Simplifying your life can help you find more time to spend with your family, and keep you organized and on track to reach your family’s goals. A recent Associated Press (AP) poll suggests that family life and interaction with parents is much more important to your kids than you might think. So here are some ideas we’ve come up with that have helped us maintain some order and stability in these busy times of the year.

Back to School Shopping

• Buy school supplies during the first week of school rather than before school starts. You will have a better idea of what they need and most stores run clearance sales starting the first day of school – you can find some real bargains. Or you can watch sale fliers throughout the summer and purchase items, including backpacks, when they are on sale.
• When shopping for school clothes set a budget and make the kids stick to it. This helps them to learn to manage money, bargain shop and make choices. Make a list before you leave the house so that they know what they need to shop for.

Getting Out The Door

• Keep a morning routine – up at a certain time, breakfast, to the bus stop. Set incentives/consequences for hitting or missing the mark.
• Older kids can have their own alarm clock and be responsible for getting themselves up and ready in the morning.

Packing Lunches

• Make the first day of school special – go out to lunch after the kids get home. It is fun to do this on half days throughout the school year too!
• Prepare lunches the night before so that all you (or your kids) have to do in the morning is grab it out of the refrigerator and put an ice pack in it.
• Let your older kids make their own lunch as they will be more likely to eat what’s in it.
• Include notes of encouragement in their lunches (you can even write these notes on bananas!). As kids get older, include Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses in their lunches rather than a note.
• Buy fruit in cans when it’s on sale. When you open it, put it into smaller plastic containers, which is the perfect size for lunches.
• Freeze water bottles for hot days. Make sure you put them in a plastic so they don’t get other things in their lunch wet.
• Pick up lunch from McDonalds, Pizza Hut, or your kids’ favorite take-out place once a month and take it to them at school. Stay and eat with them (if they’ll let you!).

Staying Involved & Organized

• If you work, have your children call you when they get home from school. You’ll find out much more about their day than if you wait until you get home from work, and you’ll have the peace of knowing they are safe at home.
• Older kids (boys and girls!) should have responsibilities at home – cleaning, doing their own laundry and helping prepare dinner. This will help prepare them for college!
• Try to get homework and instrument practice done before dinner so you can have family time after dinner.
• Have a place for kids to leave their backpacks, school papers, things to sign/return, etc. so that you can look things over in the evening and they can quickly find what they need in the morning.
• Have a big calendar on which you can write school activities, tests, etc. Use a different color pen for each child.
• Have a file for each child that you can put immunization records, tests they have taken, stories they have written, report cards, vehicle registrations, ACT scores, college recruiting letters, etc. in. This way you will always know where to find important papers.

Bedtime Routine

• Pick out clothes the night before and make sure your kids know not to change their mind in the morning!
• Have your kids take their showers at night to save some time in the morning.
• Maintain regular bedtimes at the end of summer so your kids get back in to the routine easier. It will save you many headaches as the school year begins.