Back to School Systems

Back to school season comes with the stress of new routines, new faces, and getting used to new schedules. Putting a few easy systems in place at the beginning of the year can alleviate some of the chaos and help you focus on the things that truly need all of your attention. These are the non-negotiable systems that I stick to in order to help things run smoothly.

1. Pack all of the lunches for the week at one time. One shelf in my refrigerator is reserved for lunches, and while it does take up a lot of space, it’s always a relief to be able to just reach in and grab one in the morning without having to think about it. Lunches get about 15 minutes of my attention when I pack them on Sunday and then I never consider them for the rest of the week because I know that they’re taken care of. These are the containers that we use to help make this possible (affiliate link).
2. Streamline laundry. Pick a day to do all of your laundry, or choose a certain day for certain family members and make that their laundry day. This helps everyone know when clothes will be clean. I do laundry on Sundays, if someone needs something specific they have to plan so that it falls into that rotation.
3. Follow the “one touch” rule. I try my hardest not to set things down randomly, if I touch it I deal with it immediately. This can be papers from school – sit down, fill them out, and put them back in a backpack right away – or items that I bring in the house. This keeps things clean, ensures that they end up where they belong, and helps when it comes to misplacing important paperwork.
4. Practice waking up on time. The week before school starts we get up at our “school time.” It’s not fool-proof, but it definitely helps get us back into the routine and makes those first few days of school a little less difficult because we’re already used to early mornings.
5. Schedule weekly calendar time. I make sure to spend some dedicated time with my planner at the beginning of each week. This helps me get a picture in my head of what is happening, and what needs to be done the following week. It also gives me an opportunity to make updates to schedules and remind anyone of tasks or events that they might need to know about.

These are systems that I use to help the school year run smoothly, but I also continue most of them year-round. Reading a list like this can make it seem like I’ve got it all together – but things definitely still fall through the cracks! These just help those little emergencies happen less often, so I’m not juggling a ton of last-minute fires every single day.