Photo: Jena Ardell / Moment / Getty Images
You blinked—and now it’s mid-July. But fear not: there’s still plenty of summer left to soak up, screw up, and savor. Here are 5 life-hacks to help you make the most of what’s left of the season (without needing a time machine or a PTO miracle).
1. Hack Your Vacation: Turn Weekends Into “Fakecations”
Can’t swing a full vacation? Stack your Friday evening and Sunday night with vacation-style activities—like grilling, hammocking, and pretending your phone doesn’t exist. You’d be surprised what 48 hours without replying to "per my last email" can do for your soul.
2. Backyard Glamping: All the Chill, None of the Chiggers
Pitch a tent (or drag a mattress onto the deck), string up some lights, cue up a crackling fire app, and boom—you’re “camping” without leaving home or risking contact with something named “nature.” S’mores taste just as good near a bug zapper.
3. Beat the Heat Budget-Style: DIY Cooling Tricks
Too hot to function? Fill a bowl with ice and place it in front of a fan for a makeshift AC. Bonus points if you pretend it’s a spa treatment while streaming wave sounds and sipping cucumber water from a mason jar.
4. Double-Duty Chores: Get Stuff Done and Tan Your Shins
Weeding? Car wash? Spray-painting furniture? Do it in your driveway in shorts and SPF 50. You’ll cross off to-do list items and get some color in those ghostly legs without setting foot in a tanning bed.
5. Plan Your Fall Now… So You’re Not Crying in September
Hack your future sanity by ordering Halloween costumes early, grabbing school supplies now while they’re in stock, or just mentally preparing for pumpkin spice to invade your life. Get ahead of the madness while your brain still has vitamin D in it.
☀️ Bottom line: Summer’s not over. It’s just getting good.
Make the next few weeks count—and if all else fails, buy a popsicle, turn your phone off, and stare at a sprinkler like you’re 7 years old again. You earned it.