We can’t quite believe after all these months it’s now ‘Back to School’ time!! Whether your children started back this week or they go next week, we are all still adjusting to this “new normal”.
I recently put a call out in our Facebook local parents chat group and Instagram page stories:
“What are your top time saving tips on how to get organised for school? Morning routines, lunchbox / meal preparation, organising school uniforms, PE kits and all the communications that come from school…. Let’s help each other out and share them!!”
Well you wonderful people, share them you did! Thanks to everyone who sent tips and photos through. Here’s a selection of some of your ideas to help us all feel a bit more organised and on top of being “Back to School”.
Clothes / School Uniform / PE Kit & bags
- Get ready on the Sunday evening and use something like this (see left/top photo below) with everything in the drawer for each day. (Hayley C)
- We keep different coloured clipboards in the kitchen on the wall for all the school notices and I take photos of them all in case they go missing. Every day empty kids bags and then I try and deal with them straight away so I don’t forget – then they get clipped up on the relevant board until needed. I hated searching the house for them. In the end I kept a pen in the car and filled them in before we left the car park. (Karen G)
- Sort everything the night before!! I always think I’ll have more time than I do in the morning. Lunches and bags get packed and uniforms hung up night before. (Gemma T)
- Clothes organised by day! I wash all of them on a Friday night, dry overnight, and put away by Saturday morning. Then you don’t have to worry about it all weekend. Have a visual morning routing for younger ones: toilet, dressed, breakfast, teeth etc. No TV/tech on a morning as this just delays everyone. (Zoe M – see middle photo below)
- I write on a post it note by the front door which day needs which bag, eg Monday PE, Tuesday Gymnastics, Weds Rainbows etc. But I also try and hang the relevant bag on the front door handle the night before too, so I don’t forget it. Also in Winter, I give school shoes a wipe over as soon as I get home as I find it really annoying just as we’re about to walk out of door that school shoes are caked in mud! (Emma J)
- Clarks. Buy a foot gauge from them then you can measure your child’s foot size yourself and order from home. (Clare G)
- Found this genius idea (see right/bottom photo below) created by a mum in the Team TOMM group (if you know, you know!). “I made this to help with morning routines last September as I had a newborn to get out the house with too.” (Alexandra P). Alexandra has kindly agreed to share her template document with us, so you can download and amend it for your children in MS Word. Click here to download Alexandra’s Child’s Morning Routine Checklist Word doc template.
- Don’t forget when your little ones grow out of their uniform, consider donating to or getting the next size up from a school uniform exchange. Find your local exchange on the Leeds School Uniform Exchange group.
Clothes and equipment
“Stamptastic name stamp to save messing with pens and iron on labels. Lasts forever as their name is unlikely to change” (Clare G – haha thanks Clare, this made us smile)- “Stickins are great for labelling. Just stick them on, they don’t come off. Simple text but does the job and is really cheap.” (Carol J)
- “We used to use Stickens until they ran out or we lost them. Now I just scribble on the label!” (Sarah C – love this, back to the old skool!)
- “I’ve used stick labels, Stamptastic, and a pen too. Stamptastic my fave for ease but when I went to use it this year, the ink stamp has dried up. The replacement is expensive but we found this alternative replacement (Ranger Archival Ink – see image) from Amazon, which wasn’t too pricey.” (Emma J)
- I use the Tiny Me labels, which are fab as you can use them on anything – clothes, bottles, lunchboxes, shoes, everything!” (Laura RT)
Meal preparation / school lunches
Clothes / School Uniform / PE Kit & bags
- Get ready on the Sunday evening and use something like this (see left/top photo below) with everything in the drawer for each day. (Hayley C)
- We keep different coloured clipboards in the kitchen on the wall for all the school notices and I take photos of them all in case they go missing. Every day empty kids bags and then I try and deal with them straight away so I don’t forget – then they get clipped up on the relevant board until needed. I hated searching the house for them. In the end I kept a pen in the car and filled them in before we left the car park. (Karen G)
- Sort everything the night before!! I always think I’ll have more time than I do in the morning. Lunches and bags get packed and uniforms hung up night before. (Gemma T)
- Clothes organised by day! I wash all of them on a Friday night, dry overnight, and put away by Saturday morning. Then you don’t have to worry about it all weekend. Have a visual morning routing for younger ones: toilet, dressed, breakfast, teeth etc. No TV/tech on a morning as this just delays everyone. (Zoe M – see middle photo below)
- I write on a post it note by the front door which day needs which bag, eg Monday PE, Tuesday Gymnastics, Weds Rainbows etc. But I also try and hang the relevant bag on the front door handle the night before too, so I don’t forget it. Also in Winter, I give school shoes a wipe over as soon as I get home as I find it really annoying just as we’re about to walk out of door that school shoes are caked in mud! (Emma J)
- Clarks. Buy a foot gauge from them then you can measure your child’s foot size yourself and order from home. (Clare G)
- Found this genius idea (see right/bottom photo above) created by a mum in the Team TOMM group (if you know, you know!). “I made this to help with morning routines last September as I had a newborn to get out the house with too.” (Alexandra P). Alexandra has kindly agreed to share her template document with us, so you can download and amend it for your children in MS Word. Click here to download Alexandra’s Child’s Morning Routine Checklist Word doc template.
- Don’t forget when your little ones grow out of their uniform, consider donating to or getting the next size up from a school uniform exchange. Find your local exchange on the Leeds School Uniform Exchange group.
Thanks again to everyone who shared their tips! I hope you find these ideas useful. At Mumbler, we’re all about making parent’s lives easier. And when we come together as a community and help each other, that’s when we all win at parenting. Hope you all survive the ‘Back to school’ days and your little ones have the best time seeing their friends again.
Any more tips? Please join the South Leeds Mumbler local parents chat group and add them to the post. Or if you’re not a local parent, you can email them to me at southleeds@mumbler.co.uk and I will keep adding to this blog.
You can also hear more news and tips by following us on Instagram and Twitter, and by liking or following the South Leeds Mumbler newspage on Facebook.
Happy schooling! x
Main head image courtesy of Alex Azabache on Unsplash. Other photos courtesy of fellow parents.
We can’t quite believe after all these months it’s now ‘Back to School’ time!! Whether your children started back this week or they go next week, we are all still adjusting to this “new normal”.
“Stamptastic name stamp to save messing with pens and iron on labels. Lasts forever as their name is unlikely to change” (Clare G – haha thanks Clare, this made us smile)
Meal preparation / school lunches
