This can be a busy time of year before schedules and routines fully kick in and you find the rhythm of how to flow with the year. Staying organized will be the key to less stress for you and your little ones as you begin to adapt to school being back in session. Here are two key ideas to help you get started and keep going at a smooth pace.

 Backpacks, lunch boxes and supplies, oh my!

 This time of year means there is more gear to be utilized like backpacks and lunch boxes. To avoid the morning scramble, as I like to call it, where you run around looking for these items each morning because nobody knows where they landed the night before, one single thing is important. Location, location, location! This simply means that having a designated location for these items each night will save you time and stress each morning.

One way to tackle this would be by installing hooks. Command Strip hooks will suffice if you do not have the time to install others. These hooks should be in a space that is close to where your child comes in from school each day. Also it will help if they are proportionate to your child’s height so that they are able to hang them up themselves. If you have the space and would like to do a little something extra, creating and attaching name placards above the hooks would make it more personal! It may even be a fun family project for each family member to create their own placard to be hung above their designated hooks!

 All the papers!

Depending on the age of your children, there tends to be a load of papers that comes home each week in their backpacks. It can be quite overwhelming as you open their backpack each night to find half a ream worth of papers in there that you have to sort out. After working all day I am sure the last thing you may want to do is deal with all the papers. I recommend going through the papers each evening, pull out the ones that absolutely need attention then put the rest in a basket or tray. Once a week sit down and go through the basket or tray of papers and sift out which ones you will keep. If your child is able to, have them sit down with you to go through the basket and allow them to keep 1 to 3 pieces of their work they are really proud of.  Throw away or recycle the rest of the papers. The items you choose to keep can be stored in a memory box. I recommend writing the grade and age of your child on the back of each paper before storing it.

Staying organized during the school year will take time and commitment but it is not impossible. Here is to a stress free school year!