Organizing for Back-to-School
Vertical Command Center- School Papers
Make your own or find attractive and helpful vertical command centers that show:
Calendar- mark important events
Inbox- store urgent papers
To-Do list
Hanging file folders- Bills, Reminders, To-File
“Real Simple” editor, Lauren, on Today show how to set up a simple command center to keep important dates and papers organized during school year.
Daily Outfits Ready!
Check weather for the week and sort out outfits for each day. (Tip: even easier sorting clothes straight out of laundry room, while folding clothes). Using a clean hanging shoe holder or stacking drawers, place each day’s outfit in each slot. All the child needs to do is reach and they have their full outfit (including undergarments) ready to wear.
Use a clean hanging shoe organizer or stackable drawers to store full outfits for each day of the week.
Make Ahead Meals
Buy in bulk healthy snacks like low sugar fruits, vegetables, nuts, and cheese. Wash and cut produce, store foods in smaller containers so that the kids can grab and go. Make mini frittatas in muffin pans, freeze breakfast burritos in advance. These foods will keep keep your kids satiated ‘til lunchtime and your kids will eating healthier options.
Make ahead meals so that mornings go smoothly. Mini frittatas can be made muffin pans in advance.
Catch-All Entrance
Set up a catch-all station in your entry way or mudroom.
When kids enter home, they immediately have a place to hang their bags, jackets, lay down their sunglasses, phones, and remove their shoes.
Homework and Art Stations
Use caddies and tiered rolling carts to corral their homework and art supplies. These containers attractively store post-it notes, markers, paints, ets. They are portable, so they can moved from room to room and easily tucked away. YouTube organizing guru Cassandra Aarrson from Clutterbug shares how she uses caddies and rolling carts to keep her kids supplies organized .
Cassandra Aarrson from Clutterbug shows Mom hack’s, like caddies and tiered rolling carts, to keep kids organized for school.
Memory Bin
A great way to preserve your kids works are to keep a bin for each kid and dump all of their art report cards, projects, and graded work in. Wait until the end of the year, when you aren’t attached anymore, to go through all the items and keep the highlights. You can then put their best work in a binder or scrapbook.
Wait until the endo of the year t ogo through all items. Pick out your favorite and store them in a scrapbook or binder.
Creating scrapbook of your favorite items from your child’s school year.
With these tips you and your child will have a smoother school year!
