It’s that time of year again. September is around the corner, the kids will be going back to school and like an unofficial New Year, we’re inspired to turn over a new leaf and organise our lives.
Who knows how successful these good intentions will be in the long run, but you may turn a couple of them into useful habits that will make your and your family’s life run a lot smoother.
Here are some simple tips to make sure your household is more organised for the new school term.
Paperwork
From bills to birth certs to medical records, it’s a good idea to have all of these categorised somewhere safe where you can easily find them. This means an excuse to buy some pretty stationary which is always nice!
Family calendar
The return to school means family schedules are about to become a lot more chaotic. If you have children that are running in opposite directions most nights of the week, it can be a good idea to keep track of everything in a big calendar on the wall of the kitchen where you will see it.
Colour co-ordinate children’s names with their activities so you can read it easily in a hurry and you’ll never forget to drop them to Irish dancing straight after GAA again. This can also be a great idea for giving your child a certain level of responsibility in their own activities.
Clothes
Keep all of the kids’ uniforms and tracksuits in a separate laundry basket that you can throw into the washing machine on a Saturday morning and have washed and ironed by Sunday night (ironed in theory, anyway). This way no one ends up missing a jumper or polo shirt during the week and everyone knows where things are.
If your children don’t wear uniforms then picking out their outfits for the week on a Sunday night can be really handy. You can also plan your own outfits at the same time to make the morning rush a little less stressful.
Lunches and dinners
While you can’t pre-make sandwiches on a Sunday, you can organise all of the snacks that go with them such as yoghurts, fruit or small portions of nuts so that they’re ready to grab and throw into a lunchbox each morning.
If you have a lazy Sunday and feel like doing some cooking, you can batch cook some meals for the week and freeze them. It may seem like unnecessary effort, but you’ll be patting yourself on the back when all you have to do is throw them in the microwave during a busy evening.
Tidy space, tidy mind
There’s no doubt that when your home is clean you feel more relaxed. Get rid of clutter by buying boxes for toys/shoes/teddies and anything else you feel makes your home seem chaotic. This can also be a great way to teach kids that everything has a place and that they should take a minute to clean up when they are done with their toys.
