Workin' It Wednesday.....Back to School Edition

Happy Wednesday friends! It is Workin' It Wednesday. A monthly link up with Shay & Erika. Sharing tips for working mamas on keeping it together.

This month's topic is "Getting geared up for back to school".

What? Back to school? I just took this picture because we were so excited for Summer!

And now we have to gear up to go back??

We do still have a few more weeks here in New York. My kiddos first day is September 6th.

But to be perfectly honest, I think Ella asked to do her back to school shopping right after I took the school's out picture! Any excuse to go to Target is right up her alley!

Here are a few things we do to gear up for back to school.

one

The highlight for my kids by far is shopping for supplies. They come home with the supply list on the last day of school and ask if we can go that night! I mean, I love a fresh box of crayons as much as they do...but buying supplies on the first day of Summer vacation??

This is how Ella & Luke feel about school supplies....

Here is a tip that I use on the last day of school to save on school supplies. They come home the last day with all their stuff from the desk and we go through it that day. We look at the list for next year and reuse anything we can from the year before. Scissors, rulers and usually some of the colored folders we can use a second year! This way we don't buy stuff we already have and we can cross a few things of the supply list for next year!

two

New gear. A few years ago the kids each got a nicer backpack. Ella picked a Vera Bradley bag and Luke got one from Under Armour.

Their bags have held up really well, so they will be going into the third year of using these bags. We do go shopping to pick new lunch boxes and water bottles.

three

Set up an organizing system for school papers. The amount of papers and projects coming home in elementary school is crazy. I sort through it daily. If something needs signed or sent back, I do it right then and put it back in the folder. I keep some of the cute artwork or memorable tests and the rest gets recycled. I keep just a little of their schoolwork each year, organized in a tote by grade. I keep these totes in the front closet, so I can just add to it throughout the school year.

Hopefully my kids will appreciate it when they are older and not be missing any of the 971 math worksheets they completed!

four

A meal plan. Life gets crazy during those first few weeks of school, so a plan for dinner is always a good idea! I share my plan every Monday, so stop by and check meal planning off your list!

five

Warm cookies and milk after the first day. There's really nothing better.