September is nearly here, and with a new school year beginning it’s as good a time as any to get organised. Here are a few ideas

New year, new planner

Many parents prefer to use academic year planners, rather than calendar year planners to keep their children’s lives in order. A shared calendar will help everyone to understand where they should be and what time. Some families find an electronic planner works best. But others do better with a paper planner. September can be a good time to switch if the family calendar system you started in January has let you down one too many times.

Archive old school books

At the end of summer, school books come home and in many cases they sit on the end of the kitchen table for weeks on end. It’s worth having a look through so you and your child can see how far they have come over the school year. But after that… does anyone ever look at them again? Most people don’t need to save all their children’s school books. Of course there will be special bits of work, but you can always save those in a portfolio or an app like Keepy. But there is no need to store all those books available indefinitely.

Despite that, it can be hard to let go of your children’s school books immediately. It’s often easier to make the decision to dispose of schoolwork after a little time has passed. By boxing up last year’s exercise books and putting them into storage, you can keep them out of the way of your day-to-day life until you’re ready to sort through and recycle the ones you don’t want.

Declutter your hallway for easy mornings

A tidy hall will make your mornings so much easier because it will help everyone to locate their keys, bookbag, hockey stick, shoes, coat, umbrella etc. Children and adults are more likely to put things away if every item has its own space. And if everything has been carefully put away, it will be easy to find in the morning rush.

There are probably as many ways of organising an entryway as there are families – but if we could pick one universal rule, we would recommend decluttering. This means removing anything that should not be in the hall – for example, junk mail or items on their way to the tip or the charity shop. It’s also worth removing things that are out of season, like winter coats in summer, or sun hats in winter.

Need more detailed inspiration for a tidy hall? Here’s our post about decluttering your hall.

Store away hand-me-downs

Many families rely on a steady supply of hand-me-down school uniform to keep their children shod and dressed. But keeping outgrown clothing in your children’s current wardrobe is a recipe for chaos. Keep your school mornings low-key and stress free by putting clothes not in current use out of sight until you need them. Your storage unit is the perfect place to keep items of clothing while you wait for the next child to grow into it. Don’t forget to put a reminder in your calendar so you know to check out what you already have before buying new.

Save money on your self-storage insurance

If your new school year organising has caused you to put more items into your storage unit, now would be a good time to check that your insurance still meets your needs. Many storage companies encourage you to buy insurance from them to cover your personal property. You can often get a good deal on self-storage insurance from specialists like Store and Insure, so get a quick quote today.

And from Store and Insure to all families with school age children, have a successful 2021/22 academic year.