Tag: back to school organizing

When Your College Student Moves Home For The Summer

May is a busy month most years.  But this year, we added an extra layer to the already busy month, when my college student son who lives on campus (the other lives at home) moved home for the summer.  With all of his stuff.

I’ve published over 430 blog articles on my web page.  That’s a lot of articles.  But moving a young adult back home was uncharted territory.   Whoooo, boy.

My sons are either the luckiest people ever or completely tortured for having a mother who is also a certified professional organizer.   I prefer to go with “lucky”, they may have a different opinion.  But here is how we handled Moving Home For Summer!

The Move Home begins long before the big day.

  • The Moving-Home process really starts when your student leaves for the school year.  DO NOT take over your student’s bedroom or storage space when they go away to school. And
  • Keep an inventory of what moved to college with your student.
  • Clear as much out of the bedroom as possible before your student moves home.  I have spent a couple of hours in my son’s room while he’s been away, clearing out clutter, containerizing keepsakes, etc.  I know, ideally your children will do this themselves.  Ideally…
  • Plan for the Big Stuff:  In April, I cleared out one side of his closet to make room for the large storage boxes we sent off to school with him.  Expect to use under-bed storage, too.
  • In March, my son brought home a large suitcase full of stuff he knew he wouldn’t need anymore, to start the process.

Day of:

  • I did not help with the actual pick up / load up  / drive home day.  Son and husband tackled that day, bless them both.  Obviously, my son’s stuff did not come home from college nearly as tidily as it moved TO college, but they loaded up and got home in good time, so props to them.  The two packing tips I would share are 1.  zip-ties to bundle hung clothing together, and 2. reusable shopping bags for the last 10 minutes to toss the last of the random stuff into.
  • Unpack the car when you get home.  All of it.  Yes, all of it.
  • Accept that the mess will grow before it shrinks.

The Week After the Move Home:

  • I have to chuckle, my son just keeps saying he didn’t realize he had so much stuff, and so much he doesn’t need.  These have been teaching moments, to help review his belongings and determine what he does and doesn’t need.  There were a few days when stuff wasn’t getting put away, until he and I realized there was older stuff in his drawers that he had to make decisions about and probably get rid of, to make room for the stuff he does want to keep.
  • Unpack everything.  If food moved home, plan to use up what is perishable.  If items are shelf stable – dried goods, unopened hand soap or shampoo, etc. – consider repacking them for the move back to school to save $$ on restocking.
  • Wash everything (or mostly everything). Dishes, bedding, yep, just wash it all.  He cleaned the toaster and the coffee maker.  Review everything, and make sure it’s all clean.  You REALLY don’t want to find a dirty dish or old towel in three months.  Ew….
  • And, once the stuff is clean, re-pack it.  Kitchen items with kitchen items, books with books, room decor / cords / lamps, etc. all together. Most of the storage cubes in his closet are already re-packed and ready to go back so school in August.

Please, learn from our experiences!  And enjoy your summer with your family!

Paper Management for Evolving Humans (Summer Project #4)

We are all evolving humans, isn’t that cool?  But I am referring to paper management and kids.

I spent a few hours on Sunday organizing papers.  More importantly, this time I involved my evolving humans (my kids) in the process, since they will need to manage their own papers some day.  My boys are tweens and teens, but even little kids can get in on the process, sorting last year’s school papers, using the shredder (with guidance), or taking out the recycling!  We just have to set the example!

There are three main types of paper – Active, Archival and Passive. Each requires specific handling and storage.  One of my sons had the the opportunity to touch all three types of paper this week, this is how it went.

Active Paper: Definition

     Active Papers Require Action.  Mail to open, forms to complete, bills to pay, phone calls to make, etc.

Active Paper: Everyone needs an In-Box.

     As I reviewed papers, I established an in-box for each of my sons.  Each of them now has a 851604_scene7labeled folder in the command center in the kitchen.  I shared the location and purpose with them, I will add to the folders as mail or info comes in, and they will check the folders every couple of days (at least that is the plan!!).  No more counter piles – yeah!!

Active Papers: Even I Need an In-Box.
There is also a folder for me, containing active papers pertaining to my sons that I need to act upon.  For example, it now holds registration info for the middle schooler (8/1), and the photo order form for the high schooler (that he will need on the first day of school 8/18).

Active Papers: Need a Process for Action.

     Establishing a home for active papers keeps them from getting lost and ensures the “action” actually occurs!

Active Papers: Technology is changing how we handle papers.

     Technology is increasingly useful and pervasive in managing paper and information, and our kids are on the ground floor.  Last week, we ordered the high school text books on-line, including the digital texts for my son’s Chromebook.  Few papers come home from school anymore, and much of the kids’ work is completed and even submitted digitally on their tech devices.

Archival Papers: Definition.

     Archival papers are a very important, small and specific category of papers.   Very few papers become archival items.  Archival papers are the papers that we will need today or in 20 years. Birth certificates, sacramental certificates, social security cards, passports.  As we grow up, we may add items like car titles,  mortgage papers or insurance policies.  Again, a small and specific type of paper.

Archival Papers: Safe Storage and Retrieval. 

      One of my sons got his drivers license last week.  The Secretary of State required his SS card  256564_p_open_leftand birth certificate, so he learned where we keep them (a small fireproof portable safe) and how to access them.  The very nice lady at the Sec of State also reminded him that he needs to learn his Social Security # (we’ve told him this, but it means more coming from someone else!!).

     I also cleaned up everyone’s academic binders over the weekend (click here for info).  I weeded out old school news and duplicate event programs, filed each kids’ papers by year in the binder pocket, and generally cleaned up the cabinet where the binders live.  We’ve added to these binders every school year since preschool, and we can refer to them as academic and achievement record.

Passive Papers: Definition.

      Passive papers don’t require action (Active Paper ) nor will they stand the test of time (archival). They just require retention for a certain amount of time, for reference.

Passive Papers:  Keep them for Reference.  

     Passive Papers are the ones that tend to give us the most grief, as this is the biggest category.
We keep passive papers around because we might need to refer back to them, at least for a certain amount of time.   For example, the Sec of State requires two other documents for a driver license, recent mail with a home address on them (we brought a savings account bank statement and a final grade report).

     My high schooler also went through all the papers in his room.  128585_pHe mentioned that he had thrown a lot away (hooray) and sorted the rest into broad categories, like school and music and college.  I suggested 2 other categories, Boy Scouts and bank statements.  We went to Office Depot, bought a $15 file tote, and made hanging file holders for each of his categories.

Decision Making Made Easier.

     There is great power in knowing what papers to keep, because we then know what we can toss.  When you look at a piece of paper, and it doesn’t fall into the three broad types of papers above, or the categories within your Passive Papers, its likely that you don’t need to keep it at all.
 So, tackle your papers this week WITH YOUR KIDS, and let everyone learn from the process!

Back To School: First Things First – Clothes!

These next few weeks are about action and Taking Care of Business for a lot of parents, myself included.  So I am keeping these next few posts simple.

Do-able.

Positive.

Pared down and drama-free.

Just like back-to-school time should be!

So let’s do this!

First things first, friends. Clothes.  Reviewing the current, and shopping for the new.

  1. Before tackling the clothes / closet review, do all the laundry and put it all away. Yes.  All of it.  Away.  And if you say – “All of it?  THERE’S TOO MUCH!”, then that’s an indicator that this project can reap big benefits for you!  And if you say “AWAY?  We don’t have an AWAY for all the clothes!” then that, too, indicates that this project is extremely overdue.
  2. Next, clear a couple hours on the schedule, for you and your children (each child individually).  Make sure you’re both rested and fed.  Don’t start this at 10 pm, or right before lunch.  Turn on some fun music, grab a pad of paper to write down items to purchase, and get at it.
  3. Make the bed, and then cover it with a clean white sheet – it can be great work space for sorting.
  4. Pick a starting spot, and begin.  DO NOT TAKE OUT EVERYTHING AT ONCE!  Tackle a dresser drawer or a single closet shelf at a time.   Better yet, address a single category of clothes at a time.  All the shorts or pants or skirts or shirts, etc.  Do not try to tackle everything at once!
  5. As you work through the clothes, purge items that are: too big, too small, old or beyond repair, off-season, etc.  Label and store the off-season and too-big items, and donate, sell or hand down the too-small or too-old items.
  6. Do an initial quick review, and purge everything that YOU KNOW fits into the above descriptions  (items that are too small, too stained, too icky, etc.).
  7. Now, have your kids try everything else on.  Yes, everything.  Use the criteria listed above when you review the clothes.
  8. I have teenagers, so I also need an “I’ll never actually wear this” pile.  I find this frustrating, but since my sons aren’t overly picky or materialistic, I respect their choices.  I have also declared that I will never buy clothes for my sons without them with me again.  I don’t want to waste the time or money of buying clothes they won’t wear.
  9. Make a list of items that your kids need for the school year and new season.  (If you need a suggested list, http://peaceofmindpo.com/2010/08/05/that-age-old-ritual-back-to-school-clothes-shopping/ ).  I went through my own closet, too, and got rid of an old and tattered pair of pants and dressy skirt, among other things.  I won’t wear them again, but I will need to replace them so I added those items to my personal shopping list.
  10. Put away the clothes you are keeping (for more ideas, check my past blog articles), and deliver the purged items to their destination.  And then go do something fun!

You CAN do this!  And enlisting your child in the process teaches them organizational skills they can use for life.

Let’s Do Lunch This Week!

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I’ve been tackling a project or habit every week this year so far – for example, last week I tweaked my website.  This week I am re-committing to eating a better lunch.  And for me, that means rebooting my Lunch Packing habit.

I’ve fallen into a bad habit of not packing my lunch when I am out of my office all day.  When I am out, I have three options:

  1. buy fast food wherever I happen to be;
  2. skip lunch until I get home, which usually leaves me feeling crummy; or
  3. settling for a Clif bar or granola bar, which are better than nothing but still not a solid lunch.

Not packing a lunch costs me money, can make me late for client appointments, and is unhealthy in lots of way.

Why is a Packed Lunch better?

  • It’s cheaper:  home-cooked food is almost always cheaper per meal than food we buy out at a restaurant.  In addition, packing a lunch allows us to use our leftovers well.
  • It’s more convenient:  Packing a lunch when I am out and about saves me the time of running in or waiting in line somewhere to buy something.
  • It’s healthier: Planning ahead lets us make healthier meals, with less fat and sodium, and better nutritional content. When I work from home, planning a healthy lunch keeps me from making unhealthy choices in my own kitchen!
  • It tastes better.  I’m a good cook, so my lunches are tastier than what I might buy while I’m out.

How To Make Packing Lunch Work:  Plan ahead, of course!

  • Start small, packing a lunch just one or two days a week at first, if that helps.
  • Invest a little money in a lunch bag and re-usable containers.  You may already have such items in your home.
  • Dedicate a lunch-zone in your kitchen for lunch packing,  Stock it with plastic utensils, napkins, lunch and sandwich bags or re-usable containers, fruit bowl, etc., to make your assembly easy.
  • When you’re at the grocery this week, make sure to pick up healthy lunch items.
  • Make extra for dinner tonight.  I warmed up a delicious leftover cheeseburger last week, and soup and chili are always great the next day.
  • Busy mornings?  Pack lunches at night, after dinner.  We easily forget in the morning, so having the bags packed and in the fridge make success likely!

What’s for lunch?

  • Be creative!  You know what you like, there is no reason that all the things you love can’t be packed in a lunch!
  • A variety of small items is great for me, as I drive between clients or meetings during the day. String cheese, fresh fruit, granola or clif bars, hardboiled eggs (already peeled, of course), pretzels, carrots and other veggie sticks all satisfy my need to snack but are also easily stored and consumed in bits and pieces.
  • If I know I will be seated somewhere as I eat my lunch, I’ll pack the tuna salad, sandwich or leftovers (I just made a batch of this today, for lunches all week).

So join me in a packed lunch this week, and save time and money while eating better!

Tweak Your Morning Routines this Week!

This past week provided excellent practice for heading back to school.  All three of my sons have had morning activities, helping us refresh our morning routines morning-clipart-5-free-summer-clipart-illustration-of-a-happy-smiling-sunbefore school actually starts.  We have discovered some stumbling blocks, and can now clear them before the first day in a few weeks.

Whether you are going back to school or not, I recommend we all take some time to tweak our morning routines this week.  Here is how:

  1. Sit down with everyone involved in your morning routine. Discuss start times, breakfast options, bedtimes, carpooling, etc.  If your schedule is the only one to consider, sit down with a pen and paper, and think about your morning routine.
  2. Look at what works:
    1. My youngest son’s schedule is unchanged, so he and I will stick with our regular plan, in the 7 am to 8:20 time slot.
    2. I have the most flexibility in the morning, since I am up really early but don’t need to be anywhere until I drop off the little guy.  I’ll move my routine around everyone else.
  3. Look at what needs fixed:
    1. We have to rearrange our shower schedule from years past, as we’ll have two high-schoolers with a 7 am start time and my husband still needs to be up and out of the house by 6:45.  (I am just going to stand back, though, and let the three earliest risers figure out their plan).
    2. We need to recommit to better breakfasts.
  4. Get everyone their own clock, and make they know how to use it correctly!  Kids need alarm clocks.  Because Mom is tired of nagging (or maybe that’s just me).
  5. Make breakfast portable.  Not everyone likes to eat breakfast before 7 am, at least not in my house, but they still need to have something nutritious with them.  So healthy and portable breakfasts are going to be very important this year.  With my kids’ collaboration, I’m planning on breakfast bars or granola bars, microwaveable breakfast sandwiches and fresh fruit.
  6. Plan ahead now!  Regardless of your student’s age (or yours), determine bed times and wake-up times.  And start adjusting your current sleep and wake times to line up with the new ones.  For example, we came home earlier than normal on Sunday night  from a weekend away, because early Monday morning was just too chaotic last week.   As mentioned, great practice for back-to-school!

Spend a little time this week improving your morning routine, and reap benefits all year long!

10 Habits for the Organized Student at School

It is vital for a student’s academic success
to find what they need when they need it.

     I offer a class called NAPO In The Schools, a service project through the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO.net) geared towards helping 3rd-5th graders get and stay organized.   Establishing organization skills early helps in school and in life.  I spend 50 minutes with the student groups helping them to positively answer:  “Can you find what you need when you need it?”

     Here are 10 suggestions to help your student ‘find what they need when they need it’ at school.

Time Management:

1.  Take a minute every day to tidy up your desk or locker and get rid of trash.  Maintenance is worth the time investment. 

2.  Break big tasks into little manageable pieces:  For example, if you are working on a book report, reading a chapter a day is good for your final grade and personal satisfaction, instead of skimming in a hurry the night before a report is due.

Stuff Management:

3.  When it is time to move, either from class to class, or when you are heading home for the day, think ahead to your next activity, and grab all the stuff you need, so you don’t have to come back for anything.

4.  Make it easy to find your stuff.  Color code your notebooks and folders, or at least CLEARLY LABEL each notebook, so you don’t grab the wrong one.

5.  When it is time to go home, go through a check list in your head. Use a memory trick, like thinking about you from head to toe to remember all your snow gear, or thinking about your class schedule to remember your homework assignments

6.  Consider the people around you, and keep your stuff from overlapping into other people’s space.

7.  Keep similar things together.  Like all your soccer equipment in one bag, specifically for that sport.

8.  Store stuff where you need it.  Like the stuff that is to go home in your locker or backpack instead of in your desk.

9.  Designate a spot for the really important stuff and make sure those important things always make it back to that spot.  Always put your house keys or cell phone in the same inside pocket of your back pack, so you can find them when you need them.

10. Keep the stuff you use all the time close at hand.  Like pens and pencils and other small items at the front of your desk, so you can see them and grab them quickly.

So, print these up and present them to your student.  Sit down and discuss with them which suggestions you both feel they have already mastered, and then pick one more to try this week.  Help your student establish organizing habits for success in school and in life!