**i’ve teamed up with some super fun friends on a series of posts about all things back to school! be sure to stick around to the end of this post for easy links to other valuable back to school tips, tricks, advice, and FREEbies you won’t want to miss! 

what’s the hardest part about getting your kids out the door for school? for us, it’s a lot of things. i wish i could say our school mornings are calm, organized, and ahead of schedule. they’re not. most days are rushed and the last seconds with my children are spent shouting things like:

• how can you not know where your shoes are?
• that water bottle is from yesterday. i asked you to fill up a NEW one.
• what is your hair doing?
• no, you cannot bring a light saber to school.
• you want to bring your lunch? i thought you said buy!

sound familiar? this year, we’ll have two {instead of one} to get out the door every day, plus a baby crawling around. that means last year’s crazy will just be multiplied. in anticipation of this, i am already thinking of ways to streamline our school morning routine.

one of the ways i plan to be more organized and save time is with school clothes. do you argue with your kids about clothes? my son E is particular about pants and shorts. he prefers elastic, with no buttons. i can’t say i blame him, but sometimes i just want him to look like he’s going to school, not practice. thankfully, K is pretty chill about clothes, but i am thinking that will change as she gets older.

whether you have picky kids or not, getting dressed is still something they each have to do. every. day. and if your mornings are anything like mine, getting some of this precious time back would make a big difference.

last year, E and i had an agreement that two times a week he could wear whatever he wanted. somedays, i regretted this deal. he was really big on monochromatic outfits for awhile. the other three days he had to wear a pair of normal shorts. which meant non-athletic but still elastic. our agreement cut down a lot on arguments but we still spent time each day picking out clothes. same for K. picking out her outfit took brain power and time every morning.

while packing for florida this past summer, i had an idea. when we travel, i use this method of placing each day’s outfit in a separate ziplock bag for the kids. this includes socks, underwear, and hair bows in addition to tops and bottoms. at first, my husband thought i was totally crazy. but it SAVED SO MUCH TIME on the trip! not to mention, it eliminated outfit arguments completely and kept our suitcases from becoming an overflow of disorganized clothes. even my husband agrees it is one of our best traveling-easier-with-kids strategies to date.

so i asked myself, why don’t i do this for school? it would make our weeks so much easier to have our outfits planned out ahead of time, all the way down to the socks. i could save so much time every morning if we didn’t have to make decisions {or argue} about clothes.

this past week, i was at target and spied these in the dollar spot. they were $5 {which is sneaky of target}, but still. it got me thinking and i decided on a new plan.

beginning in august, we will organize our outfits for the week on sundays. that means shirt, shorts, pants, socks, underwear, hair bow, and anything else we might need. we will also include our gymnastics leotards, baseball uniforms, swim team suits, cub scouts uniforms, etc. maybe this year i will actually remember spirit days! fingers crossed.

we practiced using our new method this past week for vacation bible school. here’s what it looked like. i designed cute labels for each slot and made an easy visual checklist for the kids. K loved it! she thought it was the best thing having her outfit so easy for her to get. she wants to use it for the rest of the summer instead of waiting for school. E had a normal seven-year-old-boy reaction of indifference. i can’t expect him to get as excited about clothes and labels as K and me. his only concern was whether i was still going to let him wear whatever he wants two days a week. ha!

the system definitely made a difference in my morning. i didn’t have to go upstairs to pick things out, or shout from downstairs suggesting places where that one particular shirt might be. i didn’t have to deal with eye rolling when i asked someone to choose a different shirt or wonder if they were wearing clean underwear. and on the days my husband dressed the kids, he loved not worrying whether he was putting them in the right thing.

the kids got dressed more quickly because they didn’t have a chance to get sidetracked while picking out an outfit. we weren’t scrambling for socks or hair bows at the last minute. i was surprised that such a small change could make such a big difference.  i am excited for the time and energy we are going to save once school starts. i am already planning another trip to target this week so i can get C a matching one for when she gets old enough!

here are the labels i used. if you want to make it super easy on yourself, you can grab your FREE copies here.

these HELPFUL back to school printables are also available in the LITTLE free printable library:

• a first day of school printable you can tailor to your child’s grade for first day of school pictures. there is a boy’s and girl’s version.

• a teacher favorites printable. this makes buying teacher’s gifts extra easy! just send the printable to school with your kiddo to learn all your teacher’s favorites. this will save so much time  around the holidays when you’re buying gifts and gift cards. and if you’re the room parent, even better!

• what do you do with all those school papers that come home? this printable will help you get organized when it comes to school papers and artwork. head to this blog post for more on how you can use this SUPER EASY system to store and organize school papers. it has been a lifesaver for us!

psssst. i’ve always wanted to say this…

i’ve teamed up with a group of bloggers!

below, we are discussing ALL things back to school. i have to say, new notebooks and crayola markers have always been a LITTLE thing for me! most parts of back to school are exciting – picking out school supplies, finding out our teachers, and getting back into a routine. but like with school mornings, there are parts of back to school that overwhelm me. especially after a more laid back summer. this year, let’s be prepared!

below you will find some of the best real-life advice when it comes to making back to school as easy as possible for YOU and your family. i cannot believe these ladies offered to share their wisdom with us on this LITTLE blog. i am so thankful for their help in the areas where i struggle! i can’t wait to hear what is most helpful for YOU as you check out the fun ideas and back to school FREEbies in our…

click on the links below the pictures to read more about each of these helpful back to school topics…

{1} First and Last Day of School Free Printable Signs

{2} How to Make a Back to School Shopping Plan That Saves You Money

{3} Free Weekly Meal Planning Printables with Tons of Easy Family Dinner Ideas

{4} A Complete Back-to-School Supplies Checklist {With Free Printable}

{5} 10 Unconventional Back-to-School Books Your Kids Will Love

{6} 10 Ways to Save Money on Back to School Shopping

enjoy friends! 

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