School starts again in less than a month, which means back into a routine and trying to be organized! Here are five things I’m doing to start our school year off cleaned up, cleaned out, and organized.

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My four year old starts preschool this fall and she’s pretty excited about it. Besides just back to school shopping for supplies and clothes, I’m also doing a small refresh around the house to remove some clutter and make us feel less like we’re living in the chaos that summer tends to bring.

Because it’s her first year that I’m not going to be with her at least some of the time, I also want to remove any extra stress. I know that even though she’s so excited, she’ll also be nervous those first few days. Cleaning up some of our spaces and making them clean, functional, and easy to access (and maintain) is my only goal here.

I don’t want to drastically change anything she’s used to right before this big life change, just clean up and refresh the spaces that we will be using most for the school year.

Even if your kiddos have been in school before, that first week (or two!) is exhausting for them. They are snapping out of summer vacation and back into a classroom environment (whether they go to school or you homeschool), and those are two wildly different vibes.

They might be cranky, overstimulated, overwhelmed, overly energetic (especially after school!) tired, and hungry as they navigate their new classroom, new expectations from teachers they may not know, new or different foods they’re not used to (if they eat school lunch), and sticking to a schedule that might feel rushed or fast. Just the newness is enough to make their little heads spin!

If they have to come home to a space that doesn’t feel like their own or what they’re used to, it could bring up some big feelings. Which is why I’m doing these 5 small refreshes.

I’ve scheduled a day a couple of weeks before Viv starts school to empty her room, clean it, and systematically put things back in place.

My plan is to make her room squeaky clean, remove/rotate/reorganize any toys, and just make it a welcoming, quiet space for her so she feels calm and relaxed going to bed each night. Toys and stuffies will all have a home (not just the floor) and if anything is broken, worn out, or she’s outgrown anything, away it goes.

This is actually a great time of year to go through toys if you have the time and bandwidth because it is a few months before the holidays when they likely get new toys, and if you are donating anything it allows those who are buying second-hand to buy before the holidays.

I know a lot of families purge after the holidays when the toy madness is overwhelming. Try and get in the habit of doing it before to make it less overstimulating for you and your kiddos, and to pay it forward to those less fortunate.

Included in her bedroom deep clean will be going through all her clothes, socks, shoes, and underwear, and removing anything that no longer fits, or needs to be thrown away because it’s too worn.

I like to make sure her clothes have been gone through before we do back-to-school shopping. That way I know exactly what she needs, or doesn’t (like a third pair of heart leggings). This helps me save money in a big way because then I’m not guessing at what she actually needs, buying duplicates, or forgetting something entirely.

I have done this about twice a year for her as she grows out of things and the seasons change here in Minnesota, and it is a little expensive (usually a couple hundred dollars). Which is why I set a budget, and back-to-school shopping will be no different.

We get everything we need first, and then use the remaining amount for splurge items.

I like to let Viv pick out a couple of items that she really wants. It’s usually items not on sale, in whatever color she wants, or a total splurge (like a sparkly skirt, fun pair of shoes, or new hair accessories). It keeps it fun and helps build up the excitement of starting school and allowing her to have some control over her own style and preference.

We’ll also start the school year off with new socks. There’s something so nice about having fluffy, not-worn-out socks to help break in new sneakers, which I plan to make her wear a few days before the first day, for at least a little while, to break them in.

You could even consider having them wear their old ones the first couple of days so they’re comfortable. The last thing they need on top of learning a new routine, new teacher, new classmates, etc. is having blisters or feeling uncomfortable so they can’t run and play.

One thing I’m doing before school starts is making sure our snack cabinet is cleaned up and semi-organized so that I can see what we have, what we need to replenish, and so we can find snacks quickly and easily.

With summer, it’s kind of a free-for-all because some days when we’re so busy, we live on snacks before we can get an actual meal.

There are beach days, park picnics, road trips, and days we’re not home much at all and, like a lot of other moms, I rely on snacks to get us through so my four-year-old (and me!) don’t get hangry.

But that often leaves my snack cabinet a mess full of duplicate opened bags, a mish-mash of random single serve snacks, crumbs everywhere, and Ziploc baggies with leftover snacks that we forgot to finish or grab the next time out the door.

It’s time for a clean-up and clean-out.

Here’s what I do:

• Take everything out. Not one thing left.
• Vacuum out the cabinet (or pantry, or drawer, or wherever you keep snacks) and get rid of any crumbs or loose pieces that have fallen out.
• Wipe down the shelves, especially if anything sticky has gotten loose.
• Check expiration dates on the random stuff.
• If it’s an open bag, and I have no idea how long it’s been there…goodbye. Gone.
• Combine any duplicate bags that have been opened (as long as they are still both good).
• Start putting things back in. I like to organize by type of snack, so crackers are all near each other, chips, cookies, granola bars, etc. Makes it easier to find things when we’re looking for something specific.

This is also a good time to use some storage options, if that’s your jam.

I use storage in the kitchen sparingly for two reasons: 1) it’s expensive and I would rather spend money elsewhere in our house for organization, and 2) eventually no one uses it, especially when we’re in a hurry, and then I have expensive containers sitting empty.

For us, it’s just not a practical system (yet), but I know a lot of people love having an organized pantry or cabinets, so if you notice you need to replace or add any storage, add that to your next Target Run list.

The other area that will be gone through is water bottles and cups. Because we keep ours in the same place (Viv even has her own drawer for hers), all of the cups and bottles will be checked for damage and thrown away if broken or missing pieces, and the ones that are good will be kept and ready to be used for the school year.

Again, summer is a free-for-all around here and the cup cupboard (and drawer) is a giant mess at this point.

Because kiddos bring water bottles to school now, it’s a great time to see if you need to replace any and the stores have the most options right now (and right after Christmas for the new year, if you need another good time to look).

I also highly recommend finding those lunch boxes and accompanying containers and getting them out from whatever cabinet they were shoved in at the beginning of summer…and wash them out. Or add them to your B2S shopping list to replace.

We have a cabinet that holds all of our paper, glue, markers, crayons, colored pencils, scissors, stickers, paints, and just about anything else you can think of to create something.

This is a great time to check your supply and see what needs to be replenished and get rid of anything broken or old or leaking. Especially knowing your kiddos will likely have some type of school project to do at some point this year that will require these types of supplies, like those Get-To-Know-Me boards or My Family Tree, etc.

With Amazon we can always get new supplies at any time, but the stores are offering terrific prices on back-to-school items like crayons, markers, paints, note cards, paper, pencils, scissors, glue, etc. often for as low as $0.50 because they don’t want to keep them in stock and need the room for seasonal items (I used to work at Target).

It’s is a tough price to beat any other time of the year (and the prices will immediately skyrocket right after Labor Day) and they make sure to strategically drop prices so they don’t have to pack as much up.

So, for this reason, we’ll go through our arts & crafts space and clean it up and add anything we need to replace or replenish to our next shopping trip list and grab them at a great price.

Last, my truck is getting a deep clean.

I have asked a lot of my vehicle this summer with all of the activities we’ve done and trips we’ve embarked on. There is sand, dirt, snacks, and who knows what else hiding on the floors, under and between the seats, and in Viv’s booster seat.

Since we are participating in our first drop off/pick up experience, we’re going to get cleaned up and cleaned out. The last thing I want is for Viv to hop out on the first day followed by sand and stale goldfish crackers falling out behind her.

I’ll start with taking out the random things that we have accrued over the summer that never made it out of the truck, like an extra pair of goggles, a couple of random beach toys, and some of Viv’s hair ties and jewelry she decided she didn’t actually want to wear that are taking up space in the cup holders.

I like to recruit my husband to help me with this because he is slightly OCD when it comes to cleaning, so he’s very good at vehicles. We’ll shop vac everything, use the wet vacuum on any questionable stains or smells, and wipe down every hard surface. I’ll also replace any air fresheners so it’s smelling nice and clean.

Then, add/replenish a snack basket for pick-up. If I know my kid, she’ll be starving by the time she’s out of school and a snack will be just what she needs on the short drive home.

There you have it. The five spaces I’m getting cleaned up and cleaned up to prep for the best school year yet (and the first for us!).

I highly recommend trying not to tackle all of these in one day (but if you do, successfully, you’re my actual hero). I took out my planner and actually wrote each project into my schedule so I know it’s not just going to get buried in a to-do list. Treating it like an actual appointment allows me to block off the appropriate amount of time to get each one done.

I also recommend adding an extra 30-60 minutes more than you think it will take. Undoubtedly you will run into a side project that will distract you for awhile, or you’ll end up in another space putting something away and end up in a domino effect before circling back to the main project.

Happens to me every time.

If you’re worried that you’ll get stuck in the rabbit hole and nothing will get done, just a bunch of half finished messes, try setting a timer for 20 minutes at a time and working nonstop–no breaks, no distractions (put that phone away!)–and see how much you can get done.

It ends up feeling like you’re racing the clock and let me tell you, sis, it WORKS.

It sounds silly, but I pretend I’m on a game show and racing the clock to clean up. Except instead of money my prize is a clean space and an iced coffee I’ll treat myself to 🙂

I hope this helped inspire you to clean up your spaces too and eliminate some of the chaos that comes along with getting kiddos back to school.

Until next time,