Back To School | The Paper Tiger Blog

Posts Tagged ‘back to school’

Back To School Organizing Tips

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

This article by Sherry Borsheim, a Paper Tiger Expert of International Association of Business Organizing (IABO), provides great tips to getting your back to school clutter organized to cut down on the chaos and ensure your family’s sanity and peace of mind. Sherry recommends Paper Tiger filing system software for document management to help you find your paper files and other items again after finding a home for them.

No matter how chaotic it gets at home, having a system for keeping track of kids’ things is essential. There’s sports schedules and phone lists, papers to sign, health records, music books, report cards, and precious keepsakes that tend to pile up around the house.

Then there’s the sports equipment, jackets, shoes, backpacks, lunch containers, homework, projects, and electronics that your children drop at the door when they come home from school each day. Times this by three to five kids and you’ve got a giant heap sitting on the floor on a daily bases.

The key to keeping your sanity and peace of mind is to create a place for them to easily hang their coat and backpacks. I love the storage locker system if you can create space for this in your home. Also, create a homework area and have all the necessary supplies handy for their projects as well.

Then gather all the sports equipment and store each child’s items in separate bins, for each sport. Store bulky equipment in a one area, sports clothes in their closet. If they play soccer and baseball, then have a small clear container for each sport and make sure to label the bins “Soccer Clothes” and “Baseball Clothes.” When you’re rushing out the door to soccer, the right socks and shorts will be in one place verses all over the bedroom or house.

Next create a Family Reference Binder with tabs for each child. Behind each child’s tab you can file their sports schedules, music schedule and any other important phone numbers that you want to have at your fingertips! Everyone in the family will thank you for gathering all the papers and putting them in one central location!

Now to deal with all the other papers. In a filing cabinet, create a hanging file for each child and keep any awards, report cards and other keepsakes in this file for the current school year. At the end of the school year, simply take out the papers and file into their keepsake box. For larger artwork, just take a picture and store the photo in their school photo album. Or store large artwork in an art porfolio.

Be realistic about what school papers and artwork you are going to keep. The more stuff you have, the more time and space it will take up to store it. A good rule of thumb is to “keep the best of the best and let the rest go”. Ask yourself, when was the last time you looked at your keepsake box stored in your attic?

Don’t miss this
Back to School Special!

This month only, the Back to School Bootcamp Special is for our brand new Home Organizing Bootcamp with immediate access so you can get started on your home or office organizing projects. Get the tools, reourses and help you need to conquer your organizing projects around your home and your office. Take advantage of the summer weather and down-time that you have in August and special offer!

We give you organizing solutions for every room in your home and office with step-by-step instructions featuring audio’s, video’s, forms and more…

Learn more on how you can get your home and office organized before the September rush!

About International Association of Business Organizing

The mission of the International Association of Business Organizing (IABO) is to inspire people to unclutter their offices, homes and lives for peace of mind. We believe that when businesses are uncluttered and organizing systems and process are in place, businesses run smoother and they are more profitable.

IABO provides support, education and resources to business owners, professional organizers, managers and administrative staff worldwide. We empower them and teach them how to create effective office organizing systems and behaviors that work for them and/or their team through our teleseminars, videos, online content, webinars and coaching programs.

We help businesses streamline their workflow and empower new behaviours and levels of success professionally and personally. We help you grow your bottom line!

Learn more and get your systems set up today!

Sherry Borsheim
President of International Association of Business Organizing &
Simply Productive
Email: info@bizorganizing.com
www.BizOrganizing.com
www.simplyproductive.com

Tags: back to school, document management software, get organized, office organizing systems, paper filing systems, Paper Tiger "finding" filing system, professional organizer
Posted in Sherry Borsheim, back to school | No Comments »

Organization Is The Key When Going Back To School

Monday, August 9th, 2010

School is a major part of any child’s life. It’s also a huge commitment on the part of parents from both a time and money perspective. Organization is the key when going to school.

You may have children starting school for the very first time, or going back to school at a higher grade level. Overall the same principles should apply. The better organized you are, the better it will be for you and your children.

Purchase School Supplies and Wall Calendar

Most schools provide a list of supplies needed to bring with them, i.e., pens, pencils, folders (can be color-coded), labels, highlighters, etc.

Backpacks are essential for carrying books, papers and other supplies. According to the experts, contents of the backpack should be no more than 10-20% of the child’s weight.

If you live in the U.S., check the Sales Tax Holidays at http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/sales_holiday.html for individual states before shopping.

A wall calendar will be necessary to ensure everyone keeps up with the new schedule, with after-school and/or sports activities. If you can, use an online calendar that both you and children can update with important dates. This will be helpful if you’re a working parent with a busy life, trying to juggle work and school commitments. It can be updated and either of you can access it from anywhere.

Establish a Routine

• Start a few days before school and have your child(ren) go to bed and get up at the normal time to get ready for school.

• Plan your evenings so they will be able to go to bed at a time to get the required amount of sleep for each individual child. According to National Sleep Foundation, “Sleep is especially important for children as it directly impacts mental and physical development.” See http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topics/children-and-sleep

- Set a regular time for bed each night and stick to it
- Avoid feeding children big meals close to bedtime
- Avoid giving anything with caffeine less than six hours before bedtime
- Make after-dinner playtime a relaxing time
- Establish a calming bedtime routine

• Plan for a healthy breakfast and healthy snacks for each day, so they will have the energy to handle the day’s activities.

• Plan for homework and exercise/play time.

• Every night before going to bed, have children get in the habit of picking out their clothes for the next day and packing their backpacks. This will ensure that you don’t have to iron something in the morning or a last minute search for that paper that needs to be signed and turned in.

• Get together periodically (daily or weekly) to talk about what projects are due, when they are due, and what supplies are needed so that you won’t have a last minute run to the store the night before a project is due.

• Once school starts, the calendar will quickly fill up with activities. Study will be a major component. Teach children to schedule their homework times so they don’t become overwhelmed, and don’t wait till the last minute to complete assignments.

Learn Productivity and Organizational Skills

Try this great resource of activities to help your child succeed in school and learn productivity and organizational skills, as well: http://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/succeed/index.html

To keep all the school papers and instructions organized, create a filing system where you can keep all records in one place. Receipts for everything associated with school can be included, in addition to information such as school reports, excursions and any extra curricular activities. These files can be indexed in Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System so that when you need something, you can quickly conduct a search for the keyword relating to the item and find it quickly.

Organization is the key when going to school. If you can instill that fact in your children and follow the same plan yourself, then you won’t feel completely overwhelmed. This will also teach your children how to better manage stress and life balance.

Tags: back to school, document management software, Organize, The Paper Tiger 'Finding' Filing System
Posted in Get Organized, back to school | 1 Comment »

Posts Tagged ‘back to school’

Back To School Organizing Tips

Organization Is The Key When Going Back To School

Search

Latest Tweets

Email Newsletter

Latest Webinars

Post Categories