Organized Tips for Back to School + Teacher Gift Idea

Today I’m sharing everything I’ve done to prepare for this next school year in order to have an organized year.  I’m linking up with Shay and Erika for Workin It Wednesday.  Keep reading because I have a FREE printable for you and a super cute teacher goodie bag idea if you’re interested in that kind of thing.

This year Beckham starts Kindergarten so it’s our first official year in grade school.  Maddox will be going back to preschool where he goes 2 days a week for 5 hours each time.  And then come October, we’ll also have a newborn, so being organized was super essential this year!  Newborns are chaotic enough so I wanted everything squared away and ready for school this month.

Ryan also starts back to work (he’s a teacher) tomorrow and starts reffing volleyball (then straight into basketball in November), so pretty much from here till March next year, I’ve gotta have my act together or it’s complete chaos!

I’m going to share 8 things I do to prepare for the new year.

1. Back to School Supplies/Backpack:

The first thing I did was printed off the school supply list and went to Walmart.  I wanted to pre-order the packaged list, but didn’t realize the deadline was back in June.  It ended up working out as I save a good amount of money.  I went WITHOUT kids and bought what I could find at Walmart and then bought the rest at Staples (I ended up finding the pencils here cheaper, so I returned some to W).  I spent about $35.00 vs. the $45 price for supplies through the school.

As far as backpacks go, we haven’t purchased anything, but their backpacks are still good.  We will see if Beckham wants a new one, or even Maddox.

I’ve also gone through all their water cups/bottles and will buy a good water bottle for each of them.

2. Lunches:

Lunches can be such a pain for so many reasons.  I’ll give you a run down on what I put in lunches, and what I use to pack them.  I use a couple of different things to pack lunches.

-Throw it all in the lunch box.

-Organized in a Bento box of some sort.

For the most part the kids have a sandwich (PBJ, PBB, Ham, Turkey) or just meat like deli turkey/ham or a hot dog.  Then they have some sort of chips/pretzels/crackers.  There’s always fruit, juice, and a treat (usually a fruit snack).  Sometimes I’ll add a yogurt, applesauce, cheese stick, granola bar, olives, or something extra.

I have used the Ziploc containers before as well as just packaged foods with plastic bags to pack stuff.  This year I ordered the YUMBOX to also store stuff as they have more compartments and I know the boys would enjoy a lot of variety.  i got the blue one and green one.  I’ve used the Bentgo boxes before but they’re too small now.  I plan on using a mix of throwing all the food in the lunch box and the Yumbox/Ziploc containers.

Here is an example of a typical lunch in the Ziploc container

I found these super tiny containers at Target and they’re the perfect size for dressing.  They fit inside the box too.  Here was some Ranch with snap peas.

This is an example of the blue Yumbox I got for the boys.

After a ton of research, I got these lunch boxes to pack their food in.  I like these because they fit the Yumbox and Ziploc containers and they’re “no crush” lunch boxes so if I throw it all in there, the food won’t get smashed down if put in his backpack.  It also has a spot in front for his snack and side pocket for his water bottle.

In addition to the above stuff, I let the boys pick out a 10oz Thermos.  Beckham picked this one  and Maddox picked this one.  I plan on putting cold and hot stuff such as soups, chicken nuggets, and macaroni.

3. Organized Clothes:

I am not a morning person and neither are my boys so minimal decisions are key to getting out earlier than we’re used to.  We will set out our clothes for the week in this $5 shoe organizer I got from Walmart.

I labeled each box with a day of the week.  Maddox is navy, Beckham is red.  There is a stool underneath for those top couple of spots.

This is what it will look like with clothes in them.  I had to put a couple of push pins on the bottom boxes so they clung to the wall because it was moving too much.  This one is from Walmart, but here is a similar one on Amazon.  I also like this one because each of the boys could reach them with a few extra shelves on top.

4. Morning & Night Routine:

There are a few things I want the kids to do every morning and night to make things go smoothly.

These are their routine charts that hang in their room.  I’m going to need them on a routine, especially when baby gets here and it’s just me putting them to bed.

Feel free to download these routines and use for yourself.  Just click on the image to get the PDF.

 

5. Back to School signs:

I always like taking some pictures of the boys holding signs on the first day of school.  I have several you can choose from.  You can get them through my Etsy shop and simply print them at home or an office supply store.  They’re easy, quick, and super cute.  I had Beckham model a few of them for me…and I might or might not let these be his first day of school pictures.  Lol

You can find all my back to school signs HERE.

6. Books:

A simple thing we’re doing to get ready for Kindergarten is reading books.  I’m reading the following 3.

The Night Before Kindergarten

On the First Day of Kindergarten

Kindergarten, Here I Come!

I ordered them all off Amazon and I believe they were all under $5.00.

7. Teacher Survival Kit:

I wanted to give Beckham’s teacher something for the first day of school, so I created this printable and filled this pencil box with a bunch of goodies.  I know as a former teacher, things like this are so thoughtful and not to mention, yummy!!!

I want his teacher to know we support her and know that what she does is important.  You can grab the printable here in my Etsy shop.

 

I simply put all the goodies in the box and taped the printable on the top.

I’ll have Beckham sign his name at the bottom to personalize it.  A little stash for his sweet teacher to grab when she needs a pick me up, especially the first week of school.  Bless all teachers!

8. A Good Planner:

I need to write a whole entire post on this, but a good planner is worth the money for me.  I like writing stuff down and have been using a paper planner for several years now.  This is my 5th or  6th year of ordering a planner online from big name brands and this planner is by far my favorite for me.

I used Plum Paper two years ago and missed them so much that I ordered this one to start in September even though I still have through December on my other planner.  Ideally, I’d like my planners to start in August, but I ordered it a few days ago so once it gets here, it will be ready for September.

I’ll go into more detail about my new planner once it arrives, but I did a post about Plum Paper HERE (this post also is about how I manage everything…well, attempt to).  I got a slightly different version, but most of the pages are the same.  I can’t wait to get it!  And let me just say that the coil is everything on a planner…I speak from bad experience!  Plum Paper has the best coil.

I use a planner to keep everything organized, including Ryan’s reffing schedule, the boys’ activities, my blog, my to-do list, projects, business info, and more!  I love that it’s all in one place and personalized for me and my life.

Well, there you have it.  Everything we’re doing over here to get ready for school.  I’m excited about the new school year and watching Beckham start Kindergarten.  I can’t believe it’s finally here.  I’m also excited to spend a little time with my middle kid since he’s never had that time with me before.  And finally, excited to see the chaos unfold with Baby #3 soon!  A sweet little girl to complete our family.

I can’t wait to read the other posts in this link up and get some new ideas.

This post contains affiliate links.  For further detail, see my full disclosure here.