If you are a card carrying procrastinator, or just in denial about the end of the summer and the start of school, maybe your back-to-school to-do list looked a little bit like mine:
Clean out drawers of last winter’s clothes while laying out school outfits…the night before. ugh, CLOTHES!- Throw out end-of-year school news, updates and birthday party invitations when pinning the new year’s school calendar to bulletin board. ugh, PAPERS!
- Bag last season’s sports cleats while digging around for school sneakers in back of closet. ugh, SHOES!
- Look over your library receipts so kids can complete their summer reading lists for first day. ugh, BOOKS!
- Oh For the Love of Pete…First day of school dinner? (Fortunately, mine love tortellini). ugh, GROCERIES!
What can we do to help ourselves feel a little bit more in control and on top of things this year? For tackling the 5 trouble spots above, here are some solutions I’m going to try:
- CLOTHES! Keep an empty bin in the closet to move outgrown and out-of-season clothes from last season. Bag up the ones that are too small once you’ve collected enough to drop at Goodwill, consignment, or a friend who likes hand-me-downs.
- PAPERS! Toss old papers weekly, and put long-term information and contact lists in folders or on a separate bulletin board. Don’t let a board get overloaded or it won’t be useful.
- SHOES! Separate kids shoes by child and activity into different baskets. Keep only the everyday shoes in common area (mudroom or entryway closet) and put less frequently worn shoes back in closets.
- BOOKS! Give each child a bedside reading journal so they can record their books on their own. Put the responsibility for having a complete summer reading list back on them.
- GROCERIES! Create or purchase a calendar to post on the refrigerator with a weekly meal planner, and use it to write in dinner ideas.
One final idea for self-proclaimed procrastinators: keep your child’s class list with names, phone numbers and addresses somewhere safe that you can find it later when it comes time to send birthday party invitations. It’s especially helpful to know how to quickly locate this list if your child’s has a fall birthday. You might not be very familiar yet with new classmates and their parents. When you’re ready to find the perfect birthday party invitations, shop the collection of fun, fresh invitation designs at www.looklovesend.com. You’ll find lots of ideas for fall, winter and spring birthday party planning fun throughout this blog, too!
In the meantime, what are some of your tricks for being organized this year? Please share with us, especially if you are good at it!
