Back to school, routines and back to more structure. Organization is the key to surviving this school year!
We all thrive in structured environments, and so do yourself a favor and get organized for the year.
Here are the 4 tips to make your school year a lot easier to manage:
Purge the kids closets.
Getting back to school means a new wardrobe and preparing for the fall and winter attire.
Take 15 minutes to go through the kids’ closets and pull out summer clothes you KNOW won’t fit them by next summer, or items you hoped would still fit from last winter but that wishful thinking didn’t pan out.
Set that timer and get to work. The less clutter you have in the closet means it’s easier to manage their process to get ready for school each day.
Bonus: This is a good time to make a quick assessment of what staples they need in their closet for the next season and their current sizing.
Think ahead to events you’re going to have coming up in the next few months, so you can get ahead of outfit purchases you need now, before it’s the week before and you’re scrambling to get their looks together.
Edit + purchase to set their closets up for success!
Set the kids’ clothes the night before
Morning success starts at night. Have your kids pick out their clothes the night before, as this takes one less step out of the morning madness.
Look ahead to the weather, consider what theme days you may need special attire for, and have their outfits ready to go. One less thing to fuss with and deal with the “what should I wear?!” question.
Pro tip: do the same with their lunch boxes! Beat the morning rush by having lunches prepped and ready to grab and go!
Create a drop zone for backpacks and papers.
After a busy day, everyone rushes in the door and papers and backpacks go flying. Just me?
Contain the mess by creating drop zones for your kids stuff. The place where papers need to go – the permission slips, artwork and other notes.
This stackable organizer is one we use to help contain the kids papers along with the mail + other miscellaneous things hat fall in the “need to deal with” pile.
Create the space where the backpacks live. You don’t have to have cute lockers to have a designated spot for the backpacks. For us that looks like a shelf in our mudroom closet.
When you create a home for something, it makes it easier to find and maintain. This means no more lost backpacks in the rush out the door!
Make a plan for the week.
If you fail to plan you plan to fail. Have you heard that before?
Each Sunday, take some time to look ahead for the week. Look ahead at your calendar for kids activities, work commitments, appointments, etc. Where is your time being committed to? And don’t forget to review this with your spouse! This is a team sport – no spectators here!
Once you know where you need to be and when, you can make sure you plan ahead and nothing gets dropped. Think about the to-do items for each of those commitments so you are prepared instead of stressed and running behind.
Things I think of: Is the uniform ready for the game? Who is running Jack to practice? When do I need to have the donation to the school festival turned in?
This includes your meal planning. What nights are you having meals at home? Or grabbing something quick to eat between kids activities? Or is there a pizza night in there too?
At the end of the school day, you want to be able to enjoy time with your kiddos and learn about their day. Taking some time to set yourself up for success will help cut back on the stress and overwhelm of managing the busy school year.
-Daniele Mineck
For more tips on how to organize your day and your space, sign up for my newsletter at danielemineck.com.
Or check out my Simplified Start challenge, which helps create some great habits to keep your home your haven and not chaotic.
