Can you believe summer is almost over? Me either! School doesn’t start for another month for those of us in Missouri but our family and friends in Georgia only have a week and a half before sweet summertime comes to an end. Summer is always too short for me. I love summer days with my girls filled with outdoor adventures, cooking, long days at the pool, traveling, cards… all the card games, intense games of driveway basketball and ice cream every single night! We made a very intentional decision last fall to place firm boundaries around our family time. It has been the best things we could have ever done for our little family of 5 (we can’t forget our Sofie girl). This includes time around projects, organizing, cleaning, etc. This mean that we have to be intentional with how we spend all of our time so that entire days aren’t filled with packing or unpacking for vacation, cleaning house, organizing any one space or simply unpacking boxes from a recent move. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. Do we try really hard to stick to you it? You bet!

Here is a loose 15 day list of daily tasks to get your home ready to go back-to-school (even if you just moved in):

Day 1: If you haven’t already (and trust me it’s okay if you haven’t). Clean out those backpacks, cubbies, counters or wherever your child dumps their school work. This step is solely to get everything in one place. A bin or laundry basket works well for this step. Now backpacks are ready to be reloaded when the time comes! Move the bin or basket to a place to work on tomorrow. That’s enough for today! Go enjoy your kiddos! *If you just moved into your home, locate and unpack backpacks and lunch boxes.

Day 2: Remember the basket from yesterday? Empty it. Choose what you want to keep and what you’d like to discard. Be sure to place the keepers in whatever filing system you have for keeping. The follow-thru on this is very important.

Day 3: Decide if last years school work collecting system worked well for you. Great if it did! If it did not or if you just moved into a new home, choose and execute a new system for this year.

Day 4: Go through your kids clothes. What fits? What doesn’t? Donate! Make a list of what your child needs to start the school year. You can break this down into several days, one day for each child. Collaborate with your child about a plan for choosing and laying out their outfits for the coming year. If they are involved in this step they are more likely to follow through.

Day 5: Create a shopping list for clothes and school supplies.

Day 6: Go shopping! This one should be fun!

Day 7: Choose photo props for 1st day of school!

Day 8: Haircuts for everyone! In our family we get one cut a year and it is usually before school starts.

Day 9: Work on your calendar. Whatever you use to keep up with activities, dates, sports, etc. Try to fill in as much of the first week and month as you can. Choose a day of the week to update your calendar. Create a reminder on your smart phone that prompts you to update calendars.

Day 10: Meal plan for the first week of school. I know you think I’m crazy and that’s okay but I promise you that breaking these tasks into smaller tasks feels a lot better than all at once. Choose a meal planning day of the week. Do the same as you did with your calendar and create a reminder on your smart phone to do this weekly.

Day 11: Organize your pantry. Check expiration dates, staleness, etc.

Day 12: Organize refrigerator. Check expiration dates, staleness, etc.

Day 13: Make edits to your meal plan if needed and make a grocery list for the first week of school! This is a great way to get a head of the game and be prepared for the chaos of the first week of school.

Day 14: Shop for and put away groceries!

Day 15: Lay out clothes using your new system, pack lunches & backpacks! Enjoy the last day of summer with your kiddos!

I recognize that some of these things can be done in one day. The idea is to reduce the overwhelming feeling of all the things that need to be done before school starts while leaving plenty of time to enjoy the last days of summer. Whether you are in a new home or have been in your home a while, I hope you find this list helpful in breaking down the overwhelming task of preparing your home for back to school!