5 Ways to Prep your Home for Back to School

My son starts back at school in a few weeks. We’ve been so busy working on projects around our house, pausing to organize and prep for back to school is a necessity (I’ll show you why in a second- it’s not pretty)! I thought I’d share some tips on how to prep your home fo back to school!

For the first time, Don will have preschool 5 days a week. He starts bright and early each morning so I wanted to make sure we have a good foundation in place to make mornings run as smooth as possible.

5 ways to prep your home for back to school- 1. clothing organization

Well, here’s the inside of my son’s drawer. The rest of his drawers and closet are pretty tidy, but this top drawer is scary!

I grabbed some bins from Tuesday Morning (these are technically meant for fridge organization). Then I dumped everything out of his drawer and put it back in a more organized manner. I had a bag ready for items to donate since there were a lot of too small clothes.

How much better is that?! Now I can put clothes away faster and it’s way easier for Don to find what he needs when getting ready for school. I think the bins will help keep everything where it belongs too!

2. paperwork organization

Awhile ago, I talked about my organizing woes on Instagram. One (genius) person commented that each house has hot spots- where everyone in the family naturally leaves things. Our clutter attractor is this counter top in my kitchen. It is, sadly, always a mess.

I put everything away (these are items that were out, but just needed to be put in their home). Since this counter is right next to our table, it’s perfect for paperwork organization.

After I put everything away, I added in a paper organizer that I found from Tuesday Morning for an amazing price. The super cute pens and notebooks are from there too! I’ll keep the school calendar and papers I need to sign here. There’s even extra space to hold the cords we use most (this is where we charge electronics through the day).

I also really love that the date is there on the paper organizer too. It all feels clean and tidy- which I love!

I made this morning routine check list for Don. Like I said, school starts early and I want him to really pitch in on getting out of the door on time. I framed the check list so that he can use a dry erase marker to check things off (and then erase them later). With the icons, he knows exactly what each item means!

I thought I would offer this morning routine check list as a free printable! Just sign up for my weekly newsletter and you will get a link to download it right away!



3. backpack and shoes organization

The worst thing is scrambling in the morning to find a backpack and/or shoes. To combat that, I hung a hook in our office (right off the front door) as a designated backpack drop off done. Above it I added a Tuesday Morning frame that I embellished with a picture of Don and a D so it feels special for him. 

On the floor, I added a seagrass tray from Tuesday Morning that’s perfect for holding 2 pair of shoes. Three cheers for having 2 options for shoes when running out the door! 

Having a designated spot for the backpack and shoes means that there is a drop and pickup zone. I like to have a spot for everything in my home so it stays clean longer.

4. homework zone

Don’s preschool has a reading/homework project every night so I wanted to create a place for homework. This spot in the office will work nicely for that. I found the cutest rolling cart from Tuesday Morning (for a great price!) and stocked it with craft and art supplies! For me, I LOVE that they are on wheels so we can move the cart to wherever Don wants to create.

I added crayons, colored pencils, washi tape, play doh, coloring books to the tray. What I’ve found since putting this out is that Don is more likely to do art time with all of the supplies in plain sight!

FYI, he’s a big fan! Especially since I added cat magnets to the tray (he’s obsessed with cats).

5. set a theme for the year

One thing I really like to do each year is to set a theme for Don’s school year. This year’s is “if you never try, you’ll never know.” I put it on a letter board (again, from Tuesday Morning) and have it on display. The night before school starts, I’ll talk about the theme with Don and different ways we can try our best through the year.

Side note, if you want to check out last year’s theme and our “back to school feast,” here’s the link to that.

For me, setting intentions makes such a difference in how things go. All of these steps will help get your house in shape for the school year so that you can find what you need and get everything done smoothly. I did most of these things in one day and I honestly feel more prepared now!

As you can tell, I went shopping at Tuesday Morning for almost everything you see in this post! It was a stress free way way to find quality products that are inexpensive. I LOVE to find good deals and Tuesday Morning is like a treasure hunt! There is limited availability  on the items which makes for unique finds. Click here to find a store near you!

how to paint a globe

I don’t know if you noticed, but I gathered up all of my globes for the homework area. I figure there’s nothing more appropriate for back to school than globes! A few of them are from Tuesday Morning! My sister just found me one for $3 so I decided to paint it! I thought I’d share how I painted the globe in case this is a project you want to do too!

Let’s start with the video tutorial so you get an overview on what I did. Then, I’ll dive in with more details below:

If the video doesn’t work here, you can watch it on YouTube here. P.s. I’m trying to build that page up, so if you’d subscribe, I’d really appreciate that!

SUPPLIES

• globe
• plastic bag
• painter’s tape
• gold spray paint
• craft paint in colors of your choice

step 1

Start by covering the globe in a plastic bag and using painter’s tape to secure it. Then spray paint the frame whatever color you want. I went with gold.

step 2

Next, paint around the continents/ land masses with white paint. After you’ve gone over everything, fill in with white paint.

step 3

And now it’s time to fill in the oceans. Use a blue paint and trace the outsides of the land areas. Then use a larger paint brush to fill in the ocean areas. This project is a bit slow and you definitely have to have patience for all of the intricate painting!

step 4

Finally, it’s time to fill in the land areas with some colors! I wanted an abstract look so I added colorful paint blobs across the continents. It’d also be fun to paint in flowers!

after

Here it is ALL DONE! I love the colorful abstract nature. It’s fun just having a super simplified globe to use as a piece of art. I’ve seen these used as guest books at weddings where you sign the globe! They’d also be really cute in a nursery or as a classroom gift for a teacher!

This was a fun project for me- I’ve always wanted to paint a globe! I’ll be honest, when I first added paint, I felt a little bad painting over all the country information. But we have a few other globes where we can use them for geographic information. Plus this one had ink marks all over it- so it felt ok to turn it in to art.

Thanks for joining us for how to prep your house for back to school. Have your kids started back yet? If they have and you’re feeling like your house could still use some organization, go for it! It’s never too late to make simple changes so that your home works better for you.

Thank you to Tuesday Morning for sponsoring this post! This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

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