7 Things to Prioritize Before School Starts
Today’s post is full of helpful tips and tricks to guide you through 7 things to prioritize before school starts.
Even if you don’t have kids or if your kids are older, this post will help you work through things you can prioritize before the Fall season arrives.
It’s Time for a Reset
Every time I see August creeping up ever so slowly on our calendar, I can hardly believe it.
I don’t know about you, but we’ve gotten out of some of our routines since the summer began.
And it’s definitely starting to affect how this household operates.
Especially, now that our schedules are starting to fill up with Fall activities.
The end of summer is a great time to do a “reset” of your personal routines and your family’s routines.
It’s a good idea to reevaluate what’s working well and what’s not working at all.
This allows you to get back on track and address any changes before school starts.
Afterall, the rush to usher in a new season will be here before we know it!
Here are 7 Things to Prioritize 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 and it helps save so much time.
Keep it simple by displaying the menu in a highly visible place such as a calendar, chalkboard, or a quick and easy family command center on your refrigerator.
You’ll be more likely to use it on a regular basis.
Making the meal plan visible for your entire family will help you stay on track.
Especially during those times you’re running late and hear, “What’s for dinner?” as soon as you walk through the door.
It will also give your family a chance to pitch in and help if they know what to make in advance.
You can read our how to guide on meal planning for the month here.
Establish a Daily Cleaning Routine Before School Starts
A cleaning schedule can be as quick and easy or as customized as you want it to be.
Starting with a clean home is much easier to maintain than cleaning up items that have been hanging around for weeks or even months.
It’s one of the biggest reasons establishing a daily cleaning routine now will help save you time in the long run.
That way, you can enjoy a peaceful transition to Fall later.
Here’s a look at our Modern Day Cleaning Schedule Made Easy post if you need a jump start!
Declutter Your High Traffic Zones
High traffic zones are the areas of your home you use the most.
For example: 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’re organized and tidy before school starts.
Daily Habits to Help Keep You On Track…
- Empty the dishes in the sink before you go to sleep.
- Put groceries away in their respective baskets, glass jars, or drawers as soon as you get home from the market.
- A load of laundry means wash, dry, fold, and put away.
- Keep the floors clean by placing wet towels or clothes in hampers.
- Purses, backpacks, keys and shoes can be stored on hooks and in baskets.
I’m not saying we’re perfect because we aren’t.
We have messy house overwhelm just like everyone one else.
Especially while we take on big projects.
That said, our ultimate goal is to keep a clean home first and foremost.
But our second goal, is to not be caught off guard if someone wants to come over last minute.
Establish a Simple Morning Routine Before School Starts
I used to wake up and run around the house like a wild lady in the mornings, no playing.
I would be pulling things out of my closet, cramming shoes in my gym bag, then grabbing a power bar and coffee at the last minute.
All while, yelling and running out the front door.
I was basically a tornado every morning.
By the time I got to work at 8:30 am, I would be exhausted.
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:
- You have to know your priorities.
- You have to be consistent.
Morning routines don’t have to be complicated at all.
They just need to meet your needs.
And by meeting your needs, I mean, what can you do each morning to help set yourself up for a successful day?
You can check out How to Create a Morning Routine in 4 Easy Steps in this post.
Establish a Nightly Routine Before School Starts
Just like having a solid morning routine sets your day up for success, a solid nightly routine helps you properly wind down the day.
It also sets you up for a good night’s sleep.
As with the morning routine, your nightly routine can be completely customized based on the amount of time and energy you have to dedicate to it.
These are the secrets to a successful nightly routine:
- Prioritize which items or tasks you need to address or complete BEFORE you go to bed
- Carve out time to do something JUST FOR YOU.
- Being consistent with your nightly routine will allow your morning routine to run like a well-oiled machine.
Reevaluate Personal, Home, & Family Goals Before School Starts
Now is a great time to take stock about how you’re REALLY living, with questions like:
- Is your house constantly messy?
- Are you a procrastinator?
- Do you have trouble keeping up with your kid’s schedule because it’s so packed?
- Are you reaching for your dreams and achieving your goals?
- Or are you waiting for the perfect time and the perfect plan to fall into perfect place before you get even started?
Sometimes, making changes big or small can seem so overwhelming it’s easier to not make any changes at all.
Believe me, I totally get it.
Take the time to decide what you’re willing to commit to from now until the end of the year before school starts.
That way, when someone needs your time, money, energy, or resources you’ll be able to give them your best yes.
Your Well Being
I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve recently heard someone say, “I wish I would have…”
- Listened to my intuition
- Made my health a priority
- Reigned in my spending
- Started saving sooner
- Forgiven him/her
- Gone to the gym
- Lost weight
- Quit stressing
- Gotten things done when I said I would
So often we put ourselves last on the list and we wind up feeling depleted, frustrated, exhausted and overwhelmed.
Find a way to emphasize the things that really matter to you.
Things like:
- Learning to say no
- Adjusting your expectations
- Letting go of things that aren’t in line with your priorities
- Living out your goals
- Concentrating on your mental and physical health
Believe me, you are worth taking the time to pursue your goals and dreams!
Let us know what are you’re prioritizing before school starts?
Other Posts to Help Keep You Organized:
The 15 Minute Task We Use to Cut Clutter
Quick and Easy Family Command Center
Small Closet Makeover Tips and Tricks
Many blessings,
CoCo
I miss those back to school days. I still make list to prioritize my time which is so important when trying to maintain an organized home. Great post CoCo! I’m featuring it this week on Tuesday Turn About. Hugs!
That is so sweet, Michelle, thank you! Lists definitely save my sanity almost every day of the week. I wouldn’t make it without them 🙂 Sending you hugs and thank yous, CoCo
Oh, how I wish I had known you during those crazy back-to-school days! You’ve touched all the bases with such SUPER helpful tips! Pinning and sending to my daughter! She will LOVE this!
So sweet of you to pass this along, Christine, thank you so much! I know back to school is a big deal especially now that things seemed to have calmed down a bit. One of the littles had to eat in the gym all last year and she’s super excited to be able to eat in the lunchroom again 🙂 Hope your family is enjoying all the fun things summer has to offer. Big hugs, CoCo
We just our school calendar for the year and I was working on August’s menu already. One thing I really need to figure out though is how to squeeze in my morning workout before driving my son to school… I never managed to figure that out this past school year and I am lousy about working out in the afternoon.
That is so exciting, Joanne! I swear it will be here before you know it. One thing that helps me is to put my gym clothes, shoes, and socks in the bathroom the night before. That way they’re all organized and ready to go. I also decide on what to wear for work the night before to help cut down on decision fatigue in the mornings. Sometimes I get a 45-minute workout in and other times it might only be 15 minutes but I always try to do a little something because I’m also terrible about doing it in the afternoons or at night. Honestly, at the end of the day, every little bit counts…even 15 minutes 🙌 I know these next few weeks will be busy! Wishing you all the best as you begin a new school year, CoCo
All great ideas, CoCo. This will be the first year we’ll have all three kids in college at the same time! So it will be a new normal for us. We’ll see how it goes. . . . . thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm. xo Kathleen
All three of us were in college at the same time too, Kathleen! It definitely takes some getting used to and our schedules became totally bananas but we definitely appreciated all our trips home that much more. Can’t wait to see how you celebrate this new chapter. Hugs, CoCo
Hi CoCo – Sharing this in my monthly Unboxing post for August. So many good tips! “A load of laundry is washing, drying, folding and putting items away”. Hmm. I am not very good at doing a load of laundry. I seem to do 75% of a load of laundry . . .🤔