But before we do, here is your quick reminder about the podcast recap email that we send out every other Friday. It's called latest lazy listens, and it summarizes the episode.

It shares the lazy genius of the week, as well as the other. other segments we have on the show, and it has a little extra note for me to help encourage you through the weekend. So if you would like to get that recap, you can head to the lazy genius collective.com slash listens. All right, let's get into your crowdsourced tips for an easier summer. We'll run through these in categories, and first step is food. Food happens to all of us. The people need to be fed. So let's hear some favorite listener tips to make summer food easier. First is Amanda Pagler with one hilarious tip. Here's what she says. I call it big meat Monday, though it rarely falls on a Monday. Once a week, I will cook a big cut of meat, a roast a whole chicken,

pork shoulder, a chuck roast, et cetera, and then shred the remaining meat to use for a couple of meals later in the week. This summer, I've decided once that from this leftover meat, I will make tacos and stir fry. If it goes further than that, we'll get a bonus pasta or whatever. The prep to cook the meat is generally quick and easy, just seasoning and then throwing it into the oven or crock pot for a long cook. And having the meat on hand cuts down on prep time, planning, and dishes for some other days in the week. Listen, I want to do this just so I can implement something called Big Meat Monday. That is amazing. Please name your things.

It's always more fun. Great idea, Amanda. All right, I love this one from Shay Geider. My most recent decide once for the summer is saying yes to popsicles. I bought some cheap silicone molds on Amazon and have been using smoothie leftovers to make a new batch regularly. My toddler thinks I'm the actual best mom ever for being the one to suggest a 10 a.m. Popsicle and bonus points that I'm sneaking in veggies and fibrill. We always eat them outside too, which gets it's out in the yard earlier in the day and leaves only sticky hands and cheeks to clean up. Yes, let us all declare this the summer of popsicles.

Like even if you don't have kids, we need the summer of popsicles always. All right, now we're going to hear the voices of some listeners with your favorite summer tips. First, you'll hear from Amber with her own popsicle tip because it is the summer of popsicles, followed by Sarah, Katie, and Hillary. Hi there. My name is Amber. I live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. One way that I am making summer easier is, as we know, fruit goes really bad really quickly in summer heat. And so when I see raspberries start to turn or watermelon start to get some extra juices around it,

I tend to throw it into the blender, blend it all up, and then pour it into popsicle molds. And we have fresh, cold fruit popsicles out of almost gone bad fruit. Hey there, Kendra. Sarah Williams from Forest Virginia. mom of three ages 20, 13, and 8, wife of 21 years to the most amazing husband. We decided long ago when our oldest was becoming of age to become a swimmer. That swimming wasn't an option. So swim team quickly became one of our summer structured activities.

While Monday nights are crazy and we are trying to figure, out how to get to warm-ups at 5 p.m., searching for goggles and searching for towels and trying to find a sharpie to mark arms for kids' events, I realized very quickly that there was no time left to make a decision on dinner. So our decide once for dinners on swim team evenings is order pizza and pack the snackle box full of vegetables. My kids know that at the swim meet, after they've done wornups. They can come grab a slice and they have to pick two colors from the snackable box so that they're well fed, energized, and ready for the swim meet. We also just packer, most of us have water bottles with ice water and this helps us save money at the swim meet, which can be tempting,

but also too, when you're crazy busy in your Monday and all of a sudden it's swim team time, you've already had your dinner ready and decided. So that's my one way. to make summer easier. Thanks for having me on, Kendra. Hi Kendra. I'm Katie Jumper from Cincinnati, Ohio. And the way I've made my summer so much easier this year is by coming up with a two-week summer lunch rotation. Lunch was the bane of my existence, trying to figure out what to feed the kids every single day. And I would wait until everyone was hungry and then make P.B. and J's because I just couldn't think of anything else fast. Or I'd have the kids make their own lunch, but they'd have the same decision fatigue.

And while old enough to make their own food, they feel extra loved when I make it for them. We were all sick of sandwiches and deciding. So I came up with 10 lunches with some help from the kids. and so Monday through Friday, it's written down, everyone knows what's coming, I make it for them, but they're welcome to opt out and make their own lunch if something else sounds better. Hi Kendra, this is Hillary Sully. I'm from Cleveland, Ohio, and this is my second summer being a lazy genius about using my freezer for meals in the summer. Before school let out, a good friend and I got together, and we back.

cooked and froze several different things that our families would like. This year we did taco meat, turkey meatballs, enchiladas, stuffed shells. And we made a bunch, split it up between the two of us. And it's a great help on nights where I can't think of anything to cook. And I need to pull something out of the freezer right away or when I'm meal planning. And I just can't think of something to eat. I know that I have some meals already in the freezer. It's been a huge, huge help and has made summertime cooking just a little bit easier.

Thanks for all that you do. All right. Now let's transition into tips for summer gear and logistics. Summer has different types of needs and schedules and making rhythms for short-lived things like that. It can be a little tricky. So these are really great ideas to make all of that feel easier. So the first idea is from Monica Holmes. Here's what Monica says.

getting the kids out the door for camp each morning is a whole thing. We borrowed the Nestor's home-based concept and applied it to sunscreen. For the duration of summer, we keep a ceramic bowl on the kitchen counter that holds an array of sunscreen. Walla, sunscreen is contained in one spot, made as pretty as sunscreen can get, and no one has to send out a search party before coffee. Yes, I love this so much. So the Nestor is always smart about making home decor, work in a practical and still beautiful way, and her home-based concept is excellent that way. way. It's why I have spoons in an old planter, hairbrushes that stay in the living room for night braiding, also in an old planter actually, and a bowl on the table for all the keys and

wallets and sunglasses. Containing similar stuff that you need on a fairly regular basis is something that's like a little bit obvious, but when you put it in something pretty close to where you use it all the time, it's like so, so helpful. So a sunscreen bowl in the kitchen during summer is such a great idea. All right, Courtney DeCarlo says this. I've decided once that the top of the dryer is where all summer camp supplies live for the summer. Every day when the kids come home, the backpack goes right to the laundry. Wet and dirty things go in the wash. Bags go on top of the dryer and clean extras sit on top of the dryer for packing. Every two or three days is the machine fills with dirty clothes or bathing suits and towels. I run a load and then fold and put those things right back on top of the

dryer to enter the rotation again. Okay, here's why I love this one. This is probably harder to do all the time because it might feel like too responsive of a process. Like waiting for the washer to fill up might be tricky with everyone's clothes getting dirty at different rates. But when you're talking about summer camp, everyone is dirty and stinky and going to be changed out of the same clothes at the same rate when everyone gets home. So this is like such a great seasonal approach to stuff and laundry. And I love it when y'all make choices just for your season. It is truly how life feels better. All right, I love this one from Nikki Flannery. Just wanted to give a shout out to the summer at the pool episode from a few years back. It has been in my head for a while since listening,

but this year I finally bought a dedicated drying rack that now lives on our screen porch right off our mudroom. Towers, bathing suits, floaties all land there right after coming home from the pool, after being rented off. I also know it will get double use in winter on snow days for all the wet snow gear after playing outside. I haven't even told my kids about the drying rack house rule officially, but after a few weeks, I saw my five-year-old hanging up her bathing suit herself. Yes, this is so good. Isn't it so fun when you start something that does not need an official announcement, but it still kind of works? And then people just sort of follow suit. I love that. And great call on using the rack for the winter. I do love that pool.

episode. I couldn't remember the exact name of it, so I just Googled Lacey Genius Pool to find it. And it's episode 266. How to Lazy Genius a summer at the pool. We still use so many of those tips. And it makes the season so much easier. So if you're a pool person and you go a lot and you have not listened to that episode, you should go listen to that episode. I'm so glad I helped you, Nikki. All right, here's another pool tip from Sarah Sakuta. To make summer easier this year, I placed three fabric bins in the hallway. right outside the bedrooms of my kids, ages 6, 4, and 2. We call those the swim bins. Each kid has their own bin with a laminated photo of themselves on the front, so there's no confusion. Also, side note, I'm guessing, it's because of those children can't read yet. Swimsuits, swim shoes, goggles and swim diapers for the toddler, for each kid can be found in the bins. They know where to go when it's time to get ready for water play, and I've found the swim bins to be so much more convenient than going into three separate bedrooms to locate swim stuff. Man, this is really great.

It's so empowering too because it's giving these tiny kids ownership of their bins and of getting ready without trusting them to do like the searching of all those things. You know, I love this, Sarah. It's such a great idea. And finally, here is an audio clip from Jessica. Hi, my name is Jessica from Chesapeake, Virginia. And something our family does every summer that I didn't. think anything of until I read your email is we never or almost never fully unload our trunk.

We live about 20 minutes from the beach, so we're there every week, sometimes a few times. So we always keep our wagon, our beach chairs, a fun beach game that we have, the boogie boards, the tent, all of that stays. We also have a beach bag. and that pretty much stays packed for the entire summer as well. So it always has our sunscreen, goggles, and like the favorite ball that everybody wants to play with. As soon as the beach towels are dry, into the bag they go. Because we just realized it was such a production to get ready for a beach day that that kind of took out some of the thinking. So at this point, we just say suit up and then my husband and I will pack up the cooler and then we're ready.

I love that. There are so many great places where we can, it feels like we're being inefficient or messy by keeping things out. And you're not. You're actually making it easier for yourself like keeping your stuff in the car all the time like Jessica is. It's so great. All right. Let's next talk about tips for rhythms and light structure to help summer go more smoothly. All right. This first one is from Melody Norris. Melody says, as a homeschool mom of four, I knew we couldn't abandon. all sense of routine in the summer. So a couple of years ago, we implemented theme days. Make something Monday, take a trip Tuesday, water Wednesday, thinking Thursday, and friends and family Friday. Some weeks, the themes switch days, or we even double or triple up on our themes, like a museum trip with friends that includes playing in water, for example. But we have a basic framework. This system has made it so much easier for all of us to still do our thing, play outside, read books, just enjoy summer, while still letting us know it's not complete chaos. This year the kids got in on the planning and together we brainstormed ideas for each day.

And now we're just checking them off as we go. And I'm not pulling my hair out hearing I'm bored 9,000 times a day. Man, I really do love a theme. If you have kids who respond to structure and are smaller and love like the good name of something and a good theme, like write that theme for as long as your children let you. Like it is just the best. All right, Melinda Lucas shares this. I'm a teacher and mom of five and I'm blessed to be home with my kids all something.

summer. This does, however, make for some very long days, I bet. I wanted to have somewhat of a schedule for the long days at home, but a time schedule just didn't work out. I decided that instead of doing things at a certain time, we would just follow a certain order of events. This worked so much better. We still got everything done, schoolwork, chores, lunch, calm time, and I didn't have to stress about what time it was. When the first thing was finished, we just moved on to the next and so on. After all, we had all day to get things done. Yes, Melinda, this is great. This actually ties in with today's a little extra something and the Mnipap talk later about really changing how we think about being done. And in this case, for Melinda, it doesn't have to be tied to a time. You can just put the things

that you are hoping to do that day in order and then do the next one when the previous one is done, no matter how long it takes. I love the ease of that. It's productive if that's the goal, but it's not hustly, which is something we could all use more practice in. So that's a great idea. All right, this next one is from Sterling Maximo, which listen, I just have to say is the coolest name I've ever heard. Sterling Maximo says, we designated Tuesdays is our standing Adventure Day for me and the kids. At the start of the summer, we each added must do items to create a family summer bucket

list and we use the weekly Adventure Day to check off one of those items. We agreed together that Adventure Day lasts on. only as long as everyone is up for it. Rather than planning a long day of preset activities, we commit to just one bucket list activity. Everything after that is optional. A menu of bite-sized bonus fun if the energy is there. The kids know we can head home the moment the mood shifts, which removes all pressure and somehow brings out a go-with-the-flow spirit and even my most schedule-oriented child. Now, this right here is being a lazy genius. It is so great to have themes for every day if you want to, especially when your family really thrives on that,

like Melody, who we just heard from, actually. But for some of you, having a theme every day is like too much. You can't remember. It's like too much to manage. And the expectations of certain children might be so high that a theme day every day is like untenable. But this is scheduling what matters one day a week. The summer bucket list is there. And there's one day a week to do something from it. So simple. But I also love the ease of not making it a full day thing of deciding that ahead of time. Like, we can just go home when it's done if we want or not even done. If we're done. It's like, we're going to go home now. Like, this is such a beautiful case of open-handed planning. Remember our plan pyramid from my book the plan. The three sides are the P-A-N-N from plan.

prepare, adjust, and notice so that you get to live, which is the point of the pyramid and the point of the whole thing in the L and plan. Sterling is equally preparing, adjusting, and noticing by having this adventure day, noticing moods and energies, and then adjusting what she prepared so that people can go home if they're ready. This is just like top tier lazy genius planning that puts people before. everything else. And I just love that. All right, here are a couple of audio clips from Mary Ellen and Cola. Hi, my name's Mary Ellen from Westfield, Indiana. I have two elementary age boys.

And so in summertime, I like to create theme weeks that give us a little structure in order to our summer vacation. So we've done baseball week and shark week. But my favorite is when we do Christmas in July week and we watch Christmas movies and listen to Christmas music. And the best thing that we do is we will think of all the people in December that we want to give Christmas gifts to, like the teachers and the bus drivers and the neighbors. And then during Christmas in July week, in the summer, we craft one gift for all those people. And then in December, I just have to go grab my 20 gifts out of the storage room, and we already have them ready to give out at Christmas time. Hi Kendra. Long time listener, first time caller. I am lazy geniecing this summer in conjunction with my husband by breaking up each of the 10 weeks of summer with one parent in charge. So that helps for scheduling our appointments, scheduling his work travel and my work appointments. If it's my week, then I know that I have to check in with all the kids' schedules and make sure that I'm available or I'm,

I get coverage for a drop-off if I end up having an appointment. And the same for him. He knows when he can travel and when it's going to be the most convenient. And so far, I think it's going to work pretty well. So splitting the summer weeks between the adults in the house is such a great way. If you are a home that doesn't necessarily have a really equal division of labor or you feel like you are the mom who holds all the strings. Doing that kind of thing in the summer could be a really great practice for your partnership to flip-flop weeks or even days sometimes just to be like, hey, you've got this one.

You're checking in and kind of going through like what the process of that would be. So I really, really love that. Also, how great is Christmas in July? And then, like, figuring out gifts for those people and the kids making them. And it's like a whole activity. That's such a great idea from Mary Ellen. Okay, so our next category is giving kids more ownership and responsibility over the summer, which is a very helpful and sometimes really challenging thing to do.

So these are some of your ideas. This one is from Carissa Jensen. My best hack so far this summer was adapted from you. Oh, that's nice. We are trying very hard to raise capable kids, and part of that is giving them chores. However, it is a little overwhelming to try to keep track of multiple different chores assigned to multiple different kids. this is correct and who is doing what this week, et cetera. So instead of assigning specific chores this summer, we assigned zones that they are almost completely in charge of. The zones switch each

week so no one kid has the same zone all summer. I explained to them at the start of the summer what it looks like in each zone to tidy it up, clean it, basically take care of it. My favorite part of this is each evening at some point, I holler out, own your zone. At that point, they each know that they need to go to their zone and go through either the actual checklist that I wrote on a no card or a mental checklist of what needs to happen in that zone. It hasn't been a perfect process, but I have found that my kids really enjoy having ownership over something. Man, I love this. Okay, a couple things. So I love zones so much, like my dirty dishes. There's so many uses of zones. But in this regard, I know that Sam Kelly, the author of the soon-to-be-released book, Notice and Do, talks about this.

as a great way to manage chores and expectations with kids. Having a zone, empowering them to be like, this is what a clean zone looks like or tidy zone looks like. It teaches them to own it themselves to notice what needs to be done and just doing it without having to be micromanaged the whole time. I also love, Carissa, that you said that it has not been a perfect process, but it does make it easier. This is such an important expectation, you guys.

Nothing's going to work right away. it just won't. And the sooner that you stop expecting it to, the easier your small solutions are going to be. All right, this next one is from Brittany Dickmire. In years past, I have packed up one pool bag and we've taken turns carrying it. This year, I decided each person can manage their own pool stuff. I bought three pool backpacks and filled them with goggles and pool toys. Now when it's time to go, the kids pack a towel, a water bottle, and a snack in their own bag, and off we go. I keep my bag ready, so I'm only carrying my stuff. It's not a revolutionary idea, but it's helping me put everything in its place this summer and teaching my kids planning and responsibility along the way.

I love this, Brittany. So I started doing this with Annie. I think it was last summer. I don't remember exactly. But she will usually take her shower at the pool after we're done swimming and sometimes even wash her hair. So we would have like, you know, a little shower bag, like a little zip bag that had shampoo and a little lufa and all the things. Well, last summer, like, or for all the summers before, it was so annoying, just like pulling out that little shower bag and then another towel from the big pool bag that was like all of our pull bags. And then she might forget something or whatever.

But then sometimes, like, she would take the pool bag with her somewhere and some of my stuff was in it, but I didn't have access to it because we just had the one pool bag. So yes, we got her own pool bag and it's been amazing. So she's responsible to pack it each time. And it's so much easier if she is going to the pool without me, right? Like if the time that my novel was in the pool bag and she took it away and I did not have my novel, no. So now she has her own. It's great.

So I love this idea. All right, here's another one from Lauren Starn. My favorite thing I've been doing that has been made. making the summer easy is Post-it-note jobs for the kids. I have a nine-year-old, a seven-year-old, and a four-year-old. Since the four-year-old can't read yet, his daily job is to help me pick up all the toys around the house. But the big kids get a post-it note with a short list of jobs to finish every day. It includes cleaning their room to keep them from getting out of hand, practicing piano, and with one short chore like washing their laundry, putting their laundry away,

emptying all the bathroom trash cans, or replacing the dirty towels around the house with fresh ones. The whole post-it takes less than an hour to finish. This is something we do during the school year, so it was relatively easy to keep our house in order, even though we've been doing so many fun things outside the house this summer. Y'all, this is why I really love small steps. Like, if you adjust things season to season and you just like tinker to find what works, rather than quitting and starting over and finding a whole new system because it's a whole new season. If you keep what's working enough and just like adjust it a bit, you actually start to create real sustainable ease at home. Like if you do one simple thing like Post-it-No chores,

and then you just keep doing that adjusting as you go from season to season, whether it's school year to summer or your kids being able to read or having like more capabilities because they're getting older, like it's going to eventually work so well it becomes automated and it keeps your house more in a flow like it did for Lauren. So small steps, baby, keep tinkering. Make them work. You got this. All right. Lily Thayer Derek says, you inspired me to do something very simple this summer to manage my teens and tweens planless days. On days when they don't have a scheduled commitment like work or camp, we have told them that they need to do the three following things. One, move their body, two, use their brain, and three, do something to help the family

community. They have three hours a day to do this in any order or way they want, whether it's playing outside, reading and mowing the lawn, or swimming, playing a game and doing the dishes. So far, it's working pretty well. Still much more screen time than I think they should have, but at least I know the essentials are covered. And the bonus is that I'm inspired to do those things on my down days as well. This is great, Lily. I think teaching kids like simple rhythms with empowerment and ownership within in those rhythms is something that is going to serve them for their entire lives. So that's really great to start now with that. All right, two more categories. This next one is about expectations. I mentioned that a minute ago, but like this, it's for real now that we really need to, like,

be careful about our expectations. We need to, like, keep practicing relaxation around doing all the things, having super high expectations and like, just do, just do what matters, right? So first is Alison Hefner. I am in the throes of first semester nausea and simply gave myself the freedom to stop making plans. Kids are going to day camps and occupy during the day while my husband and I work. Eight weeks of no playdates or gatherings initiated by me won't kill us. Our calendar suddenly emptied because I am the social initiator and now we just live and we are surviving. Isn't that lovely? And now we just live. I love that. It's not that Allison will never plan. a social event again. Of course she will. But in this season, when she doesn't feel good and she's pregnant, like just stop planning stuff. What a gift that is. Julie Woolery says, one way I'm making my summer easier is by not thinking about new challenges in the future. I'm a schoolteacher and found out that I will be teaching a new class next school year. I'm traveling this summer and moving my oldest child to college. When I found out about the new class, my first thought was that I needed to spend the

the entire summer thinking and planning for the next school year. But I had the opportunity to be with family. I don't get to see often and focus on my son. So I decided, the new class is for August Julie. August Julie will plan and think about the new class and it will be completely fine. This summer, I'm focusing on the people in front of me. Julie, the first time I read this, I teared up, like truly. August Julie will plan and think about the new class and it will be completely fine. And you're right, it will. And even if the fine looks different than you like, you're still doing this because being integrated and whole as a person is more important than being great at planning your stuff.

Plus June and July, Julie, will be so grateful to August Julie for taking that mental load for now so that a college movement and a trip to see family, they can be their own wonderful things. So I just love this so much. All right, here's one from Noel Denny. My lazy genius hack is let go. of all expectations of what the best summer ever could look like, i.e. planning something different for every day and assuming I know what my kids will want to do. And I'm taking cues from my kids. They're three and a half and five and a half years old and I'm due any day with my third boy.

So I knew it would have to be an unplanned summer. So far, we have done so many fun things that have happened just because I left our days open. Some days we have random activities like play dates, planned a few days in advance, but most of our activities have been day of decisions based on what my kids want to do. I know once this baby comes, I'll be limited. And I wanted to give myself the freedom to do what they want in the moment, rather than scheduling out every hour of every day. See, this is also such a great take on being a lazy genius. The goal here, it's not about like having theme days or not having theme days. The point is to do what matters to you. And if what matters is to relax expectations and follow your kids lead, that is what you will do. If your goal is to maintain some

structure so that your homeschooled kids have an easier transition back into a regular year, you're going to have theme days. That's what you're going to do. It's all about what matters to you. And the choices that come from that, even when two different people have like the opposite results in those choices, it's going to work. That's the beauty of being a lazy genius. All right. One more from Ashley Struggle. lower the standards. We are in and out a zillion times a day, so the house just will not stay as tidy during the summer, which is fine because we live here. But in prior years, I would stress myself out about it. Turns out just lowering my expectations for the summer, it leaves us

all a little less tense. This is the truest of truths. Like if you change how you think, it changes what you do. And like end of story. And then here is a fun idea from Aaron in Aaron's actual voice. Hi Kendra. I'm Erin from Durham, North Carolina. We have a lot of really great friends in our neighborhood and wanted to spend more time with them this summer. We've tried this in the past and always get hung up with coordinating schedules and trying to find times that work for everyone. The result is that the hangouts never happen. So this summer, we've chosen the same day and the same time every week to have people over in our backyard. It's super casual. Some weeks everyone shows up. weeks it's only half of us but it's still a fun connection point that has really brought some simple joy to a summer weeknight that's so great if we simplify the choices especially lowering the expectation of like is this going to work for everyone it's probably not but if you just have something locked in it's so much easier it's like its own version of decide once it's so much easier to keep things that matter moving all right we are going to finish with a little bit of fun and whimsy these are not so much

like tips about making summer easier, but they are definitely ways to make summer more delightful. All right, Carus Havens says, a few years ago we moved to a neighborhood that is mostly flat and has great sidewalks. Our kids were two and four at the time, and we started something that summer that we call jammy walks. After dinner, we have the kids get their PJs on and we go on a family walk. Sometimes we will entice them with a popsicle. The kids love it. And after daylight savings in March, when the sun is up longer, they start asking for jammy walks after dinner. It gives my husband and me a solid 30 minutes to catch up on our days and have some mostly uninterrupted conversation while also getting some exercise. Jamie Walks is so adorable. What an adorable name. Y'all,

I swear, the names of things are so important and delightful, like Big Mate Monday. Just call something by a fun name. And like it automatically gets better. All right, this one is from Tiffany Wolfe. My 13-year-old daughter and I go on periodic ice cream adventures with a dog in tow at night. I announce we're going on an adventure and she and the dog get in the car. We listen to questionable 80s and 90s rap songs at full blast, all windows down, sing at the top of our lungs, get ice cream, and then come back returning to our very vanilla lifestyles. This is so dear. I love that getting ice cream and his adventure is an adventure, first of all. But like when it's captured by a name and 90s rap, it is an adventure.

Like that's so fun. That's the best, Tiffany. All right. one more from Grace shoot. What helped in the past was giving each kid their own day. Johnny Day, so it is less planning on your part. They feel so special. Other kids can't complain. Otherwise, they won't get their special day. And you are a hero. Oh, man, we used to do this with our kids before they became more independent and just like, you know, now they just do their own stuff. But we did. We had a Sam day, a Bend day and Annie Day. And it was so fun. Like they got to choose

what we ate, what we did. If they wanted to funnel. any activity cash into getting like a Lego set or something. We put it on the calendar. Everybody looked forward to their day. We would do it in the same week usually. That worked better for our family rather than scattering them about the summer because then it sort of felt like a little unfair that someone got theirs really early. And then like a little kid had to wait four more weeks for their day.

So we would do them usually in the same week. But anyway, it was so fun to have like a day for the kid over the summer. So I really love that one. All right. let's end with these audio messages from Cheney and Jess. Hi, my name is Cheney and I live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. And one of the things that we are doing this summer, and it's not revolutionary, but it was a great reminder from my husband and I,

is we did a full comb of all of our credit card points and what they can be used for and different perks that I think just fly dormant in our emails for a long time. And we basically curated a list of all sorts of things that we can do with credit card points and then built out days and weekends on our summer calendar to take advantage of those. And now we're doing fun things for relatively low to no cost, including a baseball game, a weekend trip to Virginia. We went to a restaurant in Baltimore that we wouldn't normally go to because of this specific very nuanced credit card perk. And so this is just a reminder that sometimes there are creative ideas and ways to save or cut costs that you might already be paying

for and forget to take advantage of. And so we just had a meeting and went over everything and planned out the next few months of the summer. And now we have a lot of really exciting things to look forward to. Hi. My name is Jess Jones and I live in Hernando, Mississippi. My lazy genius summer trick this year is twofold. One is I have been trying to add a little extra whimsy to my life, trying to make the really mundane things feel magical. So what I did was I created a summer menu for our house. I have named our house and given it a brand. So Hill House provisions is the kitchen. It's also the coffee shop. So Hill House provisions, summer menu, and I made sure to choose things that could either be made in 30 minutes or made in a crock pot so that I wasn't

heating up the kitchen for long periods of time because we live in the South. And so we do not need extra heat. Also, that includes like breakfast and lunch and snacks. All things are covered. I just look at that list at the beginning of my grocery shopping and figure out what on the menu do we want to have that week. And it makes it really simple while also being a little fun, a little silly. We all need a little fun and a little silly. This is what I mean, guys. Like giving your kitchen a name like it's a restaurant like your Joanna Gaines is so fantastic. So name things, name these very, very simple things to add either whimsy or delight in whatever category for the rest of your summer and just like see what kind of joy that brings. I really think that these tiny moments where

you just like smile at your own life are, they're just so impactful. They're so impactful. So I just loved all of these tips. Thank you everybody for sending them in. This is living in the season at its best. And I just love how at ease everyone is about summer and making all of it a little bit easier. So that is our crowdsource tips for an easier summer. All right, today's a little extra something is all about my day off and if I actually take the day off. So this is the specific question that we got. Does Kendra really spend her Fridays just relaxing? How does she ignore the giant to-do list that all moms, especially moms who are business owners, have? All right, this is such a great question. And while I answered it in the newsletter last week, I wanted to

answer it again here with my voice and a little bit more info. the background here is that I take every Friday off. I can't do that during the summers, or I just don't because it's too complicated to kick my family out of the house once a week. But during the school year, when everyone's at work at school, after I drop off my last kid at school and then before I pick up the first one in the afternoons, I do nothing but what I want. I read, I watch TV. Maybe I'll go thrifting if I want to leave the house. But I rarely do because it's such a treat to be home with no people and no responsibilities, at least no responsibilities that need to be tended to right now because I have chosen it to be that way. I am convinced that the way you view time determines how you spend it,

what you believe about your to-do list and your responsibilities and your freedom to rest, all of that, it impacts how you choose to actually spend your time. For example, if you believe that you need to finish your list before you can relax, you will never relax because a list is never done. Like, not really. There's always something more to do. If you believe that you're being irresponsible for taking a day off, or you feel this pressure to, like, justify it or apologize for it, or you do a lot more of the other days to, like, compensate for the day off, you're not going to ever really fully relax when you take the day because you don't really feel like you deserve it. If you have been here for any length of time, you know that I do, I do not love the way,

the current, like, cultural way of looking at getting things done. Like, we live in a productivity industrial complex that wants us to be better and faster at all costs, mostly so that we can spend more money, honestly. Like, we're not supposed to be content with our lives. We're supposed to want bigger and better. We're supposed to want more. We're told that our bodies and our homes and our jobs and hobbies and outfits and friendships and date nights and the way we drink water, all of that needs to be optimized for the best

experience possible so that we can have perfect futures. Now, that might be generalizing it a bit, but actually like not by much. If you go to the self-help or productivity part of a bookstore or like your podcast app and you scroll titles of books and episodes, you're going to see all kinds of resources to optimize your life, to help you get more done and be the best person you can possibly be every day for the rest of your life. But that is usually based on what you produce. That's the measurement. And even if it's not, even if that's not what the direct thing is, that your productivity is the most important thing, there is still an error of like discontentment and dissatisfaction with your life.

There's an assumption that you should be discontent and dissatisfied with your life because it can always be better. Now, I'm not saying you can't be discontent. So many people are and that's fine. It might be legitimate. But when discontentment is the rule and greatness is the goal, y'all, there is no room to take a day off. They're like it doesn't compute because there's just too much to do. That's why the question by this reader has almost like an air of disbelief in it. Like, does Kendra really spend her days just relaxing? Like, that's the wording. Because honestly, it sounds so counterintuitive, counterproductive, even countercultural to be a woman with children and a job and take a day off once a week without apology or shame or like a neglected to do list,

family or life. You guys, I believe with my whole heart that so much of the stress that we feel with an overwhelmed life is because we are trying to get it all done. We see done as the goal, as the finish line so that we can nap or play or rest or whatever. It's just absolutely never going to happen. You will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever be done. You just won't.

So you have to choose to be done. I choose to be done on Friday. I choose to let unfolded laundry wait until the kids get home from school and instead I read. I choose to not see that rest as an earned thing that is just a regular part of my healthy life. I want my kids to have that kind of rest. I want cause to have that kind of rest. I want you to have that kind of rest. But it comes from believing that productivity is not the end game and that contentment

with the undone is a perfectly lovely way to live. Now, have I developed some helpful things over the years that make that day off feel more relaxed? Yes, I don't make a to-do list for the entire week. I only make one for Monday through Thursday. Like, Thursday is the end of my work week. There's no option for carryover, which makes Fridays feel intentionally empty. I don't cook on Fridays. We get our house cleaned every other Thursday, but then even on the off Thursdays, like I make sure, along with my family, that we do a pretty decent tidy on Thursday night before everyone goes to bed. So that Friday, it feels intentionally settled. Now, does that always happen? No, but the baseline is that it will.

All of that didn't happen all at once either. Like, it happened over time as I protected those five hours on Fridays. And really it is. It's just five hours. Like last year, I was. I was. would get home from the last school run around like 915, 930. And then I would have to pick up the first kid. I would leave the house around 2.15, 220 to get them at 2.30. So this next school year, it will be a little bit different because Sam is going to drive himself and his brother Ben to school, which is super fun. And then Annie is likely going to have an after school program or walk home. So that might buy me another 45 minutes, which is super fun. But those hours to me are sacred. like I miss them terribly in the summer.

But I also mostly find their absence okay because I know it's just a season. And I still bring that mentality of contentment and choosing to be done into my summer life too. Like you will never be done. So choose to be done for now. You can do more stuff tomorrow if you want. So like just relax. And what's weird is when you do, when you choose to stop. and rest, even though things are undone, you have more efficiency when you do get stuff done.

Like you get more done when you stop trying to get it all done. It's very bizarre. But it works. The rest and loose grip on productivity, they make actual productivity so much easier. Now, if you're new here and you're like, what is all this? Tell me more, please. Go grab my book the plan and just start reading. But for now, yes, I do actually relax on Friday. Fridays because I believe that I can and that I should. And that is today's a little extra something. Now it's time for this week's lazy genius of the week. This week we have Lori from Atlanta. Lori writes, I was listening to you talk recently about being irritated by dirty socks on your floor in the summer, which inspired me to reach out with this idea that we used at my house when my

kids were younger. For my three boys, we declared no socks summer. They wore only crocs. keen sandals and loafers for church no socks required no socks to pick up laundry or match or put away it was the perfect solution I man this is this is really fantastic like a no sock summer for those of you who hate dirty socks too like please use this tip sadly my children are like anti sandal and anti-crock like at least the boys are and they're the main culprits of the socks I know thoughts and prayers for me cause is also a culprit he does wear socks when he goes for a run and like mow the yard or whatever, but I might just have a life of dirty socks and that's okay. But listen, I absolutely love the idea of no sock summer.

This needs to be an option for many people and many homes. And again, great name. Guys, just name the thing. It's way too fun. Thank you so much for sharing this, Lori, and congratulations on being the lazy genius of the week. All right. Now for a mini pep talk for when you feel like you can't stop. I think I just sort of gave one in a little X or something, but let me quickly reiterate

this particular piece of it again. If you think you're not allowed to stop, then you're not telling yourself the truth. You can stop. Like you get sick and stop. Your friends stop and you don't get on them about it. People stop all the time. The lack of stopping isn't about not having the right systems or like being the exception, the one person who has too much to do.

you have to believe that you can stop. You have to believe that you can leave something undone and go to bed. You have to believe that you can read for an hour on your couch even though there's stuff to do and that you're not a terrible person because of it. And might I remind us that men rarely have this belief, or at least not to the extent that women do? Like, men stop all the time. Men don't feel guilty about resting in general.

Like, this is a belief that women have been taught and have internalized, like, over dick. and it is preventing you from believing that you are allowed to stop. It's keeping you in the cycle of believing that the well-being of your home and your people, it relies entirely upon your shoulders. And that well-being should also be like top-notch in order to count. I do not believe any of that is true. Now, if you do, that's okay. You can keep trying and hustling and being efficient and not stopping if that matters to

There are lots of other like podcasts and books and stuff out there for you. But if you stay here with me and I hope you do, I will keep telling you that you can stop. When you feel like you can't, it's because you've lost sight of what matters, which ultimately is your humanity. Your humanity matters far more than your productivity ever will. And you're always allowed to stop. The more you practice stopping, the better you'll get at stopping. And like I said before, getting things done in between those stops. So change your beliefs and you will change your behavior. And that is a mini peptoographer when you don't feel like you can stop.

If this episode was helpful to you or if you've been looking for a way to support the show, please share this episode with someone you know or leave a kind of view on Apple Podcasts. Every mention and share it makes a difference in turning more people into lazy geniuses. So thank you so much for your support. This podcast is part of the Odyssey family and the Office Ladies Network. This episode is hosted by me, Kendra Adachi, and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey. Special thanks to Leah Jarvis for weekly production, and an additional special thanks to

Kara Smith for preparing all of these submissions for this episode. If you would like a podcast recap every other week, be sure to sign up for the latest lazy listens email that goes out every other Friday. Head to the lazy genius collective.com slash listens to get it. Thanks y'all for listening. And until next time, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. I'm Kendra. I'll see you next week.

Hey, it's Jen Hatmaker. Here's what I've learned in midlife. Joy isn't the reward you earn after all the work is done. Joy is the work. That's what this new series on For the Love is all about. The sacred, yes. It's choosing delight, rest, and pleasure on purpose. Because saying yes to yourself, that's the thing that's the thing that's,

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