I'm so excited to have Angela from Blue I Style to share some back to school kitchen organizing advice with you. I've been following Angela's blog for quite a while and I love her style and her organizing projects. I'll let Angela take it from here:
Hi there! I'm Angela from Blue i Style, and I'm so thrilled that Laura invited me to be here today to share some kitchen organizing tips! I am the mom of two young boys and I am passionate about helping others create an organized and pretty, happy home that is child-friendly and doesn't break the bank.
I think most of you will agree that the kitchen is the heart of the home, and getting organized in this space can help all your days run more smoothly – especially during the busy school year.
ORGANIZING SCHOOL PAPERWORK
Our kitchen seems to attract paper! It used to just pile up on the counter, and I tried corralling the pile in a pretty basket before finally admitting that we needed a real organizing system, rather than just a place to hide it. For the last few years, I've been using an acrylic file sorter on our kitchen counter to organize all of the mail and paper that comes into our house on a daily basis, including school paperwork, it's been a game changer.
Within this file sorter I have numerous labeled folders – including one with each of my boy’s names and another labeled “Take Action.” The files with the boys’ names I use for general school paperwork, including school newsletters and the like, while the “Take Action” folder is where we place school documents that need to be signed or other papers that require some action on our part.
For school calendars and special event flyers that we want to keep front and center, we use a bulletin board on the inside of the pantry door. The bulletin board also provides a place to hang birthday party invitations from classmates.
JOTTING DOWN DAY TO DAY REMINDERS
We also needed of a place to write down quick day to day notes and reminders, so I affixed some of my boys’ artwork to small clipboards and added a chalkboard finish. We can now use a chalk marker to jot down the daily reminders on these DIY clipboards, and then wipe them away to start again.
My sons’ preschool sends home a daily reports that occasionally include notes like “bring cardboard toilet paper rolls for next week's craft project.” These are the types of notes that we now use the chalkboard to jot down.
The clipboard element is also very useful because it allows us to clip up papers that need to be returned to school, such as signed permission slips and class photo order forms. I also use these clipboards to keep the name labels that we use for all of the boys' belongings always at the ready.
PACKING SCHOOL LUNCHES
One of my favorite organizing tips is to make good use of every available space. Our pantry is not very deep, but by adding a couple of Command hooks on the wall {above and below the chalkboard clipboards}, we are able to keep the lunch bags off the floor without taking up valuable shelf space.
To take advantage of the significant space below our lowest pantry shelf, I added drawers where we keep foods that we often pack in school lunches and snacks, such as applesauce pouches, cheese and crackers, and granola bars.
By putting these drawers in the bottom of the pantry, the boys can easily reach mom-approved snacks and can also help with packing lunches in the morning.
To make lunch packing quick and easy, I also keep all the small tupperware that we use for school contained in one of these drawers. Since everything we send to school has to be labeled with our boys’ names, it saves time to keep our labeled lunch-packing tupperware right here next to the lunch foods, and separate from the tupperware that I use for storing leftovers.
STORING WATER BOTTLES
My boys each take a small water bottle to school each day, but those dang bottles are top heavy and so tipsy when you sit them on a shelf. It seemed like every time I reached in for one, I'd knock all the others over. I finally came up with a hassle free solution by placing all of the kids' water bottles in a plastic bin on one of our cabinet shelves. {And I made room in the cabinet by relocating all of our spices to the narrow wall of the pantry.}
Speaking of top heavy and hard to store – you can read more about how we organized baby bottles and sippy cups in the kitchen when the boys were younger in this post.
A PLACE FOR JACKETS AND BACKPACKS
We have a detached garage and have to cross through our backyard when we come and go from the house. Since we don’t have a dedicated mudroom, this means wet shoes and jackets always end up in the kitchen. We didn’t want our kids to have to drag their wet gear all the way through the main floor to get to the coat closet in the front entry, so we create a mudroom-like space in the a formerly unused corner of the kitchen just, inside the back door, by adding a bench with hooks above.
Now we have a place to hang the kids' jackets and backpacks, and a place for remove their shoes as soon as they enter the house. {You can read all about our kitchen mudroom here.} The backpacks typically stay on these hooks during the school week, but on weekends and during school breaks, I move them to the hooks that we installed on the side wall of our
newly organized coat closet.
Even if you don’t have the space to create a built-in mudroom, consider where you might be able to add a bench with baskets or even just a few hooks on the wall. Providing a dedicated place for the kids’ gear keeps the kitchen organized and makes it easy to find things on your way out the door the next morning.
PROTECTING PRECIOUS ARTWORK
My kids bring home artwork from school nearly every week. I don't keep every single piece, but I would like to turn some of them into a keepsake book eventually, so for now, I collect them in labeled, archival safe storage boxes that I keep stacked in one of the mudroom cabinets.
Once you have the kitchen prepped for the school year, here are two more of my favorite back to school organizing tips:
Angela is an attorney turned stay-at-home mom of two young boys and Blue i Style is a blog dedicated to all things home. Her aim is to inspire you to create an organized and pretty, happy home that tells your family's story, is child-friendly, and doesn't break the bank! On her blog you'll find loads of inspiration related to interior decor, DIY, organizing, modern crafts, seasonal projects, and entertaining.
Katie Howe Says
Wow, what truly brilliant advice!
My four year old son starts primary school in three weeks and my daughter will start pre school in the autumn once she turns two. These tips are going to really help me juggle everything. I particularly like the acrylic file holder idea. How handy to have everything together in the perfect location where I’ll always see it! Thank you so much for sharing.
Irene Says
Looking forward to getting organised.
Regards
Irene
Liz Says
Great ideas! Love your mud room space!