What? It’s time to send the kids back to school? Already?
Are you sure? Because I’m still enjoying the warm weather and not having to pack lunch boxes–how about you?
OK. Time for a reality check. School starts this week for my kids. Others across the country began weeks ago and have already submitted their ‘What I Did Over Summer Vacation’ assignment.
As we all know, it’s important to start the school year off on the right foot. Freshly sharpened pencils, a positive mindset, and solid sleep habits are first-rate ways to get the year in motion. An apple for the teacher couldn’t hurt…
If you’re feeling stressed just thinking about everything you need to do to keep you and your kids organized throughout the school year, take a deep breath. There are basic organizing principles that can help you simplify and streamline what needs to get done and help you and your kids get an A+ in ‘Organization’ for the school year.
One of these basic organizing principles is known as ‘Give Everything A Home.’
Everything that comes into your home and already exists in your home needs a place to ‘live.’ The concept may sound overwhelming, but if you think about it–most of what you own already has logical homes. For example, your clothes live in a closet, your toothbrushes live in the bathroom, and your wallet lives in your handbag.
Establishing ‘homes’ for your belongings helps you to easily locate them when you need them. As the back to school season begins and as the school year progresses, you and your kids are going to need to find and access school-related items quickly, efficiently, and sometimes (for the kids) independently.
Here are some tips and solutions for giving everything ‘back to school’ a ‘home’ in your home:
What needs a home: Papers
Create a Home for School-Related Papers
Since my eldest started kindergarten a decade ago, the amount of paper that comes home from school has been drastically reduced. But, even with schools using email, texting, and the Remind app to communicate with parents and reduce paper usage, papers still come home and still have to be read, filled out, and dealt with. Beware! Papers like to multiply like rabbits when left on a kitchen counter or dining room table!
Solutions:
• Designate a ‘home’ for papers that parents need to review and designate a ‘home’ for papers dedicated to each child. This could be a shelf, a set of stacking inbox trays, plastic drawers, or shoeboxes–whatever works for your space and budget.
When they come home from school, have each child place papers to be reviewed in the ‘parent’ spot and when the parent is finished processing the papers (permission slips/book orders/money collection) they are then placed in the ‘child’ spot. The child then takes those completed papers and puts them in their folder/book bag to take back to school.
Bonus tip: For papers that need to be referenced often during the course of a school year (school holiday schedule, class lists, etc.), consider placing them in a binder or folder and designate an easy-to-access ‘home’ for the binder or folder to live in.
What needs a home: Kid’s Artwork
Create a Home for Artwork
First, it’s scribbles on paper. Then, finger paints and leaf rubbings. Soon, the artwork becomes 3-D and it’s living on your dining room table. And in the entrance way. And all over the floor in your kid’s room.
Solutions:
• Determine where your children’s artwork will ‘live’ before it even starts coming through your door. What space works best? Your child’s room? The refrigerator? A mudroom or hallway space? Knowing in advance where the artwork will ‘live,’ makes it less likely for it to take up residence across your dining room table. Decide where the artwork will live and reserve that space for that purpose.
• Create space limits for displaying and keeping artwork. Will it be displayed on the front of the fridge? An eye-level shelf in the family room? Will it be stored in a portfolio folder? A clear bin in your attic? Let the size of the space determine the amount of artwork you can display and store.
Too much artwork and not enough space to put it on display? Have the kids select what they want to keep–this improves decision making skills. Photograph much-loved 2-D and 3-D pieces and create a small printed or digital photo album of their work.
• Create time limits for displaying and keeping artwork. This can be determined by how much artwork is coming through your door multiplied by the number of children you have. Work with your child(ren) to figure out how long they would like their art displayed before giving up the space to another work of art or another person’s work of art. A week? A month? Until the next piece of art comes home?
• Create an ‘exit strategy’ for the art (you parents of preschoolers know what I mean….). Will it be photographed and kept? Mailed to Grandma? Will it be photographed and tossed? Yes–your trash receptacle may at some point become a permanent ‘home’ for your children’s artwork.
Bonus tip–Don’t throw artwork away in front of your budding artist!
What needs a home: Library Books
Create a Home for Library Books
Raise your hand if you or your kids have accidentally mixed library books in with the books in your home. I’m raising my hand, too! (Yes–it even happens to Professional Organizers).
Solutions:
• Create a specific home just for library books–a simple way to prevent school and town library books from accidentally co-habitating with other ‘like’ books in your home. That ‘home’ may be a shelf, a container, a basket or a designated spot in a closet. Wherever that spot is, put a label on it that says ‘Library Books’ so everyone can see it. When books are brought home from the library, place them here first. After reading them, return them to this spot. When they’re ready to be returned, you’ll know exactly where they are.
Speaking of returning books…
* Bonus tip–Make a note in your calendar of the day books are due back to the library. Make another note one week in advance of that date. Knowing the due date means not having to pay a ‘late book’ fee!
What needs a home: School Supplies
Create a Home for School Supplies
Have you gone shopping for school supplies yet? Not just for the supplies the teacher would like for the classroom–I’m talking about the ones you need in your home. Yes–those purple glue sticks, crayons, packages of loose leaf paper, and poly folders–they will need a ‘home,’ too.
Solutions:
• Designate a space in your home for the storing of basic school and office supplies your kids may need for the year. For quick access, this spot should be close to where they do their homework. The supplies can live in one central location or each child can create a ‘home’ for their personal school supplies in their room or close to where they prefer to do their work.
• For small items like erasers and paper clips or items in multiples such as markers and crayons, use containers that act as smaller ‘homes’ to keep these items grouped together in the space, bin, shelf, or drawer designated for school supplies.
Bonus tip – Take inventory of school supplies at the beginning of every month. You’ll still need glue sticks and sharp pencils in May and June!
Give the ‘Give Everything A Home’ principle a try. Soon you’ll begin to see just how manageable the school year can be when you give everything a home. And if it works well for school, just think how well the ‘Give Everything A Home’ principle would work in other areas of your home and life…Hmmmm…
Wishing you and your kids an organized school year!
Stacey is a Professional Organizer, Virtual Organizer, and Author in Bergen County, New Jersey specializing in home organizing, time, and paper management. She is the author of The Organized Bride’s Thank You Note Handbook: Let Systems and 101 Modern Sample Thank You Notes Take You From Overwhelmed to Organized.
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These are all great tips, Stacey! Gotta have these storage locations figured out in advance.
Another object that I’m having to think about more these days is “charging.” Most older kids are spending a lot of time on their computers, and we often need to consider where they work, and also where their machines will “sleep” and recharge at night. Long charging cords are a big help in most houses!
Thanks, Seana. You’re right about giving a home to tech in addition to the usual paper and supplies. In fact, my middle-schooler is getting a Chrome Book this Fall. We created a charging station ‘home’ in my kitchen for all phones and iPads–I guess we’re going to have to make room for the ChromeBook, too!
Wow! I can’t believe your kids return to school this week! Where did the summer go? Creating “homes” for stuff is one of the most important organizing principles. And while it might seem overwhelming, I love that you pointed out the ways many of us have already succeeded. Then you build on that success with your wonderful suggestions for creating school-related homes.
Each one is doable and will make such an enormous difference in the ease and flow of getting back to the swing of things…the school year.
Wishing you and your sons all the best of success as you flow into this new beginning. They are lucky to have such an organized mom.
Thanks so much for your sweet words, Linda! I know deep down my kids appreciate their ‘organized mom.’ Sometimes they roll their eyes when I whip out my label maker (especially at back to school time) but I don’t hear them complain when they lose a water bottle or a lunch box and they quickly get it returned to them because it was labeled. 🙂
I’m glad you included the library books home. I had several clients that loved to get books from the library. Having a place in the landing/drop zone works great for these books. Thanks for sharing.
Gotta keep track of those library books! I always found it easier to keep them separate from books we own. It’s a time and money saver!
Such great tips for starting the school year on the right foot. So true that everything needs a home – it makes staying organized that much easier when everyone knows where certain things belong. 🙂
I tell clients that between giving everything they own a home and grouping ‘like’ with ‘like,’ they’re halfway to an organized life. Utilizing these two basic organizing principles will keep parents and students organized the whole school year.
Stellar tips. It all makes me wonder how my mother dealt with everything. I just recall having to empty out my bookbag (nobody had backpacks until high school!) daily to hand over everything for grownups. I kept my “school” school supplies in my cubby (later, my locker) and rarely brought anything home except books and notebooks; any supplies I needed at home were pilfered from my dad’s office supplies. Our house was always supremely tidy, but I suspect it was only partially from having a home for everything and the rest due to it being the olden days and there wasn’t that much stuff to have! 😉
It is a great suggestion to have a place for library books. We want to teach responsibility and it is only fair that other children have an opportunity to use the books too. I like the guidelines about the artwork. Especially how long a display will stay up. Too often parents are worried about hurting a child’s feelings by taking them down. It will make it easier to keep moving artwork displays if there is a plan to follow. Especially if you have more than 1 child. No one can accuse the parent of play favourites if everyone’s artwork displays keep changing.