The Friday Five: Five Things to Do at Home This Holiday Weekend

I am so excited about this holiday weekend coming up! I have been working my tail off on the “Super- Secret Design Project” and the dining room re-do, and the kids have been home and underfoot for most of the last two weeks. Time for a little break! So, for the Friday Five today: five things to do at home this holiday weekend. These are small tasks you can do quickly – you’ll feel like you accomplished something and still have time for a cold beverage on the porch and fireworks!

1. Clean Out the Fridge

This weekend usually involves a cookout or two, so why not use this as a chance to clean out your fridge (and/or freezer and/or pantry!). Take all the fruit and cut it up into a salad. Take all the veggies and cut them up to serve with dressing or dip. Or make a killer vegetable soup out of them, if it’s not too hot! Have a breadboard dinner with what you can scrounge up and let everyone make their own plates.

From one of our breadboard dinners – click the photo for the post explaining how to make a breadboard dinner.

2. Clean Out ONE Spot

A closet? Kid (or grown-up) art and craft supplies? Your dresser? Trying to clean out, purge, and organize all the spaces in your home at the same time is daunting. Instead, just pick one. Set a timer for, say, thirty minutes, and GO! Get it done and you will feel better about everything.

For tips on how to organize a closet, see THIS POST. Once you’ve finished purging and organizing, if you have things you want to sell, see THIS POST about how I sell furniture and decor online.

3. Move the Furniture Around for a New Look

One of my favorite things to do, especially when I’m trying to relax (believe it or not!), is to rearrange the furniture in a room. Here’s the best part: if it works, you get instant gratification and a new look for a room without spending any money. If it doesn’t work, then you’re only out the time it took to move the stuff, and you can put it all back where it was.

Click the photo for how I rearranged the living room – so much better!

Choose a room where you’ve always wondered if it was arranged in the best way. Or where you have a piece of furniture that just doesn’t fit – try it in another room or move it to another part of the same room.

My trick for moving heavy pieces without damaging the floor: Put old towels under the legs of the furniture. Then you can slide it along the floor without damaging it!

4. Clean Out Your Dryer Duct

I know, this one doesn’t sound fun. But you can prevent a fire simply by disconnecting your dryer duct and cleaning out all the lint and dirt from it.

Click HERE for the post about what I found in my dryer duct when I cleaned it out and why you should clean out your dryer duct now and regularly.

5. Use Leftover Hot Dog Buns

After a cookout, we always seem to have leftover hot dog buns. Don’t throw them out! Turn them into garlic “knots.”

Click HERE for the recipe.

Click the photo for my post about creating a DIY hot dog bar!

Enjoy your 4th of July weekend, all! Leave a comment and let me know what you’re up to this weekend!