7 Things to Prioritize Before School Starts

Today, I’m sharing 7 things to prioritize before school starts (read Fall if you don’t have kids or if your kids are older and out of the house) and its chock full of ideas. I got a little wordy so you may want to grab a cup of coffee ha ha.

No playing, every time I’ve looked at the calendar lately I’m filled with a bit of panic that August is only two weeks away. Can you guys relate? Part of it is because I’m sad to see the lazy days of summer go and the other part is because August through December is by far THE busiest time of year in Blogland.

I don’t know about you guys but we’ve gotten out of some of our routines since summer began and it’s definitely starting to effect how this household operates. Especially, now that our schedules are starting to fill up with more and more activities.

The end of summer is a great time to do a “reset” of sorts for your personal routines and family routines too. It’s a good idea to reevaluate what’s working for you so you can get back on track and hopefully get ahead before school and the fall season starts. It’s also a great way to anticipate and address any changes that need to be made in advance so that everyone is well adjusted to a new “normal” before the rush actually begins.

Here are 7 things to consider doing now before school starts…

Meal Prep & Plan – Take one day each week to meal prep, plan and put together a grocery list for the week or month. It doesn’t have to be anything super involved at all but it definitely needs to be done.

Keep it simple by displaying the menu in a highly visible place like your calendar, chalk board, family command center or refrigerator so you’re more likely to use it on a regular basis. Making the meal plan visible for your entire family will help you stay on track for those times you’re running late and hear the words, “What’s for dinner?” as soon as you walk through the door. It also allows your loved ones a chance to pitch in if they know what to make or do in advance.

You can read our Meal Planning for The Busy Girl post, here.

Establish a DAILY Cleaning Routine – This one is critical in making sure you’re not spending your weekends cleaning the house or avoiding your home entirely because it looks like an episode of Hoarders. A cleaning schedule can be as quick or an involved as you have time for – it’s that customizable.

Starting with a clean home is so much easier to maintain than having to clean up things that have been lying around for weeks or even months, right? Set yourself and your family up for success by giving your home a “spring clean” now so you can enjoy a peaceful transition to fall.

If you’re new daily cleaning routines, this post lays everything out for you and also has free printables too.

Declutter Your High Traffic Zones – High traffic zones are the areas of your home you use the most. For example, ours would be the kitchen, pantry, refrigerator, laundry room, bathrooms, closets and entry. These spaces get used multiple times a day, all day, every day. They’re also the places that can become easily cluttered if we aren’t diligent about making sure they stay tidy.

We have a few non-negotiable rules to help keep us on track that might work for your family too: don’t go to sleep with dishes in the sink * groceries are put away in the basket, glass jar, or drawer they belong in as soon as we get home from the store * laundry is put away immediately after each cycle (wash, dry, fold) * no wet towels or clothes on the floor * the one in – one out rule apply to every closet in the house * purses, backpacks, keys and shoes are neatly stored on hooks and in baskets or are otherwise put away as soon as we get home *

I’m not saying we’re perfect, because we aren’t but we’re not caught off guard if someone wants to come over at the last minute or we have a service provider (think cable, pest control, etc) coming over either. Well, except for that one time we had to deal with messy house overwhelm during the One Room Challenge.

I’ll definitely dive more into these topics in the next few weeks but you can find out how we keep closets for clothes, linen closets, the pantry, the refrigerator, the kitchen and the car more organized.

Establish a Morning Routine – As I’ve shared before I used to wake up and run around the house like a crazy lady in the mornings, pulling things out of my closet, cramming shoes in my gym bag, grabbing a power bar and coffee yelling the entire time like a tornado. By the time I got to work, I would be totally exhausted and it would only be 830 am. Then I started being intentional about my morning routine and everything changed.

The secret to a successful morning routine comes down to two basic principles…one – you have to know your priorities and two – you have to be consistent and wake up around the same time each day. Since I’ve always been an early riser, I’ve never really been an alarm clock kind of girl. That being said, I can definitely tell the days I’ve completed my entire morning routine and the times I’ve woken up late and had to cut the routine short a bit.

You can read all about how to create a simple morning routine in 4 easy steps here.

Establish a Nightly Routine – You saw this one coming, right? Just like having a solid morning routine sets your day up for success having a solid nightly routine helps you to wind down the day properly and set you up for a good night’s sleep. Again, it’s much like the morning routine and meal planning we’ve already talked about before in that it’s completely customizable based on the amount of time and energy you’re able to dedicate to it.

The secrets to a successful nightly routine are twofold. One… you need to be able to prioritize which items or tasks you need to address or complete BEFORE you go to bed and two…you need to be able to carve out time to do something JUST FOR YOU. It’s that simple. Be consistent with your nightly routine and your morning routine will run like a well-oiled machine.

You can read all about how to create a simple nightly routine in 4 easy steps here.

Reevaluate Personal, Home, & Family Goals – Now is a great time to take stock about you’re REALLY living. Is your house constantly messy? Are you a procrastinator? Are your kids involved in so many activities you can barely keep up? Are you scared to live your dreams? Are you proud of how many goals you’ve achieved from January until now? Do you flake out on your family and friends? Are you waiting for the perfect timing and the perfect plan to fall into perfect place before you get even started?

I totally get it, sometimes making changes big or small can seem SO overwhelming it’s easier to not make any changes at all. And you could do that but why you would want to? Take the time now to decide what you can and are willing to commit to from now until the end of the year. That way, when someone needs your time, money, energy, or resources you’ll be able to give them your whole-hearted best yes.

You can see how we’re doing on our 2017 home goals here and how we’re handling The Last 5% here.

Your Well-Being – The words “well-being” seem to be big buzz words now days and with good reason. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve recently heard someone say, “I wish I would have….” (fill in the blank with listened to my intuition, made my health a priority, reigned in my spending, forgiven him/her, gone to the gym, lost weight, quit stressing, gotten things done, taken the time). Do they sound familiar to you too? According to the Oxford Dictionary, well-being is defined as the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.

I completely understand how it can feel almost selfish to truly take the time to care for and nurture what sets your soul on fire. But I’m going to be honest with you friends, it’s an absolute necessity. So often we put ourselves last on the list and we wind up feeling depleted, frustrated, exhausted and overwhelmed. Find a way to prioritize the things that really matter to you, learn to say no, adjust your expectations, let go of things that aren’t in line with your priorities, start reaching for your goals and concentrating on your mental and physical health.

You are worth it.

Until next time, I’ll see you on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

 

Many blessings,

CoCo