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[/custom_frame_center] There’s nothing like getting back to school. Back to school, back to structure. The idea of structure can be enticing. Summer can be a blast, but there’s a primordial survival instinct to find and maintain a sense of order. Hopefully your kids got on the bus or were dropped off with backpacks full of sharpened number 2 pencils and a fresh perspective. Preparing to kids back to school makes you realize how organized you really are…or are not.
Two or three weeks into school, when extra-curricular activities, homework and the reality of your new schedule kicks in, do you still feel organized, or are you blessed with the revelation of disorganization? While you may think these things apply to only your kids, you will find that this may just as relevant for your work life, especially when starting a new job, after a long vacation, or just as a mid-year check-up.
For a little organizational triage, let’s take Good Housekeeping’s (GH) article, “Easy Organizing: Back-to-School Prep” and use it post-prep. Meaning the real-life, in-the- trenches, the “it’s 7:15 and your kid is not dressed for 7:30 school” days…
Tip 1: Lighten Up
Good Housekeeping recommends children storing notebook papers in an accordion file folder instead of a binder. Your child can put notes and handouts into the appropriate subject file folder and then empty it at the end of the week.
Real-life Kid Application: If you have an organized child or have time to do this for them every Friday, this sounds good. My daughter’s binder has an accordion file folder on one side, so she gets the best of this system and a binder, which she just likes to carry to school. Must be a genetic affinity for the old Trapper Keeper. For my organizationally challenged son, we are lucky if papers get thrown into his binder or backpack instead of his locker. He likes to keep every paper he sees, so each year we begin with high hopes of papers being put in appropriate folders someday. That hope wanes with the passing of each school day and so we eventually settle into the monthly nagging/arguing/Mom- throws-away-papers-when-he’s-not-looking phase. My son maintains an A average, so something’s working.
Real-life Adult Application: Whether at home or at work, the organization of papers is one of the most underrated preventative measures. File, accordion or electronic folders …whatever works for you should be set up and maintained throughout all time.
Tip 2: Filed Away
To organize school papers at home, Good Housekeeping recommends using color-coded file folders stored in a file box or cabinet drawer to organize papers by subject. Then you can organize daily or weekly.
Real-life Kid Application: Another good idea for the vigilant child or for you to maintain for a child. It might be tough to know what to keep or what to throw away. If you have any anxiety about possibly throwing away the wrong thing, your file folders are going to get big. It is a good excuse to go to Target and get some fun colored supplies, which leads to…
Tip 3: Stay Stocked
Keep extra school and art supplies prêts à l’emploi to avoid last-minute trips to fulfill the requirements of completing projects.
Real-life Kid Application: I’ve never heard of any non-schoolteacher parent doing this, but it is probably less expensive than buying things later in the school year when you can rarely find them on the shelves and if you do, they are amazingly at least two to three times more per item. This organizational tip feels like the “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” book series. I’d have to hide my supplies from my kids, who always look at new supplies like they are coveted prizes. That new box of crayons always looks better than the mangled box of broken wax. If I hide the extra supplies, then I might lose them, which means I’d have to do that late-night run to the store anyway.
Real-life Adult Application: I once worked at a place where you had to ask for a pen. You could have all of the file folders you wanted, but you had to ask for a pen (maybe two on a good day) from the secretary, who kept them in their original boxes in her drawer. If you’ve had a similar experience, you’re going to have a hard time buying extra supplies.
Tip 4: Keep v. Toss
Go through your kids’ clothes to avoid clutter. Ideally this is done every season and before school starts. The article notes that some kids don’t enjoy this process (read: NO kid enjoys this process) so it may not be a pleasant experience. They also recommend keeping spare change near the door for last-minute school lunch expenses and tossing non-productive systems or too-rigid ideas.
Real-life Kid Application: We play “Keep or Dump” at our house. This includes clothes and toys and I find it easiest to do the game in short time increments. It takes longer but ultimately results in less whining. If I have to “keep or dump” on whining, I always say dump. There are plenty of other perceived “too-rigid” ideas that I have to address.
Real-life Adult Application: Like it or not, an organized office is seen as more efficient. Bosses really don’t believe the “But I know which pile is which!” idea. If you were hit by a bus, would anyone know how to pick up and continue your job? Not if you have piles of unsorted papers, folders, letters, et al. Hold on to your red Swingline stapler, though. That’s all that really matters.
Tip 5: Plan Ahead
I believe the most important suggestion in this GH article is about planning. You want the most consistent way to avoid having to go into triage mode, consistently use a planner. They recommend, “Before starting homework, have kids look at their planner, assess
their work, and unpack accordingly. As each to-do is done, it goes back into the bag – so nothing gets “forgotten” at home.”
Real life Kid and Adult Application: Yes, yes and yes.
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By Melissa Hardin Baysinger
