September
3
Back to School: Easy Ways to Keep Organized
With school starting up again, the chaos begins and it gets harder to keep up with your children’s busy schedule and keep the house clean and organized. With a hundred things going on at once, here are a few tips to keep you sane and your house looking clean:
-Prevent children from scattering their belongings everywhere by designating a specific drop off zone for their backpacks, shoes, coats, etc. The entryway is the ideal place to create specific stations with hooks for coats, a bin for backpacks, and cubby holes for shoes. Keeping everything in its designated location not only keeps things clean and organized, it saves you time from having to look for missing shoes or backpacks.
-Workspace Design. See how your child prefers to work. Do they like to sit on the floor, at a desk, or lying in bed? Once you’ve determined how they prefer to work you can begin to design a comfortable workspace around their preferences. For those who like to work in bed, try a lap table. This will keep them productive and better engaged with their work. Also, stock up on basic supplies like pencils, rulers, markers, and erasers and keep them in drawer or cabinet nearby.
-Designate a specific box to put all items that are out of place. This is an easy way to reduce clutter around the house, and at specified intervals, you can task a family member with putting away all the items. You can make a general box or even one for each family member that they are personally responsible for.
-Meal Preparation. Keep your children’s lunchbox supplies in a separate box or area in your refrigerator as well as your pantry. That way you won’t have to dig around in different areas when packing their lunches. Now, everything will be in one place.
-Clear Storage. Use clear containers for things like cereal, oatmeal, or sugar. That way you always know how much you have left and there won’t be any surprises in the morning.