Get Organized for School: Set Yourself up for a Successful School Year

Back to School?  Yes, already. It’s time to organize for school. I’m sure this brings mixed feelings. For me, this is the first year that I am not setting up a classroom and preparing for a new bunch of kindergarteners. This year I’m enjoying spending time with my own children.  In years past, my back to school organizing meant getting my classroom ready, but since my own children are not school-aged yet I haven’t had to get things organized at home. However, I am constantly looking for new ways to keep school things organized for myself in the future and for my clients.

There are so many things that come along with back to school: school supplies, lunches, backpacks, important papers, the list goes on.  It can get a little overwhelming.  Planning ahead and getting your home ready for everything that comes along with school-aged children can make for a smooth ride this school year.  And the best part? I’ve done some of the work for you. Keep reading for pictures and inspiration to get every area of your home ready for back to school.

Create an area in your home near your entrance where you and your kids can drop things as you come in the door.  This doesn’t mean a pile of backpacks in the corner, it still needs to be neat and organized.  Use hooks and baskets to create an area where each family member has a designated space for their things. This could mean backpacks and school folders, or diaper nags for younger children.  Take a look at these spaces for some inspiration.

This “drop zone” can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it to be.  The important thing is that you have some type of organized storage.

Having a place for important papers that come home from school or need returned to school is also important. Again, find a system that works for your family. It can be as simple as a stacked organizer where each child has a slot, or a clipboard for each child like pictured above.  The Container Store has some great options for this.

Make sure to label each bin. You could have one section for each child or one that is for homework to be checked, papers to be returned, and papers to be looked at.  Again, make it work for your family.  This is so important. If it does’t fit your family it isn’t going to stay organized.

I don’t know about you, but I learned quickly that packing lunches can be time consuming and a drag if it’s not organized.  Before, I packed a lunch for my boys for the babysitter, a lunch for myself, and sometimes a lunch for my husband. Running all over the kitchen to different areas was time consuming and it was the last thing I wanted to do every night before bed.

That was until I came up with a better system for our family.  Creating a lunch packing station. I know it sounds redundant but you have to find what works best for your family. If you are packing all the lunches you may find that keeping all the lunch boxes, pantry type items (bread, peanut butter, whatever it is) together is easier.  Organizing the refrigerator is also important.  Create a basket with all of the fruit (already portioned if possible), and another with yogurt, cheese, or any other side items.  Then you can easily open the refrigerator and grab one thing from each basket.  This may mean more time on Sunday preparing for the week, but I promise it will be worth it when your late night lunch packing time takes just minutes.

Want to save even more time? Create bins with labels for each type of item (fruit, veg., snack, protein, etc.) and how many you want your child to have and let them do the work.  Then, they get to choose what they want for lunch (with your guidelines) and you save time by not having to do it for them!

Of course back to school means shopping for school clothes.  Before you head to the store take an inventory of what you already have so that you don’t over buy or forget things.  For my oldest son, I go through and see what no longer fits him.  Anything that is too small gets tossed in a bin inside his brothers closet (labeled by size of course) for when he grows into it.  Then I quickly jot down what he has left.  For my youngest, I pull out that bin of hand me downs and see what I have.  Anything that isn’t the right season or is too small for him is tossed into a donation bin.  We pass down our clothes to friends and family or donate it.  Anything that is too worn or has holes gets put in a toss pile.  When I know exactly what they already have I’m ready to start shopping.

After you have the clothes that you need, make sure their closet is organized. For my sons, I label their drawers so that they know exactly where to put clothes back after being washed.  This is part of their chores. For a link to the labels I use and more information see my post about organizing with kids.

I don’t focus too much on what it looks like inside of the drawers.  They aren’t quiet old enough to keep things folded or rolled. As long as the shorts get where the shorts belong I’m happy.  Same with color coding their hanging things.  Of course, I love to color code it, but let’s be honest 2 hours later it’s no longer perfectly color coded! Another way to organize their clothes is by day of the week.  Once your child is in school, they are already picking out their own clothes.  Set aside time on Sunday to pick out outfits for the week. This will save so much time in the morning, and we know how precious that time is.  You can DIY tags like this or purchase them.

Having a designated space for your child to do their homework is important.  A space that is quiet, calm, and organized can help them concentrate on the task at hand.  If your children are younger and don’t have homework yet, you can still create an area where they can do artwork or puzzles and games.  Where this space is in your home may vary. It could be at the kitchen table, at a desk in their room, in a playroom/craft room/family room, etc. No matter where this space is, the important thing is that you have a plan for keeping this space organized.  What this looks like in your home will depend on where the space is.  Here are some ideas to get you thinking about what might work for your family.

You already have a designated place for papers that need signed and returned or that monthly newsletter that you put aside to read later, but what about that adorable artwork or the 100% math test?  Right now, you put them in a pile or a drawer and they pile up and you can never find them. Right? That can also be organized.  There are so many ways to do this.  Purchase a file organizer and hanging files for each child and label one folder for each year of school.  Put it somewhere accessible.  Then, just drop the papers in as you get them.  You can also use a binder.  Maybe you want to create a binder for each year. Then you can keep everything for that year in a sort of scrapbook. Either way works.  Just make sure you have a system and avoid the pile up or worse just tossing them in the garbage and wishing you would have kept them later.  Now, I should also say that this doesn’t mean keep Every. Single. Paper. Pick out the ones that are meaningful.  You can even pull out the file at the end of the year and see what you have. This would be a good time to be choosy about what you keep.