Are you having trouble balancing everything and keeping all the plates spinning this school year? I’ve collected some key organizing tips for parents (to help keep you sane)!
It’s back-to-school season, and it feels like a fresh start full of sharpened pencils and new notebooks. But without a plan, it can feel a bit overwhelming and like a total hot mess.
So, I’m sharing some ways to keep track of permission slips, lunches, special dates and routines that will help keep you from feeling like you’ve boarded the crazy train!
Let me know which one is your favorite in the comments below. Or share your own go-to tips for staying sane when school starts again!
What are some of the biggest challenges in getting a smooth morning routine going (or keeping on top of school if you homeschool)? Here’s what usually trips us up:
- Mom is getting up with the kids, which leaves everyone feeling rushed and behind from the very start!
- Mom doesn’t have a good system for handling papers that need to be read or signed. They end up piled on every flat surface and are nowhere to be found when it’s time to leave for school.
- Not having a good system for putting away backpacks, shoes and lunch boxes each day.
- A child won’t get dressed for school because he can’t find an outfit that’s clean, pressed and looks good. (And where are those darn shoes again?!)
- Frantically searching for something to pack in the lunchbox at the last minute.
- Finding a distraction-free spot for kids to do their homework in the afternoons.
7 Tips for a Calm Back-to-School Routine
Tip #1: Set Up a Mom Morning Routine BEFORE the kids wake up.
I know it’s tough, but waking up 30 minutes to an hour before your kids and creating a routine for yourself makes the mornings so much less stressful.
I don’t always practice what I preach, but when I do, it’s always worth it! I like to get up, get dressed and make myself presentable, have a cup of coffee and read my morning devotional. That’s usually all the time I have, but I like to keep it short and simple!
Tip #2: Set Up a Family Command Center
Create a drop zone and a central spot for everything! Add a calendar and a bulletin board and you’ve already set yourself up for a more organized year. Of course, you still have to actually use the command center, but setting it up is 50% of the work! I’ve picked my top favorite command centers in this post, but I’ve included a few here as well.
This Family Command Center by One Day of Honey (via Home by Jenn) is practically perfect. It has a spot for dropping “stuff,” plus places for bills, receipts and coupons. I’d even go so far as to add a folder slot for each family member, especially the kids if they come home with papers. The calendar, clock and bulletin board are essential. Even the dresser doubles as shoe storage. Love this!
We have a small space in our eat-in kitchen beside the garage door, where I set up a drop zone with hooks, a calendar, a mirror and cubbies. We jot down all the important schedules and after-school activities on the calendar. We keep permission slips and key paperwork in the cubbies. I can write to-do lists on the mirror, and we hang backpacks and after-school activity bags on the hooks. It’s small, but mighty!
Right next to it, we have a bench for storing shoes and sitting down to pull them on each morning. You could also keep baskets by the back door to corral shoes.
Tip #3: A Get-Ready-for-School Checklist
Create checklists and charts so your children know exactly what to do before they leave for school (or when they get home). Kids can certainly help keep up with their chores and responsibilities, but a little checklist is always handy to remind them of what to do when they inevitably forget. It also saves mom from repeating herself 100 times a day.
After-School To-Do List
It’s a great idea to place it behind a glass frame or slip it into a self-adhesive laminate sheet, then use a dry erase marker to check items off every day! Wipe it clean to start fresh tomorrow.
Customizable Printable Chore Chart
P.S. Here’s a tip that pairs nicely with these chore charts: give your child her own alarm clock. She’ll be able to wake up and get going on her own and get dressed. I love this tip, and we use this alarm clock for kids. Once my daughter started waking up to her own alarm, we shed a lot fewer tears in the mornings!
Tip #4: Make a Homework Caddy for School Supplies
This might be my favorite tip for keeping supplies together and ready to use. It lets your children easily grab the tools they need to finish their homework without asking you! Yay! Isn’t that the goal?
Gather what they’ll need for homework, like pencils, a pencil sharpener, erasers, a ruler, a calculator, markers, crayons and anything else they might need!
Homemade Homework Station
My favorite way to do this is with a caddy, like the one below. I use a utensil caddy to neatly corral their supplies, and when I need to clear the table, I can simply lift it and tuck it back in the cabinet! So easy!!
Dollar Tree Homework Caddy
Tip #5: Set aside a distraction-free space for homework.
I love how this family transformed an underused hallway into a space for their kids to do homework. You can always use the kitchen table, but I think it’s so fun to create a special place just for schoolwork! That way you don’t have to clear it off for every meal!
An unused hallway becomes the perfect shared homework station
Fun and functional homework space
Cutest organized homework space
SHOP THE WORKSPACE
Tip #6. Set up a lunch-packing station and pack lunches the night before.
Keep items sorted in the pantry so your kiddos can pack their own lunch bags. I tend to pack the same things every day for my daughter, but I want to mix things up with some of these ideas.
This mom has a fantastic system where her kids can pick and choose their own lunch. She labeled each bin with how many items to grab, so they can grab and go! You can find more details in her Facebook post here.
Building a Lunch Box Station, by Design Improvised
Tip #7. Lay out clothes for every day of the week on Sunday night.
Or at least lay out the next day’s outfit the night before. This saves us so much time! Especially if the clothes she wants to wear need ironing or a special bow that we have to track down. #girlmom
Back-to-School Clothes Organizing System from Here Comes the Sun
We definitely bought the hanging clothes organizer, and we use it! My daughter loves getting up, choosing the outfit she wants for the day and feeling confident in it. We don’t label the sections by day, because she can pick whichever outfit she feels like wearing on any given day.
While researching this post, I came across several back-to-school clothing checklists. I printed this one from Thirty Handmade Days and plan to use it with both of my girls to make sure we have everything we need for fall (and can donate or sell what we don’t).
Back-to-School Shopping List
I hope these ideas have been really helpful. Now the hard part is putting them into practice. But I promise you’ll be thanking yourself all year for setting up systems that actually work! You’ll be amazed at how much more smoothly your days run.
Let me know in the comments if you have a super helpful tip! Which one do you already use and love??
Other Posts You Might Like:
- Back-to-School Treat Jars for Teachers
- Top 5 Tips for Organizing Kids’ Clothes
- The Home Organizing Binder
- How to Organize a House With No Storage
- Tidy Arts & Crafts Storage Ideas
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