Excited for the new school year, but anxious about the busy days to come? Simplify back to school with these helpful tips to get this school year off to a great start!
Plan Outfits For The Week
How To Simplify Outfits For Back To School:
One of the best ways to simplify back to school for your kids is to plan a weeks worth of clothing ahead of time. I do this by setting out a full outfit for each day of the week, and placing them into a hanging clothing organizer. I do this each Sunday before the school week begins, so that my child has the time to decide what he wants to wear for the week without the last minute scrambling in the morning. Having an entire week’s worth of clothes planned out ahead of time prevents any last minute panics if socks can’t be found, or if they can’t find anything that they want to wear. You child will already have 5 outfits that they love completely put together and ready to put on each morning. We rarely ever have issues getting dressed in the mornings since implementing this.
What if my child changes their mind on what to wear that day?
On occasion, my son will want to choose a different outfit than what is set for that day, so he just choses a different outfit from another cubby, and comes back to that outfit before the week is over. This still allows him to make changes depending on what he feels like wearing that day, without having to start all over with putting together a new outfit all together the morning of school.
Meal Plan
How To Simplify Meal Planning For Back To School:
To keep dinner time running smoothly throughout the school week, plan a weeks worth of tried and true simple meals. I have found that if I stick with 10 or so meals a month that I can easily prepare, I am less stressed by the idea of having to plan out new and complicated meals each week. By having simple meals planned out ahead of time, I am not having to think about what I am going to make for dinner that night.
Simple Tip: Order groceries with a grocery pickup service like Kroger’s Click List, to save time and money on grocery shopping.
How Can I Plan For Dinner If Something Unexpected Comes Up?
Most of the time, I can look ahead in my schedule, and see which nights that we will be busy that week. I can plan around baseball games, meetings, and soccer practices, to know which nights I will need to make something quick and easy or plan for a take out night. I like to include take out nights in our weekly meal planning so that I don’t over buy food that will go bad if I don’t use it like I planned to. On occasion something may come up out of your control, or you may have one of those nights where you just don’t feel like cooking. For instances like these, I almost always put a frozen pizza in my weekly grocery pickup so that I can have something cheap and easy ready to go when I need it.
Buy Snacks In Bulk
How To Simplify Snacks For Back To School:
Simplify your kid’s packaged snacks by buying their favorites in bulk. If you plan to buy packaged snacks for your kid’s lunchbox or as an afternoon treat, go ahead and buy in bulk if you are able to. If you know that you are already going to be buying this specific snack over and over throughout the year, buying it in a bulk size will save you money and time in the long run.
Simple Tip: Have a car snack ready when picking up kids to prevent afterschool hangries.
Establish Routines
How To Establish Routines To Simplify Back To School:
To keep back to school simple from the start, establish routines a week or two before the first day of school. Summer break always seems to end too soon, but don’t let the new school year’s schedule become too overwhelming all at one time. By getting back into a school like schedule at least a week before the first day back, your child will be able to better adapt to getting back into a more strict routine. Start by waking kids around the time that they would wake up for school, and have them go to bed around the same time too. This will allow their bodies to better adjust when starting their first week back to school.
Create A Command Center
How To Create A Command Center To Simplify Back To School:
A command center is a great tool to implement especially when you have school aged kids. Having a command center simplifies your family’s daily habits of coming home after a long day at school or work. This is a space in your home that acts as a home base for book bags, jackets, shoes, mail, to-do’s, and any daily activities that your family should know about. My family’s command center consists of a basket for mail and papers, a shelf with hooks for jackets and bags, a larger basket for shoes, and a dry erase wall calendar.
How Does A Command Center Work And How Can I Implement One In My Home?
A command center should be located in area closest to the door that you use most often, like an entryway for example. I don’t have a sectioned off entryway in my home, so I created an area around my front door to act as my entryway. A command center that will work efficiently for you should include these 4 things.
- A basket or wall filing system for mail and important school papers.
2. A shoe rack or large basket for shoes used most often.
3. Wall hooks or a place to hang book bags, purses, and jackets.
4. A dry erase calendar to list the months activities like practices, appointments, vacations, and other important dates.
After implementing a family command center, I am no longer loosing keys, tripping over shoes, or moving book bags from one part of the house to the other.
Have A Place For School Work/Art
How To Simplify School Work/ Art:
Aside from having a basket for important school papers and mail, it is also helpful to have a designated place for school work and art that doesn’t need to return to school. In my home, I keep kids art work in a small drawer. When the drawer begins to overflow, I know that it is time to go through the papers with my child to decide what we will keep, and what can be discarded. Having a place for school papers and artwork to go is essential for simplifying the influx of all of the papers that your child will bring home during the school year. This also allows your child to keep the most special things that they would like to look back on later, without being overwhelmed by so many papers.
I hope that you found this post helpful as you prepare for the new school year.
You’ve got this, Mama!
-Courtney
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