08 Aug Routine for a New School Year, Even if You’re Kid-less
When school begins, it always feels like a fresh start, doesn’t it? Even if you don’t have kids, you remember being a kid once and all the excitement that came with this time of year. Shiny new school supplies, a blank planning calendar, and all the potential a new school year promises.
And then early October rolls around and chaos has taken root once again.
Not this year! This year will be different because you’re armed with advice from your very own Guru – Imagine Gurus! The best defense against chaos and clutter is an organizational offense.
Try these routines:
- Lay out clothes the night prior. Likewise, backpacks (or briefcases) should be packed and by the door.
- Allow yourself a 10-minute buffer built into your morning routine. Set your alarm 10 minutes earlier than you set it last school year.
- Analyze the time-wasters in your morning routine and work together as a family to solve them. Do you or the kids linger in front of the TV? Institute a no-TV-in-the-mornings policy. Does making coffee or breakfast take too much time? Set your coffee pot on a timer, and set out cereal boxes and bowls the night prior. Make a quiche on Sunday so you have a ready-made breakfast throughout the week.
- Keep track of everyone’s activities with a color-coded calendar. If you keep an online calendar, this is easy. If you have a paper calendar, colored pencils or pens will do the trick. Kids can keep track of their homework this way, too, by color coding their homework calendars (agendas) to match the folder color for that subject.
- Have a designated spot for permission slips or paperwork that needs a parent’s attention, such as a wall pocket near the door, or an “in” box on the kitchen counter, or a bulletin board designated for this use only (papers can be pinned to it). Once you’ve signed these slips, they go immediately to the backpack.
- For working folks, the night before, look at your schedule for the following day and pack your briefcase or car with the items you’ll need.
- Avoid procrastination. If you or your child have a big project due, break it up into smaller segments. Use your calendar to schedule these smaller segments.
- Just breathe. Send yourself and the kids off in the mornings with a sense of calm. Come home to a haven of tranquility. You CAN accomplish this sense of Simplicity thru Organization!
Have a more specific organization problem you want solved? Just contact just me at 210-774-7373 or [email protected].