5 Tips to be Highly Organized for Back to School
The beginning of school reminds us all of back to school. Whether we are the parent or the child, we are called to be more organized. Maybe this summer you slacked off a little. It’s time to get highly organized for back to school. Take one of these tips and get to work.
Highly organized school supplies
We are already bombarded with school supply and back to school sales. For this reason, shop your own stock first. If your supplies have been stored all through the house, gather all the school supplies together and assess your organizing. If you have too many, it’s a great time to donate to school supply drives. Set aside supplies for your kids’ backpacks, the homework center and school supply stock. Create a school and office supply area in an easy access closet or rolling cart.
Highly organized mornings and evenings
There’s no need for mornings and evenings to be chaotic. Set up routines that make for smooth transitions at home. Start the night before for the best tomorrow. Leave you and your kids stuff at your landing strip ready to go. Charge everyone’s devices on the charging station over night. Make breakfast easy and portable where kids can take it on the run with them. Write out a check list for each person for mornings and evenings and post these where everyone sees them regularly.
Highly organized closets
Getting ready in the morning and getting laundry done are easy when you declutter your closet. Take an hour to go through each of your kids’ closets and keep only what fits right now. If the closet or drawers are stuffed, cull out more so that’s it is easy to put away clothes. Head into your closet and keep only what makes you feel fabulous! When you can wear all the clothes in your closet, it’s quick and easy.
Highly organized paperwork and digital documents
Family command centers make for a great way to consolidate information. More schools are going to online access, so two times a week check online just to be sure you are getting all the information you need. Process papers in your purse and kids’ backpacks daily to eliminate, sort and categorize and then shred what you don’t need. Capture important dates in email and text each the evening.. What’s most important is to use a family calendar and command center which are the drop spots for this information.
Highly organized team work
The best family team work starts with family communication. A family meeting is the time to share information and gather ideas. Family responsibilities can be done together to be sure everyone pitches in. Whether it is a family cleaning time, family dinner prep together or family laundry party, the family that works together gets more done. It’s how kids learn new skills and parents share lifelong skills. Get your team organized with consistent team work.
Don’t miss a minute of organizing or productivity tips. Join my newsletter here!
I love that you mentioned the teamwork. A lot of the stress of the school years comes from logistics and miscommunication. We started having a Sunday family meeting early on to look at the week ahead and problem-solve any anticipated conflicts and just talk about who would be where. This helped everyone see the big picture. I’m down to no children at home now, but my husband and I still do the family meeting!
The family meeting is one of many communication strategies. It’s biggest challenge is the time when your family can meet. I am glad to see your implementation of this meeting really worked for your family too!