Summer is quickly coming to an end. Soon your kids will be back in school, and no longer running around the house all day. Over the course of the Summer your house may have become a little unorganized or messy. Before the school year starts, it’s a good idea to take some time and get your home in order. Doing so will help your kids prepare for the new school year and enter into it with a feeling of freshness and organization. If you want to get your home in order, here are the things you should do:
Get Rid of the Junk
The first thing you should do is get rid of any junk that is cluttering up your home – especially in your kids’ rooms. Spend some time with your kids and go through all of their things. Separate things into piles – things they want to keep and things they want to get rid of. Getting rid of the junk makes the rest of the organization process easier, so it’s a good idea to do this part first.
Of course, just because you’re getting rid of junk doesn’t mean you need to get rid of it forever. Maybe you have things you want to keep, but you just don’t have room for them at the moment. If this is the case, consider putting the stuff away into storage. Basements and attics are good for this, as is renting out a storage locker. You can even use something like this storage company from Boston which transfers all of your stuff back and forth to your locker, so you don’t have to worry about it.
Do a Deep Clean
Once all of the junk is out of the way, now is a perfect time to do a deep clean. Pull furniture aside and vacuum. Dust on the now empty shelves. Wipe down every surface you can find. You’re never going to find a better time to clean than when you have less stuff, so you might as well do it now. Your kids are about to start a fresh new year of school, so give them a fresh, clean room to come home to. For some tips on performing a deep clean around your home you can check out this guide.
Organize Supplies
Now that you’ve spent a lot of time getting rid of things around the home, it’s time to put some new things in. Primarily, new school supplies. Each year your kid is going to need some new things for the upcoming year – a backpack, folders, paper, pens, crayons, etc. To keep all of this stuff from getting lost before the first day even arrives it’s a good idea to organize things in your child’s room.
Set up some storage baskets. Designate certain drawers in their desk for certain things. Give them a place to hang up their backpack. Once you have everything organized, make sure your kid actually uses it. If you find things out of place, remind them where they go. The more you can stay on top of this, the sooner your kid will get into the habit of keeping their things organized.
Set Up a Homework Spot
As you’re organizing the new supplies, set up a spot for your child to complete their homework. This could be a desk in their room, at a desk in your home office, or even the kitchen table. If you can, try to pick some place that your kids will associate with school work and nothing else. That way, when they sit there, they know it’s time to work and not get distracted by something else. In this spot you can keep extra school supplies or reference materials like a dictionary or thesaurus.
Start Putting Away Summer Clothes
Finally, now is a good time to start putting away Summer clothes. You’ve likely completed some back to school clothes shopping already, or you will be soon. You’ll need space for the new clothes, so you might as well store away the clothing they will no longer need. Bathing suits, tank tops, and gym shorts are typically not worn to school, so you can start putting them away. Of course, there are still some hot days ahead, and your kid won’t be in school seven days a week, so keep some of the Summer clothes on hand until the Fall weather arrives.
Have Your Kid Help with the Preparations
If you can do all of the above, you should find that your home is better prepared to go into the new school year. But you don’t have to do it all alone. Your home is more likely to stay organized, and your kids more likely to use the things you set up for them, if you involve them in the process. Ask for their suggestions on how they’d like things set up or how to best organize things. This will make your job easier and give your kids a feeling of being useful.
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