It’s that time of year again! Many of us are searching for simple back to school organizing ideas to keep things running smoothly and organized. So, I wanted to share with you some of our favorites in the hopes that it may bless and encourage you. Keeping things simple is so important and you can read more about that here.
Many of these ideas would work as gifts as well for nieces or grandkids or neighbors, so don’t think you have to be a parent with school-aged kids for this article to make sense.
Many of these are also for the parent of the children or you, yourself as some translate across generations! Think out of the box a little bit!
LONG TERM ORGANIZERS
The reason I put the long term organizers first is if any of you, like me, were a bit behind this summer in putting away last years school stuff, well it’s best to do this long term stuff first before talking about the everyday organization.
The best part? NO STRESS! These 2 super simple, inexpensive ideas will have your last years school work organized in no time!
SCHOOL YEAR MEMORY BOOK
One of the simplest things I have found to keep up with as far as a long term organizer are these amazing School Year Memory Books. I love them so much because its all of their years of school neatly organized and packed into one beautiful book.
Obviously, you won’t fit everything they have ever done in there, but its a beautiful, simplified way to keep some of their favorite projects as well as a picture of them and their stats each year in school. It comes with great handy pockets to stash the favorites from the year in and the cover can be personalized as well!
Even if you are finding these when your kids are later on in years or already out of school, it’s a great simple way to quickly lead you into pulling those years together. It would be fun to surprise them with on a birthday or holiday as a gift or maybe they would enjoy doing it with you. Grab your school year memory book here!
LONG TERM SCHOOL YEAR KEEPSAKE STORAGE
Another favorite long term organizing solution I have is so simple you most likely will get a chuckle….sturdy clear, double flap storage bins.
There are a couple of reasons I like them to be clear as well as the double flap top.
First off, I use these to keep whatever I am keeping from my kids’ school each year. Sometimes I can fit 2-3 years in each bin, other times not so much.
Two reasons I prefer the clear bins. One is because it forces me to keep things in a mostly organized fashion so that it looks mostly nice and in order. Another reason I prefer the clear is that even if it’s labeled with the child’s name and grade, that doesn’t mean I will remember which grade they did something in that I am looking for. It just gives me another opportunity to give a quick look before I open it up.
The double flap I love for 2 reasons as well. One of the reasons is that it DOESN’T STRETCH! You know those bins that have the locking sides and you can push down and they bow up in the middle and you can keep packing stuff in there? Yeah…we don’t need to use that for school storage. It needs to be encouraged in every detail to be kept simple. Simple really does matter! The double flap in tops force you to stop at a certain height and to be honest with you, I find it pretty refreshing.
My other reason I love the double flap close in top…YOU CAN’T LOSE IT! I am so over losing and misplacing so many tops to my storage containers. A bonus 3rd reason I love this type of top is that they stack really well! I have multiples of these stacked on top of each other in our garage for storage and they work so well for that! OK, these would most likely work well as a gift for the parent if I am being honest.
While these aren’t the exact ones I have, these are the style I am referring to in case you just can’t picture it. They come in multiple sizes to suit your needs.
EVERYDAY ORGANIZING
EVERYDAY SCHOOL KEEPSAKE STORAGE
So this one is the kicker, right? How to keep it all somewhat non-chaotic on the daily? Yeah…well let me know if you ever fully get that one figured out, but until then here are a few simple ideas that have helped us curb some of the clutter and maintain somewhat of a flow once the school year kicks back in.
When we think of the above-mentioned items and long term storage, that leads many to wonder…well am I supposed to sift through all that stuff at the end of the year or was I supposed to keep it and if so, how?
Well, I found my answer at one of my all-time favorite stores…HomeGoods! I have a great 3 tier wall organizer and I simply put papers up there once they have been graded or my kids request them to be saved and each kid has a slot as well as do I for my keepsake they make me or things I need to reference later. It is similar to this one here!
It’s that simple. Don’t worry or think about it now, just put it in the slot and keep plugging along! Then at the end of the year, set a few hours aside and grab them, put them in a file, and into the long term storage bin they go!
EVERYDAY ART DISPLAY STORAGE
However, for art projects they want you to display, or you want to, just simply grab some $1 twine and clothespins here and make yourself a cute little display wall. Our is presently in our laundry room and they love to come in and admire their work, and I like that it gives that room some beautiful color and inspiration.
Grab your dollar twine and clothespins here and take 5 minutes out of your day and whamo a great display area!
EVERYDAY JUNK MESSY PROJECT ORGANIZING
Dollar storage bins. Need I say more? Seriously. It’s incredible to me just how much better the messes can look and not be overwhelming by simply placing it in a dollar storage bin that you can get here! It’s also great because they are clear so the kids can see where their projects are when they are ready to get back to work on them. It’s great for Mom because she can stack them up and out of the way and not step or trip on a gazillion little pieces of genius in the making. So, you can find them here and you can thank me later for helping save your sanity! 🙂
LABEL MAKER
Also on the daily, I don’t know where I would be without my handy dandy trusty label maker.
Those of you that know me know I usually have at least 3 label makers at all times! Why? Well, because they go on sale for like $10 on black Friday! What is a girl to do? Obviously, I have given them to friends as gifts that are equally obsessive about their labeling, so there’s that! Labeling helps so much from last-minute lazy stashes of throwing the wrong thing in the wrong drawer. Label notebooks, drawers, long term storage bins, rulers, special pens, whatever! Label it and smile! There are many different styles. Here is something similar to some that I own!
GET ORGANIZING!
As you can see, this is not an exhaustive list of how to organize every single thing all the time, but hopefully, it gets you started on realizing just how simple it really can be to keep things somewhat organized and flowing this school year. Go buy your bins and other goodies and get organizing so you can concentrate on what matters most…your family.
Comment below with some of your favorite everyday or long term organizing solutions for keeping the school clutter bug at bay!
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