“Mom, where’s my spelling notebook?”
“Dad, you didn’t sign my field trip permission slip and I missed it!”
“Mom, I have a book report due tomorrow and I can’t find my book.”

Does any of this sound familiar?  Are you already frustrated by the morning chaos of the back-to-school routine (or lack thereof) just thinking about it?  The truth is that organization is a culmination of learned skills.  If we don’t teach our children those skills or exhibit them ourselves, we can’t expect them to be organized.  But there are simple steps that we can take in order to build organizational systems and skills for the whole family.  Here are my 9 organizing ‘lessons’ for back to school:

Make Peace with the Paper
Designate a basket or bin for all papers including rosters, permission slips, long term homework assignments and other school related papers that parents may need to reference.

Corral the Family Calendar
Use one and only one calendar to post all of the family events to avoid confusion.  There are quite a few calendars on the market that allow a row for each member of the family for every day and make it easy to view at a glance.  You can try using color-coded markers instead if you don’t mind the extra step.

Hold a Family Council Meeting
Have a weekly family meeting and involve your children.  Review the family calendar, appointments and events over the next 7 days and identify any tasks necessary to prepare i.e. sign permission slips, wash the soccer uniform, make carpool arrangements, start studying for the math test on Friday, etc.  This will help you (and your family) prepare for these events and it will teach your children the skills necessary to become organized adults.

Establish an Evening Routine
If bedtime has been designated at 8:30pm, have your kids change into their pajamas, brush their teeth, wash their face and hands or bathe, etc. starting 15-30 minutes earlier…and be consistent.  This will also help them create healthier sleeping habits by winding down ahead of time.

Layout School Clothes
Pick out school clothes the night before.  By doing this, you will avoid (or at least minimize) last minute rushes around the house for your child’s missing ‘Dora’ sneaker or another matching (unwrinkled) shirt for them to wear because the one they had on was stained.  If you can’t do this every night, do it once every few nights or once a week.  It’s not always important to know which outfit if for which day.  It will make getting dressed in the morning quicker and easier by having to choose one of 5 prepared outfits.

Purge Book Bags Daily
Clean out your child’s’ book bag every evening.  If they are five years of age or older they can assist or you can supervise the process.  Remove and dispose of leftover lunches or snacks, other trash, sign and replace any necessary paperwork, books or materials.  This can also be a method of taking general inventory of what should be there.  The sooner an item is identified as missing the easier it can be to get it back.

Create Sport/Activities Packs
Use different colored/types of duffle bags or backpacks for equipment for sports or other activities.  For example, if your daughter participates in dance lessons and soccer, designate one bag for cleats, shin guards, extra practice uniform, etc. and the other for dance shoes, tights and leotards.  This will make life easier when it is time to run out the door and will eliminate or minimize missing or lost equipment if they have a home and are not constantly being shifted around.

Set the Stage
Establish a ‘staging area’.  If possible, establish an area in your home near the morning exit where book bags, cleats, sports equipment, etc. can be kept for the next day.  The fewer steps involved in getting out the door in the morning the more efficient and on time it will be.

After-school Schedule
Write or type up an after-school schedule for each child so they know what is expected of them and post it on the ‘family’ board.  i.e. Snack  3:30pm-3:45pm; Homework   3:45pm-4:45pm, etc.

I could go on but instead I’d love to hear some of your greatest tips for back to school whether it’s for grade school, high school, your college freshman or the adult going back to school!

I just got back from a visit to one of my favorite stores- Levenger and thought I would share my love for their great products. If you have never heard of nor seen any of their great products they describe their product offerings as “tools for serious readers”. And while that may be true, I don’t think it does them justice.

Case in point, check out their entire line of Circa- a ’scheduling and notetaking system’. It’s a serious system that is so much more than that. Circa has the three-ring binder beat hands down!  It is made up of small discs that serve as the binding and pages that you can easily move around and transfer between notebooks. They come in a variety of sizes including letter, junior, compact, 3X5 and PDA. You get to choose from a wide variety of quality paper that comes in ruled, grid, annotation, agenda, address, project planner, things to do, etc. Plus there a ton of fun accessories that are extremely functional as well like colored tab & pocket dividers, plastic & zipper pockets, photo sleeves. What I love about this line is that it is entirely configurable or customizable for you…and you are never tied to your current setup. You have the ability to add, edit, purge, transfer information, page styles and accessories between notebooks (given that the notebook you are adding to is the same size or larger as the item you would like to add).

If you are overwhelmed by the choices and are not sure what you would use (as I was) you can start small with a Circa Starter Kit. Or even better, purchase the Circa Simply Irresistible Sampling kit for $40- it comes with a ton of stuff AND a $40 gift card!

Do you have any favorite products from Levenger and/or the Circa line?

These days we are always on the go and eating on the go also tends to pack on the extra pounds. Not to mention the saturated fats, artificial sweeteners and preservatives…

Well…I was reading a blog post written by fellow PO Aby Garvey on Organizing Your Car Travels and she asked about divided food storage.  I was out shopping a day earlier and came across divided food storage containers so I thought I would just check it out when I went back to the supermarket the next day. It turned out that the container I saw only had two compartments, not the 3 she highlighted.

Needless to say I am always looking for a better solution and came across the Fit & Fresh website highlighting a plethora of products dedicated to the preparation, storage and transportation of all foods that are fresh (and portioned).

Preparation
They offer the Smart PortionTM Prep Center which consists of a cutting board with integrated food scale and removable side measuring cup.

Storage
The Smart PortionTM Prep & Pack Tray allows you to do your food prep for the week while controlling portion sizes and then helps to organize your refrigerator by keeping all of the food in one place for easy access.

Transport
Here is where they go all out:

• The Breakfast Chiller holds dry cereal, a folding spoon, container for milk or yogurt, removable ice ring and cold storage cup.
• The Salad Shaker includes a knife & fork stored in the lid, dressing dispenser, ice pack and of course, a salad bowl.

• Their Lunch on the Go container contains 2 side containers inside for snacks, a removable ice pack and a large compartment to hold the 2 ’side cars’ and a sandwich or entree…and the cover doubles as a plate.

• The Deluxe Lunch Chiller has room for storing your utensils and napkin, a removable ice ring, small portion container and main course container.

and the list goes on…

The icing on the cake is that these containers come in bright, fun colors and all Fit & Fresh products meet FDA regulations for food grade plastic and are easy to clean, freezer, microwave (except for the ice packs) and top rack dishwasher safe. See if your local grocer or retailer carries the Fit & Fresh line.

While I am not big on promoting products as the organizing solution, these great food storage products are fun and functional. They can help make preparing and organizing lunch on the go a little easier and much more interesting, which will make your advanced lunch prep more likely to happen. My hubby always says that the only system that works for you is the one you will use. (OK, he really says that the only diet or workout that works for you is the one you’ll follow- but you get my drift, right?)

Back in May, I shared some tips for detoxifying your inbox and supplied an example of what to send to those individuals whom you would like to avoid offending but whose email you would like to avoid receiving. Just thought I would share this site created by Merlin Mann of 43Folders fame.

The site is called Thanks. No. In it he suggests replying to those unwanted emails with the following:

Hi there, beloved friend of this email recipient:

Please visit http://thanksno.com/

Because this person likes getting personal messages from you, but doesn’t want any more email like this, please.

Love,
ThanksNo.com

It may seem a little harsh but I am guessing, very effective- what do you think?

As an organizer, I know that one of the strategies for assisting in the organizing process is to have a method of collecting your thoughts as well as to-do’s that come from email, coworkers, etc.

How often have you been driving in your car on your way home or to the office and suddenly remember something you would like to do? And how often do you arrive at your destination and actually remember what it was? My husband often calls his work voicemail from home to leave reminders for himself but this service takes it to the next level. We recently highlighted a handful of dial in information services to obtain info on the go but Jott helps you manage the info from within! It’s a dial in service but oh, so much more!

Jott is a free (currently, anyway) service that allows you to call a 1-800 number, leave a message for yourself or another contact and the message will be transcribed and sent via a text message or email. And since many of us use our email inbox as a collection point, the task or reminder doesn’t get overlooked. If you are experiencing difficulty in that department, check out my Detox Your Inbox webinars.

You can also use it to communicate simple tasks and reminders to business associates, friends and family like “The Nichols report is due on Friday” or “Joey needs to be picked up from soccer practice at 4pm”, etc.

Additional features include built in reminder options, the ability to listen to the audio jott (if recieved via email), jotting to groups as well as to preset lists and you can even jott to web services like Twitter, Google Calendar or Remember the Milk to name a few.

So, go to Jott.com to create an account, setup your contacts and start using it today! Don’t forget to add your account info to your password manager…