My Experience
For over 15 years my family has been going to the same time-share vacation where we relax by the pool reading books, golfing, bike rides, tennis, and having fun playing card games with the kids. Our family shares a tradition of daily ice-cream buffet after dinner. Yummy! Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. The kids love this and there are all kinds of toppings, gummy bears, sprinkles, Oreo cookies and other treats to pile on the three different flavours of ice-cream. Using the whip cream maker, with real whip cream, to top off our sundaes is a favorite for the kids. In truth it is a fun treat for everyone. I could live on ice cream!
The AH-HA Checklist Moment
After a few years of packing too much stuff to take with us, planning the meals and buying groceries, I had an ah-ha moment. Hey, we take the same things every year, and I’m wasting a lot of time planning out the meals. Not to mention trying to find out what everyone likes to eat and who’s bringing what. Often times, there would be too much food and we would end up doubling up on purchasing some things. Finally, I decided to simplify the planning and packing process for this family vacation. I created a meal plan, grocery list and packing checklist. What a huge time saver these checklists were for us, and other family members. Not to mention a great way to help save money.
We keep the meals simple, healthy and easy to prepare. Then add in a few special treats. Creating the meal plan is now easy every year. All I need to do is find out how many are coming, any changes in food preferences, decide how many days we’ll be golfing and I can easily adjust the meal plan and grocery list accordingly. We bring several items from home and buy fresh produce when we arrive. You’ll also notice that there are columns to check off who’s going to bring what items on the checklist. It literally takes me 20 minutes each year to adjust the meal plan and grocery checklist. And get this, family members email me in advance asking for the packing checklist and grocery checklist so they can be organized. See, you can even organize your entire family with a few simple checklists (ha, ha, ha)!
Don’t reinvent the wheel, I’ve attached all three checklists for so that you can customize it for your unique summer vacation. You will see how simple these checklists are – no need to get super fancy here. This document was created in MS Excel and inside the document are three seperate “sheets” or “documents” – Menu, Groceries, and Packing List. I’ve done all the hard work for you by creating the document, now it’s your turn to tweak it for your summer vacation.
This summer, save time, reduce stress and relax knowing that you have a checklist and you’ve packed what you needed!