NOTE: This giveaway has closed, and Brittani A. was the winner!
Summer starts in less than a week!!
Yaaayyyyyyy!!!!!!!!
Can you tell I’m excited??
Oh, how I love summer. I love pretty much everything about it, but it does present some challenges.
Swim towels everywhere? Magically disappearing flip-flops??
How about using up every single drinking glass in the cabinet before 2 p.m. because we can’t remember whose is whose so everyone just grabs a new glass every time he/she is the slightest bit thirsty??
Yes. That’s a real problem in our house, especially when four of us are home all day every day.
It was easier when we used plastic cups and could designate a certain one for each person.
But I decluttered those. (Not that we haven’t collected more since then.)
I am a big fan of using glass glasses. Grown-up glass glasses. I firmly believe I can taste the difference as an ice-water connoisseur. But, as one of you commented recently on that post . . . pretty, matchy-matchy glasses present their own problem: they all look the same.
As someone who believes every single time that she’ll remember exactly where she placed her glass, but then questions herself every single time and therefore grabs a new glass every single time, it’s a real issue.
So when DrinkBands offered to sponsor a post and a giveaway, I thought it was a great time to try out their solution for this exact problem!
They sent me a set of 9 DrinkBands. They came in a cute little case, which I’m keeping to avoid having the extra ones scattered around the kitchen.
They look like the plastic bracelets you’ve probably seen, except they say “That’s my drink!” and come in a set with all different colors. We have bracelets, but we generally end up with six of the same color. You can purchase them individually for around 2.00 apiece or in the set like I got for 15.95. (That’s also the set you could win in the giveaway below!)
I chose the colors that were the same as our Magic Bands from our Disney trip in December. Everyone remembers that color, so it worked well for us.
I went ahead and put them on glasses in the cabinet. “Ummmm, Mom? Why are there bracelets on our glasses?” was a good reminder to explain the new system.
So how is it working so far?
It’s working well. There are two of us who are the worst use-at-least-three-different-glasses-each-day-because-we-have-no-clue-which-glass-was-ours offenders.
I’m one of them.
For me, I’ve been using the same water glass for two days now.
The same ONE water glass. This is big. I started to put it in the dishwasher and then thought, “No. I want some icewater now, and I can keep using it for another day anyway since it’s just water.”
For the woman who can go through six glasses without even thinking about it, this is really good. Like back when I had a big plastic cup I knew was mine and only mine, that little orange band at the bottom of the glass serves the same purpose.
And the kid who takes medicine more than once a day has stuck to his green banded glass instead of filling (literally) the countertop with used glasses. He actually told me he’s been consciously trying to use his designated glass. It really does make a mental difference.
Yay for that!
And they are dishwasher safe. (Though I’ll be moving the band down since there’s some dishsoap residue in the indention on the glass that’s under the band.) We’ve tested that. Not sure how they will hold up over the long term going through the dishwasher, but they did great on the three or four washes we’ve done.
Tips: Have your kids decide if they like the positioning of the band by gripping the glass before they pour something in it. Once the bands are on, they’re secure. They can be adjusted, but if you try to adjust them while there’s liquid in the glass, a mess will likely definitely happen.
They’re also good for designating water bottles in an icy cooler that can cause marker to rub off!
Edited to add: I didn’t realize that you can personalize the bands!! Have your names or nicknames put on the DrinkBands!!! They’re only 2.50 each when personalized!! How cool is that?
I love that this company is owned and operated by a family with five kids of their own! Yay for entrepreneurial families who come up with smart solutions!
Ideas for giving these as gifts:
- for Grandma who hosts the grandkids over the summer and gets a little frazzled because she long ago outgrew the random-plastic-cups-from-random-kids’-meals stage of life.
- for the mom who is having her third or fourth (or fifth or sixth or more) baby and who would appreciate the acknowledgment that bigger families present their own fun and unique challenges.
- for the awesome friend who lets her home be your vacation destination and embraces the awesomeness of having LOTS of kids in the house.
Go check out this pack I got and the camo pack. Giveaway has ended.
The winner of the giveaway will get to choose between those two packs! Oh, and if you go ahead and purchase one of those, but then win the giveaway, you’ll get a refund!
To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below sharing your biggest summer cleaning challenge.
Prize details: The winner of the giveaway will choose between a set of 9 drinkbands in various colors valued at $15.95 or the set of 5 Camo ones valued at 10.50.
Giveaway details: One winner will be randomly chosen from the comments on this post. DrinkBands.com will provide the prize and will ship it directly to the winner. Winner will be contacted via the email that is entered upon commenting (but which is not visible to the public). Once contacted, the winner will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. One entry per person. See all giveaway policies here. Comments must be left on the post itself. Emails and Facebook comments will not count. This giveaway will end at 9 p.m. Central time on June 9, 2015.
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--Nony
Keeping my floors clean is a challenge when my kids play outside so much of the day!
Sand. It clogs the tub. Another one is keeping the kitchen table useable for meals when so many projects and smacks get dumped on the table throughout the day.
Mine is getting that last wet item out of the bag and into the washer after a long day at the pool. I always seem to miss something! đ
Dishes and definitely glasses (canning jars)
Those look really cool! I have eight grandkids, so when we all get together, these would be great! đ
When the kids play outside all day, the tracks of mud/dirt from the door to the bath are terrible!
Now that you’ve help me realize that the sink brimming full of cups may easily be solved with drink bands, I would have to say that swim towels are my summer cleaning nemesis. Everyone wants a new towel every time they go swimming in our pool. By limiting the number of swim towels, I have somewhat solved this problem because then there’s only so many and the tendency to grab a new fresh one isn’t as much of an issue.
These would work wonderfully for most of us, but my three year old insists on drinking from either mom or dads cup. He’s three. This always results in backwash. Hence lots of cups. But maybe if he got his own super cool colored band, we could break him of that habit.
My biggest summer challenge is swimsuits/towels. My son goes to a day camp and they swim a few days a week. I try to keep multiple sets ready to go but the laundry struggle is real. đ
My biggest summer cleaning challenge is towels and swimsuits. They’re damp, they’re drippy, there is no where to let them dry out. I can wash them every day, but then they wear out the swimsuit material, and the towels are so big they are a load unto themselves. Ugh!
My biggest challenge is keeping the ice cube trays filled. It seems every time I turn around, one is in the sink needing to be filled! Ugh!
My biggest challenge is camp laundry. My normally sweet smelling daughter comes home with a bag that smells like she brought home a dead dog instead of laundry. The combination of sweat that never dries in the humidity and the resulting mildew will dissolve your nose hairs. And the shoes! One year she decided to wear her neoprene water shoes all week. Those suckers do NOT breathe at all. She took them off in the car on the way home and we actually to pull over and tie the shoes to the roof rack and use wipes to de-funk her feet.
Oh my….this seriously made me chuckle….my 6 yr old has some foamy bottom Sketchers that smell like grown man foot stank when she takes them off, especially eye-watering in the car……I feel your pain!!!
Floors are my biggest challenge. Our garden is right outside the back door, so we get a lot of dirt from that even after wiping our feet on the outside mat. Also, lots of fruits & veggie preparation and preserving guarantees a sticky texture on the floor no matter how careful we are, as well as having more summer fun things to eat such as popsicles and ice cream!
DISHES of all types, LAUNDRY when they go play in the water to cool off. It is like they need new towels each time too! I have 5 so it adds up FAST.
Keeping up with the laundry, the towels, bathing suits and wet clothes seem to pile up faster. The up side…no socks!
Yes!! I love sock-free weather!!
Keeping up with the laundry, the boys want to wear shorts every day, so I have to do laundry at least twice a week it seems to keep them in shorts!
Keeping everything clean! More dishes to do (reloading and unloading the dishwasher), more clothes to clean, kids in and out. More garbage to put out because we are all eating lunch at home. A never ending cycle!!
Those bands are a great idea. We had this problem too. Along with the problem that one of us tends to drink out of whatever glass is sitting in front of them. Our solution was to go buy a variety of grownup glasses – one tall and one short in 6 different styles. Crate & Barrel sells glasses individually (rather than boxes of 12). It helps. Mostly. And our friends have learned to keep an eye on their drinks. đ
Those are fun! I can’t say I’d use them, but I have friends that would!
Hmmm…..with 6 kids….we always have this problem and run the dishwasher at least twice a day. Intriguing concept. Hope I win! đ Okay…my biggest issue for this summer has already been them changing clothes, ten billion times a day and just dropping clothes in their wake (in and out of swimsuits….fresh clothes….socks…tennies….flip flops….just sort of everywhere).
My biggest challenge is getting the homeschooling wrapped up so we actually get a summer break and time to clean! Come June I am TIRED of school!!
I definitely agree with those who said swimsuit/towel laundry is the toughest chore to keep up with. My daughter goes swimming 3 days per week in her daycare and she only has one swimsuit and one favorite towel but she rarely remembers to give them to me, and I rarely remember to ask about them.
Would love to win this!
I don’t know what to do with the wet swim suits, towels, swim shoes, swim passes, goggles, etc. Some of the items needs to be dried out and/or cleaned before going back into the swim bag. Some things can just stay in the bag, but end up getting lost in the shuffle. I’ve also alternated back and forth between having one GIANT swim bag vs. having each child (4 of them!) be responsible for their own swim stuff. The big swim bag usually ends up at the foot of my bed when I need to get it out of the way (company coming over), and then it sits there for weeks and I end up griping about it every night before I go to bed.
I don’t know what is worse: An overstuffed, too heavy to carry bag, or the stress of each child maintaining (and losing) their own swim bags.
Sand and dirt tracked on the floor! Changing the boys clothes 5x a day! Washing all the dirty laundry and suits and towels…How can I say just one thing? LOL.
My biggest challenge (summer, fall, winter, and spring!) is keeping the table clear. It’s so nice when we can use it without moving anything. It’s also so convenient to place things to hold for later!
Hundreds of glasses on the counter is my biggest challenge too!! With 5 kids that’s almost literal. đ
Just one? The dishes. I’d like to say the dishes and the laundry, but I’ll stick with the dishes. Although we have a dishwasher, we don’t use it and there’s always dirty dishes in the sink. It’s a never-ending cycle.
My greatest summer challenge is the stuff that just gets thrown on the floor or table as the kids come in and out of the house. It is a job that seems like I can’t keep up with. But I love having the kids home, so I know it’s worth it! Thanks for the giveaway and I can’t tell you how much I love reading your blog and listening to the podcasts. You are such a motivation to me!
Wow! I love that idea! My biggest summer cleaning challenge is all of it! I’m not good at staying on top of things during the school year with it’s routine. Let alone summer’s “loosie-goosieness.” Plus add in the wet suits and towels… I’m in for it now!
These are a great idea! I think my kitchen in general becomes my summer problem area. The table always has some project and the dishes multiply. Not to mention toys everywhere.
My floors- dusty, mud, Popsicle drips, etc.
I hate cleaning my carpets for the summer. What a drag!
My biggest summer challenge will to be to complete my project of painting my kitchen cabinets AND working on making the garage have LESS stuff in it!
My biggest cleaning challenge is taking on too many “little” projects that magically morph into gigantic, expensive, time-consuming debacles that make me far too grouchy for all these lovely summer days!
Getting back on a good cleaning and laundry routine after the birth of my baby.
Just keeping up with regular, daily chores. We seem to be away from home a lot more during the summer, doing fun out-of-door things, but it turns out you have to be home to get chores done. Whoda thought! With five kids, I think this drink band thing is beautiful.
Those look awesome!!! I’m really bad about getting a clean glass every single time I get something new to drink. I’ve been trying to break the habit because I’m sick of doing dishes!!!
My biggest challenge is getting everyone to work together to get the daily chores done so we can move on to fun summer activities.
Okay…I’ve been cyber-stalking you for a week and afraid to comment because that would be too much like committing! LOL! I have really loved reading your posts- backwards- and have been working through my own daily list and have added non-negotiables etc. My biggest summer cleaning challenge is…mental…I’ve started so many things and never have followed through. This summer, I want the master bedroom to reflect peace and not exhaustion. I also want to continue the work I’ve started in my living room/kitchen area so that I’m not embarrassed when people stop by. 2 things- 2 months- I can do it!
You CAN do it.
I have embrased Nony’s “where would I look for it” theory and WOW! So use that when you are doing your Master Bedroom.
My biggest summer cleaning project is going to be downsizing to make room in my bedroom for a bassinet and then my son’s room (which is still 1/2 sewing room!) to make room for a crib (for when the baby outgrows the bassinet).
Dishes! Including glasses and forks. I have started buying packs of 36 forks from SAMs because the seem to disappear!
My biggest challenge will be cleaning out a shed that has to be moved, the boxes have been in there for about 19 yrs. Cleaning out the shed will be easy, NOT bringing things back into the house will be hard, and because there are things that belonged to my mother and family heirlooms, I have to open each and every box, to make sure I don’t get rid of something valuable. Wish me luck đ
Very neat idea.
My biggest challenge is doing anything with all 3 kids at home. Especial since one is 1 and we have a new lab puppy. I tend to take them all out to avoid sitting around fighting but then I am never home to clean and the messes still magically happen.
Getting window screens clean in the spring! đ
Stinky disgusting, fell in the lake, boys camp clothes…
packed wet with everything else in the suitcase.
The discharge water was black…and stunk also.
Many washes…baking soda and vinegar.
Eventually everything was clean…the jeans were the worst.
Mud is my biggest summer problem. Our backyard is very patchy so any water makes mud. My back entryway is always muddy if they play in the water at all.
We wash tons of glasses too! Even the plastic colored ones! This would be a nice solution. đ
My biggest Summer cleaning problem is motivation. I just want to enjoy being with my family after teaching for 9 months!
To finally complete the big declutter at my house. We have to move this Fall and I’m not taking the junk with me!
The toys and the crumbs! I finally bought a dustbuster and the boys love it.
Dishes…because our house becomes a “local hangout” 24/7 in the summer for all our neighborhood’s teens. Thanks for the chance. đ
My biggest cleaning challenge in the summer is keeping track of bug spray and sunblock that seems to go places and never return! It gets expensive to keep the supply up! Also grass clippings and sand all over the house from playing outside!
Swim stuff, for sure.
The garage that gets cleaned and in a matter of weeks is chaos again. Hope to finally get it under control long term.
My kids (and dogs) are always playing outdorrs, which means lots of cleaning floors and furniture!
I have a spreadsheet with two weeks marked out, and for each day of the week, there is a room in our house that should be cleaned (Sunday is “rest”). My challenge is to stick to the spreadsheet to keep our house clean all summer and make it a firmly established habit by the time school starts up again đ
My plan for the summer is to finally unpack from our move that was too long ago to mention!! Would love these for my home and for a gift for my cousin, who has 4 children of her own
The kids running in and out all day tracking in dirt! Also, we’re just gone a lot in the summer which is great, but means I am constantly doing “catch up” when it comes to things like laundry, etc.
I think spring is the hardest time to keep the clutter from piling up in the house. The issue I have is going outside and cleaning the garden and getting ready… volunteering at school for the kids… finishing up confirmation…sunday school..starting baseball and now that mom is getting older I go and help her out a bit. So yeah… it’s tough… I’ve got to say the hardest right now… is the floors… by the time I am done with everything the floors are the hardest. I totally get the glass band idea… my son forgets what glass is his and off he goes to get another one. And without a dishwasher right now.. well you can tell how my day ends… dishes..dishes…dishes… :O)
Woops.. I meant to write late spring early summer…
Biggest challenge – is getting the kids to do chores! Apparently once you finish school you don’t have to do anything đ With them being home more there is a LOT more to do đ
My biggest challenge is shedding dogs! Doghair is everywhere, all the time. One dog in particular. She’s cute as anything, but hairy! So hairy in fact, that in the winter she goes outside, climbs a snowbank, and lies on top of it panting. In the summer, one of her tail hairs is as long as one of my daughters’. And her feet look like the Grinch’s. But tan instead of green. Needless to say, by the time she stops shedding, cold weather is coming, and her coat starts filling out again. Who am I trying to kid? She never stops shedding. And lest you think me a simpleton, yes I do trim her. It takes so long to do this that one year after three hours, I had developed a raw spot on my thumb from working the scissors. And I wasn’t even halfway done. It took about a week to finish the job. “Well, that must have done it,” you may be thinking. Ah, you poor, deluded soul. Nope. She was still shedding the entire summer. But she did look really cute with her new haircut. Somewhat like a fat teddy bear that lost a fight with a weed whacker. đ
I think I need both sets! One for glasses and one for water bottles! I put my initials on the lid of my water bottle–but nobody else does and I find unclaimed water bottles everywhere with only a few sips gone. Argh! But my dogs and cats enjoy bottled water (from the unclaimed partially used water bottles!) đ
Oh my gosh! We’ve got five kids and have the same problem! I hate to see all the water just dumped out. What a great idea to give it to pets! Watering plants w/ it works as well…when I remember! Thank you!
Not summer-specific, but my biggest issue is still paper. Luckily I have managed to get the dishes and laundry (almost) under control. Thank you, Nony!! But the paper… it comes in the mail. It comes home from school. It comes out of the printer (I work at home). Every time I think I am doing better, I slide back into having papers all over my kitchen counter. Ugh.
Ohh this is a great idea!!! I like to use the cups with the straws so I have diffrent colored straws but this is awesome, it would also make a great gift for your home day care provider! đ
I forgot to say, my biggest summer cleaning challenge is camping. SO MUCH STUFF, you pull it out, before hand, then you have to clean it all before you put it away. It stays in my living space WAY too long!
I love these bands! We have 4 kids which generally means there are at least 6 kids here at any given time. I have 3 different colored plastic cups for the littlest ones but somehow I still put 7 cups in the dishwasher first thing this morning. How? Why? My biggest cleaning challenge is fitting into our space. I love our little house, but with 6 of us here there’s no room for clutter. Having the kids home all summer means lots of “treasures” that absolutely cannot be thrown away!
Ok so you mean when I start the day with a cabinet full of glasses, I may be able to have clean glasses at dinner time? It’s amazing how many glasses 6 children use in one day! It’s ridiculous really!
Maybe! No guarantees . . . but maybe!!
I’m lucky to have a very large closet BUT, boy does it attract a ton of stuff that really needs to go to the “Donate” pile. I also have to get everything off the floor & clean the places the vacuum doesn’t get to regularly. Y u k ! ! !
Its a toss up between getting dishes done while we’re busy and cleaning up after summer projects. Crafts, swimming, outdoor games, camping. You name it, it has probably sat in my living room for weeks lol
My biggest challenge is that there are small people home all of the time, meaning they’re getting into stuff ALL OF THE TIME. I cannot get ahead even for a moment. Summer is like playing Whack-A-Mole trying to attack one mess after another. There’s always another.
My biggest summer challenge is everything in general. When the kids are off from school, the mess multiplies quickly. I work all day and my husband is home with the kids. He is blind to clutter and dishes, so he doesn’t notice it. When they are in school, the house stays tidy most of the day. In the summer, it just accumulates. By the time I get home and walk in, it’s a disaster. It’s draining and frustrating to come home to a mess every single day. Dirty glasses are a HUGE part of the mess. I have 5 kids that get new glasses every time they get a drink as well. It might just work in my house. Cutting down dish clutter from cups alone would be a tremendous help.
My biggest cleaning challenge of the summer? Keeping to the cleaning routine. It’s so easy to let things go when you’re in the mindframe of summer, and being free and swimmy and beachy and just having fun đ
What a great idea! Overflowing dishes are my biggest frustration, followed by overflowing laundry! Thanks for sharing!
Dishes!!! from the thousands of snacks everyday. This would be awesome for us.
Laundry (no socks, except during the two day camp weeks!), dishes, everything else. My biggest challenge this summer is to convince my son to help me with cleaning during the morning so we can do fun stuff in the afternoon.
We have 9 people using glasses in our house. This would be perfect.
Love these Drink Bands – simple, yet great idea!!
Keeping up with the extra meals needed leads to extra dishes! My kids may not always love school lunches but I do đ
My biggest cleaning challenge this summer will most definitely be keeping somewhat of a chore schedule in place for myself, hubby and five kids. It’s REALLY VERY DIFFICULT for me to maintain any sort of consistency when we don’t have a schedule set for us by an outside source, namely school! I love your daily, weekly and monthly chore lists and my current challenge is to get everyone on board and implement this cleaning schedule. Thanks for all you do! đ
This is an awesome giveaway! My biggest summer cleaning challenge(problem!) is having my kids home all day/every day to mess up the house while I am working.
My biggest challenge is finding the motivation to clean when there are so much more fun things to do!
My biggest challenge this summer is move all the furniture to vacuum away all the dog and cat hair under the couches and chairs.
My biggest challenge is me. I can’t seem to get it through my head that I’m not on summer break; THEY are! (I could say laundry and dishes, but that’s all year long, not just summer…which is why I love your work so much!)
I would say the wet swimming suits/towels etc! I set up a big drying rack near the back door this year, so hopefully that helps!
Cups! Definitely cups everywhere! Who’s cup is this? Not mine! Ugh! These look pretty cool!
Checking it out now! What a neat idea đ
Genius! Though it would really be to help my husband and, not the kids.
Ugh. Cleaning up the mess from feeding feral cats on the porch. The flies, oh the flies it draws. And they MUST be fed on the porch – it’s the only protected spot to do it.
This summer I am trying to clean and clear out a house so my family can move in it. Its been closed up for three years and a lot of stuff still in there. Getting this done in two months on top of mowing and keeping the other house clean at the same time is my biggest challenge this summer. There is 5 of us and we live in a two bedroom house 750 sqft. The other house is 8 rooms all together. So happy we are finally getting a bigger house.
Boys smelly socks/shoes! I can not believe the odor that comes out of the shoes! The socks they wear until they socks can stand on their own!
My goal this summer is to keep kitchen floor swept and kitchen table useable (im forever using it for what ever(crafting, sorting mail, laundry) ) and not eating in the livingroom in front of the TV
Keeping the floors. Lean and keeping up on dishes since the kids and I are home all day.
My goal this summer is to have the house clean and ready for any last minute guests that may pop over! With four kids, I need a miracle!
Laundry. Extra playing outside = more baths = more clothes to keep up with….
I home school my 6 kids so most of the messes don’t change just because it’s summer, but the laundry gets worse as it gets hotter. The humidity in SC is awful! Sweaty, smelly people with lots of laundry. That’s the hardest to get done consistently.
i don’t know if it counts as cleaning but de cluttering is my challenge. I work fewer hours in the summer. I declare every summer the summer I will get rid of it all. đ
The Floors! It’s as if we have 20 people living here.
Sunscreen residue in the bathroom is a big one. Talk about slippery! Spraying it while on the deck just left greasy spots. That, plus wet footprints traipsing through the house and wads of towels, leads to a mini-obstacle course.
These are such a wonderful idea!!! Wish I would have thought of it! It will help with my biggest summer challenge, which is doing the dishes. My autistic son loves to play in the water, so I can’t do the dishes without him throwing in toys and nudging me out of the way, so I just avoid the fight and put off washing them. LOL!
Trying to get things done when we are all home. It just seems like the days slip away.
Same challenge as always… dishes and laundry!
Cups & towels are my summer nemesis! With 4 kids home, friends always over and playing in the water everyday, there are cups EVERYWHERE and I feel like I have to wash towels every other day!
My biggest summer cleaning challenge is dog hair. It doesn’t matter if I’ve just vacuumed ten pounds of it off the wood floors, by the time I get the vacuum put away, I turn around and there’s more. Golden Retrievers and wood floors are a bad combination in the summer!
I need these so badly! My husband, kids and I are constantly taking glasses out if the cabinet to have a drink them putting it in the dishwasher and later getting another glass out. This is a great idea.
My biggest summer challenge: keeping all the drinking glasses in the house. Son invites friends over and all glasses end up in the woods at the fire pit get together. Anything else would get chewed up and ruined by dog.
My biggest a summer cleaning challenge is the kitchen floor, but really that is all year long. We have kids, pets, chicken & no foyer. EVERYTHING gets tracked in our little kitchen/diningroom/entry.
My biggest challenge is kid-project clutter. One kid currently is into bottle caps and tree leaves. Another has Lego’s…. Lots of them. Another has stamps and pennies that he loves to collect and sort. They bring out their projects every day and even though they are supposed to put them away little bits and pieces somehow get left out.
This summer, I want to declutter! This means throwing away all the school papers that came home, donating toys that are unused, and having an auction house come and take away some of my grandmother’s things that I have been holding onto because SHE thought they were special and valuable (I don’t!)
Our biggest summer cleaning challenge is trying to get all of the kids motivated to do the 5-minute-cleanup right before daddy gets home. They are too busy playing and don’t want to stop – even for 5 minutes :/
Mine is keeping up on everything!! Laundry and bathrooms and the kids’ clutter all over…it adds up so fast!
This is just one of the best ideas Ever!!!!!
Definitely sticky, messy floors!!
Dirty cups! My food allergy kids don’t dare use the wrong cup and will get out a clean cup even if it’s 5 minutes later
Clutter. Clearing the clutter, especially all the art and school work from the past year.
Unpacking after a trip – and getting the house back in order!
Carpets are hard to keep clean because we have a sandbox outside that gets tracked in and recently got a cat…..the litter tracking on the carpet is so annoying.
What ISN’T a summer cleaning challenge? They are ALL home, ALL day. And by ALL, I mean more people in the household than those lovely nine drink bands would cover… đ But I’d still be delighted to get them!
Our biggest dinner cleaning challenge is keeping up with all the sand/dirt the kids bring home from the parks…I have to have them strip at the door to keep some of the mess down….but then they still have to walk to the back of the house to shower…
These DrinkBands sound amazing!! I hate when I go into my cabinet, and all the glasses are in the dishwasher — what a fantastic solution! Each member of my family has a different color pen to write their appointments on the calendar, and we can use the same color DrinkBand to keep track of our glasses!!
My biggest summer cleaning challenge is getting ready for our 4th of July party where we have had up to 130 people over. We basically have to clean the entire house (inside and out) as people have the potential to be anywhere in our house. We have a slip-and-slide so people are changing clothes, babies/toddlers may be put in a a bedroom to take a nap, kids are playing in the basement, etc.
My greatest challenge is balancing how clean I want the house v. what is best for my family.
We LOVE drinkbands!
My biggest summer cleaning challenge is the kitchen, when the kids come in from playing water games outside!
Our biggest challenge is wet swim towels and swimsuits! With 7 of us (and usually several cousins and friends) in the pool, it’s been hard to find an area to let everything dry. The floor of the laundry room (the changing area) is not really an option, although all kids seem to think it’s the perfect place!
My biggest summer cleaning challenge? Walked in grass and straw and dirt definitely! What a mess!
Mine is keeping the towels washed from all the water play!
My biggest concern is time to myself. My husband and I have been married 30 years. A couple of our children have had to move back home with their children. There are 8 people living in our home. Everyone works different shifts, so there is always someone home. All of the children are 5 or younger. It sometimes seems that my washing machine runs around the clock, and I very seldom get to see the kitchen counter. In a house this size, 8 people, 2 dogs, and a cat, a person could go crazy. I’m praying for a little quiet time each day, but it doesn’t happen often.
These would be great for any household. We only have two kids off our own but once a week we have 7 or 8 in the house. This would make life easier for sure.
My hardest thing to keep up in the summer is kids rooms. They have everything “set up” and want to leave it that way, but after a couple of days it’s just a mess. Then we have to clean and it a ton of sorting and pick up because we have 900 tiny pieces.
All the laundry from the kids constantly changing clothes.
keeping the floors clean from the constant running in and out
Since my kids are always here anyway( we homeschool), the summer challenges are the same as always…just the normal stuff of life…toys, games, crayons…but i wouldn’t have it any other way
Keeping the house picked up when we are running from sports events all summer.
My biggest summer cleaning challenge is keeping the kids clean. They get filthy outside. They come in and shower. I turn my back, and they’re back outside getting filthy again…
Staying inside long enough to clean anything.
My biggest summer challenge is keeping up with the mudpie messes. My littlest boys especially love to dig in the mud and seem to find it on even the driest of days. We are a family of 8, so there are many cleaning challenges. Keeping track of drinks and keeping up with the dishes are one of my top problems year round!
Definitely trying to keep the floors clean! My kids (and dogs) are constantly tracking in dirt, mud and sand. And I hate sweeping and mopping! đ I suppose that’s what I get for having a house with tile everywhere but the bedrooms. hehe
I would love to win. I have 5 kids and this would help! Biggest summer cleaning problem is when the kids play outside in the Waterhose/water guns/balloons and track dirt, grass and water through the house! đŽ
I hope we can overcome our clothing nightmare! Getting rid of what we don’t wear, and taking care of what we do. I had a good start with our oldest this morning by moving his clothes mostly to the closet đ
Also hope to get rid of excess in basement so we can enjoy the family room.
Forgot to answer the question….. Summer junk like outside toys, ride on stuff, swimming gear, water bottles, balls, etc gets everywhere in my house and outside and drives me crazy!
My biggest summer cleaning challenge is getting through the clothing swap and getting fall clothing put away before I think about just leaving it out because We’ll be needing those clothes again in a few weeks. đ
making meals and snacks for the kids and their friends… CONSTANTLY!!!
These drink bands would be so great, especially for my younger son. He’s 15 now, and is in the habit of always getting a clean glass from the cupboard whenever he wants a drink. Of course, part of that problem would disappear if I would just toss all the kids meal cups that are still cluttering my cupboard, years after we stopped getting kids meals because they didn’t provide enough food anymore.
The kitchen, all of the dishes!!!!
I love the idea of the drink bands -so simple!
Oh man. The tracking dirt and out is what makes me summertime crazy. That and the door being left open đ
These would be great! My biggest challenge for summer cleaning is the yard. More outside time means more junk pulled out.
My biggest summer cleaning challenge is falling behind in housework because of my desire to be outdoors whenever I can. I live in the north country where the winters are long and if I can find a something to do outside (yard work, gardening, etc.) then that trumps housework any day!
In the process of clearing out my kitchen cabinets to stain them, I took the time to throw away stuff I didn’t use. Still staining cabinets….
Wet swimsuits + towels + multiple changes of clothes. It’s hard to keep tidy when you need to hang up 52,000 articles of kids’ clothing to dry.
My biggest cleaning challenge is getting my tween daughter to pick up after herself and bring dishes down to be washed. The drink bands are a fabulous idea!
Biggest summer cleaning challenge? Cleaning. :0 Probably keeping up with the towels as we have a pool and my boys don’t always get their stuff hung up to dry or forget to toss their wet things in the dryer.
No one want to stay inside long enough to clean, including me.
Dishes are by far my worst problem. It just escalates in the summer. Everyone is always thirsty from playing so hard & we can’t ever keep track of who’s drink is who’s. These would come in hand for sure!
Mine would be unpacking and putting away everything we drag back into the house after a trip to the pool, amusement park, or what have you. It all gets scattered around the kitchen, left in the van, or forgotten in the bottom of the backpack. I always have the hope I’ll be more organized “this summer”, haha!
Our biggest issue for the summer has to be all the missing/dirty towels!
Probably laundry. But art supplies might be a close second.
With 5 of our 7 kids still living at home my biggest challenge is dishes. We do not have a dishwasher so it’s a lot to keep up with. Cups are a huge challenge for me. We used to have various colored cups but upgraded recently to clear tumblers. I tried writing their names in sharpie but it didn’t stay on. These bands might be the solution!
Mine is the laundry after all the pool/park/beach days. But I love that my kids enjoy being outdoor so much!
My, look at all the comments!
I am backtracking and listening to daily deslobs while I pack for camping. And it dawned on me my worst summer cleaning task is LAUNDRY! The heat makes me not want to go out to the garage, let alone turn on a heat maker. And pulling out hot clothes, forgetaboutit!
Your world rocking laundry routine is my goal for the summer. Wish me luck!
Thank you so very much! I am very excited!
I’m a homeschooling mom, so it’s definitely all the swim stuff that makes summer different for us.
OMG!!!! I have 3 boys, and we live in an all-boy neighborhood (at least that’s who ends up at my house). We have a half court basketball goal in our backyard, so I go through cups like crazy!!! This would be awesome to help out with that problem…..
Then I’ll tackle the sweaty socks, wet bathing suits, water balloon pieces in the yard, wind up all the hoses, and clean up the dog poo that someone stepped in….. #lovebeingaboymom
Laundry is my biggest challenge! Grass stains, dirt/mud!
laundry. Every season of every year. Laundry.
What a BRILLIANT idea !
Yes, necessity IS the mother of invention
Not entering (just Hubby and me). Just wanted to comment
and
wish everyone entering GOOD LUCK!
Keeping up with clean towels. I only have 2 boys but they go through towels like crazy. I’ve tried color coding towels, but it didn’t work. If they run out of their own color, they’ll just grab someone else’s.
I struggle with keeping the TV off. I’ll come do the one little chore of asked him to do and then they rush right back to their rooms glued to their Netflix. Sure would be nice for them to look around and see what needs to be done instead of being asked for every little thing.
Dishes! We love making pancakes for breakfast on the weekends, but it seems to completely destroy the kitchen! I think the big (non dishwasher safe) griddle just throws me off.
Laundry is my biggest problem. Beach towels, clothes that were misplaced before putting on swimsuit, and several daily clothing style changes (eleven year old girl) makes my laundry pile a lot higher.
Keeping up with the mess of my 2 children all day, especially my daughter. She tends to play dress-up with real clothes from her closet multiple times a day. After about 20 min, she will throw one outfit in her floor and go to something else. Drives me crazy!
Picking up the constant stream of toys dumped out by visiting grandchildren. This is the same cleaning challenge as in other seasons, though! Love the drink bands.
Dust is my biggest summer challenge. The open windows seem to invite lots of dust. Or maybe I can call it dirt. And the sun streaming in just seems to accentuate the look. Plus the dog bringing in lots of dust. Thank goodness I have wood floors which are easier to deal with than carpet!
Cleaning out our garage! đ
As several have said above, MUD is definitely the hardest cleaning challenge of our summer. A boy, 2
3 dogs, Florida thunderstorms, wading pools, water balloons, and water guns all combine to make the floor a mess all the time.
What isn’t a challenge when we are home all the time with ever-changing activities?
I think laundry will be the struggle this year – 3 +5 year Olds like to change whenever they deem the outfit dirty/hot/cold/wet, 1 year old who is messy, newborn with lots of medicine that causes nausea reflux worse, cats and dog and a husband who changes a lot…throw in pool time, sprinklers, water tables, etc —- mount laundry ready to erupt. After 6 of the last 7 weeks at the CICU/hospital, we are starting summer behind on laundry as it is.
Teenagers at home, making sure they do the cleaning while I work.
Toys! Well, technically they are a year round challenge. đ
Keeping up with the daily stuff when the weather is nice & we’d rather be elsewhere!
Dirt & grass clippings tracked in from the hubby , kids, & pets going in and out all day long!
I hope I win, it’s my birthday on June 9th đ My biggest summer cleaning challenge is just making time for cleaning. There are so many more interesting things to do! Also, unpacking from trips takes forever and makes the house look terrible because I’m the one who puts everything away.
Great idea! Count me in!! đ
Laundry! They go through clothes so quickly in the summer.
Thank you for the giveaway! My biggest summer cleaning challenge is dealing with those chores that just never end – dishes, laundry, vacuuming and sweeping. I want a day off! But I need to buckle down and keep plugging away at them.
This summer we are gutting the only main floor bathroom and potty traing our 2 year old…trying to function with a potty chair in the family room so you don’t have to run a two year old to the potty in the scary unfinished basmet is a bit harder then I anticipate.
Cleaning the muddy tracks off the carpet inside our back/patio door.
The drink bands are a fantastic idea!
Ooo! I love these! I’ve always used colored rubber bands, but these look even better!
My biggest summer cleaning challenge is keeping up the momentum. It’s easy to relax (translation: be lazy!) and let things slide, but then it’s always harder to catch up. đ
My husbands compulsive need to keep the lawn perfectly shorn, leads to grass clumps and clippings constantly being tracked inside on the kids shoes and feet. The grass is damp so impossible to sweep up. Also. my husband wanted to make sure our kids were safe while playing or I should say falling from our playset. So he put down 6 inches of shredded rubber. I thought this would be better/cleaner than wood chips or sand. Wrong! Besides all the black bits that are all over the house, there are small shreds that literally imbed themselves in socks and I find them later in the wash or have to pick them off of every sock. But they are safer. I’m just more insaner.
my biggest summer cleaning challenge is laundry. However, I’m thinking of something you posted a long time ago about giving everyone acess to just a set amount of outfits and I’m going to see if that helps with the amount of laundry.
Wet laundry and remembering to hang it up or washing it before you find it later all balled up and smelly.
laundry!
Just keeping up with the day to day when we want to be outside and playing instead of inside cleaning.
Biggest summer cleaning challenge so far: record rainfall means record amounts of mud on my floors! Also, with 5 kids out of school & home most of the time, waaaaaay too many dishes to wash. Love the idea of these bands!!
Trying to clean up outdoors in 90 degree weather.
Dishes are my biggest challenge during the summer. No matter how hard I try I can’t keep up!
my summer project is cleaning out both mine and my husbands closets. We each only need less than 40 articles of clothing. We seem to always be drowning in laundry! Time to throw out and donate! These cup rings would help me not drawn in dishes đ
Honestly, dirty dishes and glasses are the biggest problem! We don’t use any kind of disposable dishes and we only use glass ware, so these would help tremendously. Genius idea!
Our biggest problem is definitely dishes! These would help out a lot!
My summer challenge is we live on a sound and we have a large dog, who loves to swim. Somehow, the kids don’t think it matters if a big wet dog follows them into the house!!!
I decluttered baby toys yesterday and today. Very emotional, but I did it. My boys are 16 and 10. Lol…
[yes I know the giveaway is closed but]
We actually did this sort of thing for our wedding! We got some personalized bracelets as the “favors” which said “[rainbow icon] & [batman icon]” and left them in a bowl on the bar with a cup full of sharpies. They are perfectly sized for beer bottles, and fit around the bottom of the lemonade cups about an inch up. One thing that our cleanup helpers said they specifically noticed was that everyone was getting their empty bottles into the recycling during the party so there was very little beverage cleanup! And since the recycling was right next to the compost (aka “trash” but everything was compostable), the plates were getting picked up by the guests too!
Super flattering is that we’ve been to parties since where people brought their beer bracelet so they wouldn’t lose their drinks. People really liked them. But the best part is that one of our friends is a ship captain who runs charters to… well pretty much anyplace warm that a boat can go. He loved the idea so much that he got a bunch of them with the company logo on them, and everyone gets a drink bracelet at the beginning of a charter, and he said he’s noticed a HUGE decrease in the amount of random beverages getting lost & replaced while still half full. So yeah, this really, really works and I love that they’re available in family-sized packs (instead of the minimum order of 100 that we got, which was fine for us, but not so much necessary for a family of 6).
Making sure towels are dry after water play…
My prize arrived yesterday and we broke them out IMMEDIATELY!
Our cups are secure in who they belong to.
THANKS AGAIN DANA AND DRINKBANDS!
Did drinkbands go out of business? I have been looking for them for over a year and every time I go to their website it says they are performing regular maintenance đ¤đ¤âšī¸âšī¸