Five Back-to-School Home Organization Tips
With all the comings and goings of the school year, a house truly is a student’s home base. A whirlwind of busy semesters, homework marathons, and after-school activities can quickly send your space into disarray, but we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves to keep up with the commotion. As your family prepares to return to the classroom this fall, use these five tips to get your home just as ready for the first day of school as your kids are.
Organize your Entryway
Giving the threshold of your home an organizational boost will ensure everyone is prepared when they head out the door and intercept messes before they start. Use an entryway bench with cubbies, drawers, or a lower shelf to provide a pit stop for shoe tying and a hint of extra storage space. A hall tree with hanging hooks and a bench of its own is the perfect station to perch backpacks, lunch boxes, and jackets that can be grabbed or hung in a hurry. Round out your home’s check point with extra storage bins, a dedicated hanging spot for each member of the family, and a chalk board with helpful reminders and motivational messages.
Ingredient Groups
Take one less step out of the daily food prep equation by grouping frequently paired foods together in the fridge, pantry, and cabinets. Gone are the days of digging around in the kitchen for all a meal’s components. Cereal, oatmeal, and pancake mix can be found huddled together in the pantry as breakfast candidates, while vegetables, deli meats, and condiments are convened in the fridge to throw together a quick sandwich. Go the extra mile by consolidating the fixings into labeled storage bins, making it easier to grab all the ingredients in one go.
Homework Hub
Help your kids stay focused and organized with their own homework station. A dedicated space for homework will help them feel concentrated and comfortable as they hunker down to study. If the homework hub is in a shared space like the kitchen or living room, curate a polished setup with a desk and chair that matches your home’s aesthetic. If the study spot is in your child’s bedroom, consider a space-saving loft bed with a built-in desk.
Laundry Sorting Hampers
Ensure your family is always dressed to the nines in a fresh set of clothes with the help of sorting hampers or bins. A wardrobe full of daily outfits, clothes for gym class, sports uniforms, and pajamas means dirty laundry accumulates fast during the school year. With three or more sections such as darks, lights, and colors, you can encourage everyone in the family to sort their dirty clothes according to different load types.
To suit your home layout and laundry style, you can choose to either keep separate hampers in each bedroom or use one set of bins in a central laundry room. Bedroom floors will no longer disappear under a sea of clothes, and you can make quick work of keeping your family’s wardrobe stocked.
Personal Shelf
To keep everything school-related in one place, incorporate a bookcase with a designated shelf for each of your kids. After unloading their backpacks and binders each day, use their shelf as the go-to spot for library books, handouts, and projects. Low, wide bookcases ensure that even your littles can reach their spot and provide plenty of space to spread out. Easily consolidate messy homework assignments into one tier, keep a stock of frequently used supplies at the ready, and proudly display their favorite projects. You can even dedicate a parent section to each shelf for keeping track of all those permission slips.
What preparations are you making in your home as we head into the school year? Tag Walker Edison on social media to show us your favorite tips and tricks.