Back to School Routines: Getting in the Groove

The time has arrived! Our babies are heading back to school and we get to have a clean, quiet, peaceful house again. There will be plenty of food left in the fridge and all will be right in our little world…

This sounds amazing but the reality is it doesn’t quite happen like that in my household. If anything, my household becomes more chaotic during the school year. Between the long work hours, extra curriculars, and homework it’s hard to keep up with the daily chores and engagements. After discussing this with Lawrence, we decided to come up with some routines to put in place so that things do not become too overwhelming. Here is what we came up with:

Schedule, Schedule, Schedule!

I know you all are probably tired of hearing me talk about schedules but they really do work. I feel like the more places your daily agenda is written down, the more reminders you have to get things done. With our work and school schedules constantly changing, writing out who needs to be picked up or dropped off when, amongst other things, is imperative! 

I like to sit down on Sundays and write out the schedule for the week. This helps me plan out when I am able to cook meals and where there may be schedule conflicts in advance. I primarily use three different calendars:

• Google Calendar: This is a shared family calendar that has “big picture” items on it (i.e. doctor appointments, business meetings, conference nights, etc.). It’s important for me to get my kid’s school items and our work items on the calendar for the entire year so that they don’t come as a surprise.
• Personal Planner: This is where my plans get pretty! With my google calendar in hand I begin planning out the “small things” for the week (i.e. meals, errands, when I can sneak in some reading time, etc.) I use the happy planner to complete this task. Using pretty stickers and colorful pens helps make the planning process more fun for me. 
• Family Wall Calendar: I recently won a calendar from the Personal Planner that allows us to set up the weekly schedule for all five of the members in my household. Since my kids do not have access to the Google Calendar this helps them get involved in the planning process. This is also updated on Sundays and is displayed so that everyone in the family is aware of the agenda.

Plan the meals in advance

Figuring out what we are going to eat each day is one of the most frustrating tasks. Typically everyone wants different things or I’ll make a meal and my picky eaters ask for multiple substitutes. The only things we can usually all agree on is breakfast and pizza. 

So this school year we are going to try and plan at least 3-4 dinner meals for the week on Sunday. This will be a family discussion so that everyone has at least one desired meal choice.  I have also discovered that when the kids are more involved in the selection process, they do better at finishing their meal.

 I would love to say that I will cook multiple meals on Sundays but that doesn’t always happen. My hope is to have it on paper, make sure I have the ingredients needed, and prep what I can. Whatever meals I cannot actually cook on that Sunday, I will place it on a day in the week that seems most plausible. Hence why the calendar is so important.

Stay on top of the laundry

In my household of five, laundry has truly become a daunting task. It is never ending! And while I dislike folding and putting the laundry away, I also dislike rummaging through baskets. So with this chore, we are going to force ourselves to get through it. We decided to pick one day that we feel we can accomplish washing, folding, and putting away all the laundry. For us, that day is Saturday.

This doesn’t mean that we are confined to our house all day Saturday. But it does mean that when we are at home on Saturdays, laundry is the priority. Since we generally wake up between 6:30am and 7am, we could realistically have 2 loads washed and 1 load dried by the time we need to leave out in the morning. We may even be able to begin on Friday evenings if we know that we have a pretty stacked Saturday. Not dragging it on throughout the week just takes a load (pun intended) off of me mentally and gives us just a little more time during the week to be present after work.

One tool that will help us be more efficient in our efforts is already having the laundry separated. We use this hamper from Amazon to help us accomplish this. We are actually thinking about buying one for our son who has just learned how to do his own laundry. Another thing that has been helpful with putting away the laundry is using the KonMari method for organizing our drawers. Being able to put clothes away neatly has been a game changer for us! And yes, my 9 year old even uses this method.

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Overall, we are excited for the school year! Our hope is that by being proactive when it comes to scheduling, meals, and laundry, we can relieve some of the stress that comes along with the journey. 

What are some ways you are preparing for the school year? Let me know in the comments.