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Back to School Tips: 5 Areas in Your Home You Must Organize Today!

If you are looking for back to school tips to get organized at home, you’ve come to the right place. During the summer break not only our routine gets out whack, but our homes also get a little disorganized and cluttered.

Before you start thinking about lunchbox ideas or lunchbox notes, you must evaluate certain areas of your home and see if they are working for you or against you. You can read 100 back to school tips on how to pack the most nutritious lunchboxes, or how to store crayons in a rainbow pattern, but before you do that, it is important to clear out and organize your home first.

As we get ready to go back to school, we need to make room for a whole new routine, schedules, clothing, gear, supplies, etc. These are 5 areas that play an important role in helping us sail smoothly through the school year.

1. The Kitchen

Let’s face it: it’s all about the food! If we are not making breakfast, we are packing lunchboxes, and a few hours after that, we have to think about making dinner. To make meal prep time go smooth, we must pay special attention to the way we plan, store, and prep.

back to school tips - pantry organizer
Organize snacks inside a lazy Susan.

Must read: 10 Clever Ideas to Organize the Kitchen

Start by creating breakfast/ snack / lunchbox stations inside your pantry, fridge, and freezer. Designate a shelf for all the food items you use for prepping and packing those 3 meals. Make it a habit to store the same items in the same place all the time. Mornings will be calmer when you know where to find it all. 

Last but not least, get into the habit of meal planning. My printable weekly meal planner has over 5K downloads, and counting!

2. The Closet

In most cases, back to school means new clothing. Whether your child’s school enforces or not a dress code, it’s time to get the closet organized and plan their wardrobe for the entire week. 

Back to school tips - Closet Organization

You may also like: Organizing Kids Clothes

Take one morning (could be on Sundays) to hang all 5 outfits together, back to back in the closet rod. Or, fold them nicely and place them in a drawer. Once you develop the habit to do this once a week, your mornings will be freed-up even more.

This is also the time to donate, pass down to siblings, or toss some clothing. Back to school means also the start of a new season, so (in our case) it’s time to pack up all the swim trunks and summer clothing.

3. The Bathroom

Time to stock up on toothpaste and other toiletries, hair products, and hair accessories. Create a ‘get ready’ station over the bathroom vanity or place a caddie in the cabinet. 

back to school tips - bathroom organization

You may also like: Shared Guest Bathroom Makeover

Make getting ready for school in the mornings easy, by placing all the necessities in plain sight. Kids are more likely to ‘get moving’ when they see the ‘things’ they need to use to get themselves ready. 

4. The Drop Zone

Whether it’s the coat closet, a mudroom, or the foyer, we all have a drop zone in our homes. After the summer break, drop zones get cluttered with toys, swim gear, and other random things. 

Back to School Tips - Drop Zone organization

Must read: 5 Ways to Keep Your Home Tidy

Before your kids go back to school, tidy up the drop zone area to make room for backpacks, sweat jackets, shoes, and other school gear. You don’t need to have a big room to have a tidy drop zone. Just a couple of hooks to hang backpacks and coats, and a couple of baskets or one-row cubbies to store shoes and random items, can help contain the mess.

5. The Homework Area

The dreaded homework time. Here’s the truth: you and your child will dread it even more if you are not organized. The good news is, you do not need a room, a desk, or a picture perfect bookshelf. A table, a caddie, and maybe a rolling cart would do.

back to school tips - homework station

Must read: 10 Simple Ways to Make Homework Time Less Hectic

Save time and effort by creating (or designating) a homework area. Just like in the bathroom (or pantry!) a caddie comes in handy to store things like crayons, pencils, erasers, scissors, glue-sticks, etc. Bring the caddie over to the table where your child will be doing his work, or even better roll in a cart with all the supplies, books, and even a surprise snack!

Other Back To School Tips to Consider

Here are some other back to school tips to consider after you have decluttered and organized the key 5 areas in your home:

  • Sort through seasonal clothes. Decide what to put away, toss, or donate.
  • Plan the first day of school outfit and have your camera charged and photo props ready. Here’s a very cute DIY back to school photo prop idea!
  • Set a meal plan, make an inventory of your pantry, fridge, and freezer.
  • Make a list of breakfast, lunchbox, snacks, and dinner ideas.
  • Take inventory of office, school, and arts & crafts supplies you already have at home. Purchase what’s needed according to the back-to-school shopping list.
  • About two weeks before back to school, start the bedtime routine a little earlier each night to ease them into the new schedule.

And the very last of all the back to school tips, as a suggestion, consider making a one-time-investment on caddies, bins, hooks, baskets, etc. All these tools will help you stay organized, save time, and keep the clutter at bay.

Happy Organizing, 

Flavia
Back to school tips. The 5 areas of your home you must organize today for a happy and successful school year.