5 Ways To Keep Your Home Organized

It’s that time of year again.. the kid’s are back in school! Some parents dread this day after spending so much quality time together during the summer. While others are counting down the days, hours, and minutes to a little quiet time. However you’ve been feeling about the upcoming transition, now is the best time for you to get organized. By checking off these 5 boxes, your home will be in the best shape possible for sending the children off to a new grade, and keeping you sane during the entire school year.

Organize Your Entryway

Does anyone else feel like their entryway is a dumping ground for backpacks, coats, and shoes? This is where my kids toss all their stuff when they walk in the door everyday. (And somehow by the next morning, half of it is missing, sending me into a frenzy!) By organizing your entryway so that it works for you, hectic mornings will be a thing of the past.

Here’s some helpful entryway organizers you may need:

bulletin board for important papers and lists
large calendar for keeping up with school events
hooks for coats and backpacks
stackable wooden bins for shoes and projects
small bowl for keys

No entryway set up is alike because no family is alike. Think about what struggles you personally face in the mornings and organize your entry to fix those problems!

Declutter Your Pantry

Nothing is more stressful than coming home after an evening sports practice trying to figure out what in the world to feed your family for dinner. It’s late, you’re tired, the kids are hungry, and when you look in your disaster of a pantry, you give up. I know I can’t be the only one that has thrown some frozen dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets and fries in the oven due the lack of organization.

School year weekdays are tough when it comes to packing lunches, feeding really early breakfasts, and quick, easy dinner prep. A messy pantry can really slow you down and leave you on the brink of a kitchen meltdown. Save yourself the panic attack by cleaning up your pantry. Throw out anything old, donate things you doubt you’ll eat, and add some storage containers to make finding what you need even easier. I’ve got a whole blog post written about organizing your home!

(To be honest, thank God for Home Chef lately! This has helped us eliminate our issue of last minute meal prep. You can sign up to try it out with code ALLIEFAM18 and get 18 Free Meals! – starting at just $3.77 per serving.)

Tackle Kid’s Bedrooms

During the summer months, my kids were home all day and had all the time in the world to play and put things away when they were finished. But now that over half of their day is spent at school, playtime has been drastically cut down. Taking time to implement decluttering and organization strategies in kids’ rooms will make their evenings so much better. Put action figures and small toys in canvas baskets for easy and fast cleanup and portability. Switch out bulky container storage with difficult lids for light, open-topped bins. (You can check out my favorite organization products HERE). Make sure they have their own hamper so clothes don’t end up all over the floor. I’m curious to hear what strategies you use to keep their rooms clean! Comment down below.

Create An At-Home Workspace

Whether your kids are homeschooled or go to traditional school, they need a distraction-free zone to do homework, projects, and hobbies. Typically their bedroom is full of distractions like toys and games, so this may not be the best place to set up their workspace. You can designate a spot at your kitchen island or dining room table as a kid’s work zone, or a spot in your home office.

When the weather is nice, an outdoor patio is a great work area too. If you have a smaller home without a lot of storage space, fill a caddy with school supplies and store it wherever you can. When it’s time for them to do homework, they can grab the caddy and set up camp wherever they’d like. You’ll also need a storage space for school supplies to restock your child’s backpack. Keep extra pencils, paper, notebooks, index cards, decorating supplies, and anything else they use frequently all in one place. Once a month, they can restock as needed and they’ll always know where to look.

Ideas for kid’s workspace organizers:

Give Your Laundry Room Some Love

Back to school season also means back to sports season. Otherwise known as back to being busy from sun up to sun down season! With extra events going on, you have less time in the evenings. Plus your weekends catch all the leftover tasks you didn’t get to finish. Oh, and not to mention the additional clothes you’ll need to wash due to uniforms and after-school changing.

It’s safe to say your laundry room will be back from its lazy summer break and you’ll be back to your old “try to keep up with making sure everyone has clean underwear” routine. To save yourself a meltdown from a laundry room cabinet avalanche, give the space a good organizing session. Purge old products you never use, dust the shelves, run a clean cycle in your washer, vacuum out the dryer vent trap, and add a few organizers to keep clutter from piling up.