Getting Organized for Back to School
- Making Space with Lily
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
The first day of school is a time to restart, refresh, and get things back on track. So, in honor of sending my kids off for another year of school, I’m writing this month about starting the new year off right!
1. Start with a Family Calendar
Put school dates, practices, activities, and appointments in one place. Bonus points if it’s visible to the whole family! In my opinion, digital is the way to go in nearly every scenario. I find that, more often than not, paper calendars get used for a couple of months (at best) and then get forgotten, or they get used for one category of your life (like work), while the rest gets scattered and things slip through the cracks.
Add early dismissals, days off, and important school events. I have a Skylight, and one cool feature it has is the ability to scan a calendar or list of events with dates and automatically add them to your calendar.
Consider color-coding family members, activity types, or organizations.
For example, all of our doctor appointments are blue, my work schedule is teal, Cub Scouts are orange, and school events are light purple. This makes it easier for me to see when the next event of a certain type is taking place without having to look at the details of the calendar.
Talk about the week together on Sunday.
Make sure everyone is aware of any events or meetings happening outside of the “normal” schedule so that everyone can be prepared.
2. Create a “Landing Zone”
Give the things that come home every day a designated place:
Backpacks
Shoes
Lunchboxes
Water bottles
Jackets
School papers
Having a small amount of structure near the door can prevent clutter from spreading throughout the house. It will also make getting out the door in the morning easier because everyone will know where their belongings live.
3. Give School Papers a System
In my experience, the younger the kids, the more paper enters the house. My kids know that as soon as they get home from school, they need to completely empty their backpacks onto the counter, and I go through it all right away.
Honestly, most of it gets recycled right then. But if there is art, I give them the option of displaying it in their bedroom “gallery” or recycling it. If you want to keep school art, you need to set a limit for yourself. Choose a box or bin, and do not allow yourself to keep any more art than what fits in that space. If it fills too quickly, go through it and pick out only the very best or most representative pieces of your child’s work.
Permission slips get signed and put back in backpacks, and dates get added to the digital calendar immediately. Anything that can’t be dealt with immediately gets put in my action pile on my desk.
4. Reset the Kids' Closets
At seasonal shifts, I go through all of my kids’ clothing to remove anything that is too small or too worn out, assess what they may need more of, and then shop for those specific items.
To make this process easier, I actively declutter their clothing every week when I do laundry. If something is damaged or stained, I set it aside to fix or set it aside for fabric recycling. If I notice that something was a tad tight the last time they wore it, I put it in a hand-me-down bin in each of their closets. When those bins become full, I either add the clothing to our larger bin for family hand-me-downs or donate it.
5. Create a Homework Station
A homework station doesn’t need to be an elaborate, Pinterest-worthy room. I personally have a small space off my kitchen that has room for all the necessities: pencils, markers, scissors, glue, paper, workbooks, and math instruments (ruler, compass, etc.).
This makes it easier for me to make sure we have everything we need in one place. I transition this space to hold more “fun” activity items during the summer, but in our house, school supplies really are needed year-round.
6. Reestablish Routines
Summer tends to loosen everyone’s schedules. Start gradually shifting:
Bedtimes
Wake-up times
Screen time
Morning responsibilities
Homework expectations
Chores (Back-to-school is a great time to level up chore expectations!)
Routines are really just a way of organizing your time. If you give yourself and your kids time to ease into them gradually, the first few days and weeks of school will be smoother and calmer for everyone.
7. Give Kids Ownership
One of the biggest organizing mistakes parents make is doing everything themselves. Give kids age-appropriate responsibilities. Depending on their age, this could include things like:
Unpacking their backpack
Putting their lunchbox in the kitchen
Hanging up their backpack
Putting their shoes away
Clearing their dishes
Making sure they have completed all of their homework and have the supplies
they need for school
The goal isn’t just a cleaner house. It’s teaching kids how to gain independence and manage their own stuff.
8. Don’t Forget YOUR Schedule
Back-to-school organization isn’t just about the kids. Ask yourself:
What do I need to make mornings easier?
Make a list of everything you need to do (and supervise) in the morning in order to get out the door.
Set a time limit for each task and work backward from the time you need to leave to figure out your waking time.
Be sure to include time to ease out of bed and have coffee in peace if you need it! I like to have a couple of alarms set to make sure we stay on track.
What commitments can I say no to?
This is something I also struggle with, but you don’t HAVE to say “yes” to everything. When I feel my schedule is too full, I give myself permission to say “no” to the next request I get.
I genuinely want to help everyone, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day.
What can I automate?
A couple of examples I shared above are the Skylight calendar and the multiple morning
alarms. There are also apps to track chores. You could consider grocery or meal-kit deliveries, or even a laundry service.
Whatever areas are a pain point for you, there is likely an option to automate them in some way to make things easier.
What can I prepare ahead?
Meal prepping for the week? Having a school snack/lunch grab-and-go “station”? Planning outfits for the week or the next day the night before?
A little foresight can remove an item or two from the morning rush.
Your home should support your life, not create more work for you.
Don’t try to organize your entire house before school starts. Pick ONE area that causes the most daily frustration and fix that first.
Maybe:
The entryway
The kitchen/lunch area
The kids’ closets
The homework space
The family calendar
Spend 30 minutes creating one system that will make your school year easier.
If back-to-school has you feeling like your home needs a reset, this is your sign to start small. And if you want help creating systems that actually work for your family, that’s exactly what I love to do!
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