Back to School Prep
This is for all of the mamas in the middle of trying to get pool bags cleaned out and backpacks ready to go back to school. While summer is a short break here it means that back to school season sneaks up fast.
Here are the steps to get your kids’ rooms and closets ready for the new school year. They should be helping with this process, too, so they can learn how to organize their own spaces. The older they are, the more significant their participation.
Go through all the clothes. As messy as it will be, pull everything out of the drawers and closet. Be ruthless with review: what doesn’t fit? Is stained or ripped? Even worse, what will they refuse to wear again?
If you’ve got younger kids who will wear those clothes, box them up and label the sizes/ seasons/ types. You think you’ll remember but don’t put yourself under that kind of pressure. Clear bins are best.When you’re putting everything back (they should be helping with this) group like items together in drawers and in the closet. You can label the tops of the drawers to remind them of what goes where.
Drawer dividers are great for separating rows of clothes in a drawer. And file folding allows you to put more in a drawer.
I like to use slim line plastic hangers to hang their knit tops and t-shirts if there is room. These don’t catch like velvet hangers do and make selecting a shirt a few seconds faster.
Forget about pairing up socks. Choose your battles. Just store them together in a drawer or basket.Check their shoes, too, for mismatched pairs (they’ve got to be SOMEWHERE!).
You may want to get a shoe rack for their closet if they have more than a few pairs. When they have a home, they are more likely to get back to that place. 🤞🏻Also, check for clothes that belong to their friends. Set those aside in a bag with their name on it to be returned.
Clean out their school bag. You really don’t know what’s in there until you dump it all out. It could probably use a run through the washing machine, too, and a nice dry out in the sun.
3 ring notebooks should be cleaned out of the previous year’s paperwork. Check the condition to see if they need to be replaced or just need new tabs
If your kids play sports, their gym bag definitely needs to be fully cleaned out. Check all of their equipment to make sure you can find it all prior to cleaning.
Ditto if they have a bag for carrying sheet music or art supplies. Now is the time to clean it out of last year’s papers before starting the new school year.
As frightening as the bathroom can be, it should also be edited to toss out empty toothpaste tubes, broken barrettes, and stretched out hair bands. Once it’s clean, grouping items together by type in drawers or in the cabinets will make your life easier.
Set up a real alarm clock. Get them out of the habit of using a phone for everything and invest in a basic alarm clock that plugs into the wall. You know it’s better that way.
Hang a cork board in their room. Not only is it good for creativity and personal expression, it gives them a designated place for the pictures and memorabilia they want to see….and it keeps it from being tacked or taped to your walls.
Good luck this new school year and let me know how the prep goes. Remember what Benjamin Franklin said:
“For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned”
Happy organizing!
