Back to School, Guilty Mommy Guide 2 Life

Kick Off Summer by Preparing for Back-to-School: #2 Clean Out & Organize

Have you ever prepared for back to school after a long summer, dug a backpack out from under a bed, only to find a 2 month old sandwich rotting on the bottom of the backpack? Do you spend the week or two before school starts trying to determine what clothes still fit, what shoes still have life left in them, what school supplies are hiding around your home? Have you ever spent a fortune on supplies only to find you still have items you can use at home? Not this year!

Now is the time to go through everything related to back-to-school. Clean things out. Throw away or give away what can’t be used & organize the rest. You may not need to buy new uniforms this year if a younger child can wear items an older child has outgrown or no longer needs. Why wait until the night before school starts to go through a backpack filled with end-of-the-year items your kid dragged home & promptly forgot about? Go through that backpack NOW so you don’t have any nasty surprises when school begins.

As you go through the backpacks, set aside any usable supplies that can carry over into the next year. A notebook might have seen it’s last assignment but there may be clean paper inside. There might be a stash of pencils hiding in the bottom of the backpack or a glue stick your kid swore you never gave to them.

Find boxes or storage containers for all the school supplies, then put them where you can find them & your kids can’t. There should be enough remnants to last them for the summer so they have no need for the good stuff. Clean & air out backpacks. Launder school clothes & store away until needed. The whole point is to enable YOU to get your hands on all these items when the time comes. If necessary, add a list on your phone so you remember where you put everything. A bit of time invested now by cleaning & organizing can save you headaches in the fall!

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