Back to School organizing tips for your home

its the most wonderful time of the year!

​Busy families, rejoice: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is almost here!  No: not Christmas…Back To School!  Organizing your home and family for Back to School is virtually the same as organizing for the Holidays.  In this post, I’ll talk about the 4 ways organizing for Back to School is just like Holiday organizing, share tips and tricks I’ve learned as a Professional Organizer to get through it, and best of all, share a FREE PRINTABLE CHECKLIST with you!

ready to learn back to school organization tips?  Read on....

Let's get this thing going.
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​Moms + Dads across the nation are anxiously awaiting the glorious First Day of School, while at the same time dreading all the work it takes to get ready for it.  It’s exciting, expensive, and exhausting. You know…exactly the Holidays.  There are so many similarities between the two, right?! 

Organizing for both Back to School and the Holidays mean getting your game face on for
*The Logistical Challenges: Pull out your planner and get ready to schedule a million appointments and carpools.
* The Buying of the Things Never Ends: Just plan on selling a kidney in early August to cover your expenses. You’ll spend a whole month purchasing clothes, school supplies, backpacks, and post-it notes.  The bleeding won’t stop until mid-September, if you’re lucky. 
* All the Time with the Eating: Forget about Summer when you could pull off pop-tarts for breakfast, pool concession-stand nachos for lunch, and Chick-Fila for Dinner. You’re going to need to sling out at least 3 meals a day. 
*The Soon-to-be Disaster Zone of a Home: Instead of a house strewn with wet swimming towels and Cheez-It boxes, instead you’ll have backpacks, soccer shin-guards, and decimated lunchboxes to deal with.
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Let’s take a look at how you can break it down and survive. 
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Check out our Back to School Organizing board on Pinterest. 

SageOrganizingCo. 

get your logistics on, yo.
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​Two words of advice: Start. Now.

You should set up doctor and dentist appointments, get prescriptions and medical authorization forms filled out, set up haircuts, sign the kids up for Fall sports and/or after school activities. 
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When you’ve got all of that done, start creeping on other parents you can potentially carpool with.  Befriend them, asap.  Keep telling yourself it isn't stalking if it's for the kids. 

​ To-Dos
1.  Pull out the school year calendar and put all the dates on your calendar before you make a single appointment. Make sure everyone in the family has access to this.
2. Download the Carpool Kids app (free). It allows you to swipe to add or remove drivers, riders and set locations.  I’ve used it for 2 years now and cannot say enough good things about it!
3. Remember to take copies of any form the school will need (like the Medicine Release Form) with you to your pediatrician visit.  

(Want more ideas? Follow our Organizing Your Family board.)

SageOrganizingCo. 

Sell One Kidney Now to Pay for Everything,
(save the Other Kidney to Pay for the Holidays)

​My best advice? Scour your home for what can be re-used before you go shopping. With any luck, you have stash of post-its, a new pack of athletic socks, and a backpack that can be used again this year. Pray to the Shoe Gods that someone else in your house can wear all of last years' outgrown shoes. 

​To-Dos:

1. Have each kid review all last years’ clothes, shoes, backpacks, water bottles, and jackets to see what can be handed down or donated. Bag that stuff up immediately and get it to its new home. Once that is done, make your school shopping list.
2. Have a school supply scavenger hunt within your house before you step foot in a Staples, Target or CVS. I know you have notebooks with 5 used pages sitting in your house somewhere. Get them out and use again this year.

All the time with the eating!  
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​It’s all about pre- planning all of those meals, yo!
 
Start thinking about make-ahead breakfasts (if you can start a stockpile of frozen homemade breakfast burritos, you are my personal hero). Talk with the kids about what they want for lunch every day. Discuss your after school snack strategy with your shorties, otherwise they're gonna raid the Pringles and pudding cups daily. 

Most importantly, figure out a game plan for getting dinner on the table every night. I strongly recommend planning every meal and snack out about 5-7 days in advance. That way you can hit the grocery store once a week. 

( How I Created a Weekly Family  Routine That Works for Our Family talks more about meal planning.  You can also check out ourMeal Planning Pinterest board. )

​To-Dos:

1. Start stocking up now on non-perishable foods (like juice boxes and snacks), as well as sandwich bags and napkins. Remember to buy extra ice-packs for lunch boxes: I guarantee last years are either leaky or MIA.
2. Set the expectation that your kids pack their own lunches. I make the deal that I will shop for and prep the food, but the kids have to pack the lunchbox themselves. If you’re super cool and have the time, pack up a bunch of stuff on Sundays to get you through the week.
3. Plan your dinners and grocery shop once a week. If you have a plan, there’s a better chance you won’t end up with Dominos at your door.  See my in-depth blog post about creating a family routine by clicking here. 

SageOrganizingCo. 

Set your house + car up to make life easier
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​Just like you set your house up for the Holidays, you really need to organize it to make your life easier.  A little advance planning will end up saving you time in the long run.

​To Dos:

1. Create a drop zone for where all backpacks, sports bags and lunchboxes will go after school.  The closer you can get it to the door, the better. Eliminate having bags strewn across the entire house.  Check out my blog post on creating a garage mudroom/drop zone by clicking here. 
2. Set up a lunchbox packing “cockpit”. Make it easy to reach all the supplies you’ll need to pack a lunch.  Set aside one drawer to house all the sandwich bags, Tupperware containers, napkins, etc.
3. Stock your car with everything you could possible need. Granola bars, deodorant, a couple extra dollar bills, wet wipes, and a few extra water bottles will never go to waste.  Check out our Car Organization board here. 

want help setting your home up?

​Don’t be a Grinch, Enjoy the Season!

​Remember, getting your home ready for Back to School is just like getting ready for the holidays. If you do a little bit of  organizing in advance, it truly does pay off in the end. You've got this!

To make your life a little easier, I've created this free Back to School checklist. 

Download the checklist