Back to School Organization: Unpack Your Backpack Station

Post by Rebecca Green of Not-So-SAHM

Our kids are still wringing out the final days of their summer break, but I am in full on back to school mode. I’m a big organizer yet I constantly struggle with the kids’ backpack mess. They come in, fling their shoes off in the middle of the living room, and toss their packs to the side. And no one ever remembers to check in their backpack for actual work. So this year I decided to do something about it. Enter The Land of Nod’s Linear Book Cart.

I love thinking of new ways to use furniture and the book cart was the perfect solution to create an Unpack Your Backpack Station. Plus, Nod furniture is always designed so well, it can still fit into a grown up space. So I don’t mind having this one sitting in my entryway. I used the bottom shelf as a shoe holder and am hoping giving the kids a designated spot for shoes, instead of just “by the door,” will help the kiddos actually put them away.

On the top shelf, I added three X-Ray storage boxes: red for incoming papers, green for things that need to go back out to school, and yellow for items they want to save (like all the artwork ever). The see through boxes will help me see what’s actually there and make sure we just don’t put things away and not deal with them (out of sight, out of mind and all). I plan to go through the yellow box when it gets full and make a final call on keeping and filing them in the kids’ yearly school + artwork boxes or  to tossing them. And once the kids get their weekly schedules from school (e.g., when reading books come home, when homework has to go back, what day to wear gym shoes, etc.), I might add those on to the end of the cart for them to follow.

But for now, I looped each kiddos’ backpack on the end so they always know where to find it. And I topped off the whole thing with my favorite Modern Facet Garland for a little fun. Thanks to The Land of Nod for helping us get organized — we’re all ready …. we just need school to start!

Rebecca is a mom to two young kiddos and, in her spare time (ha!), likes to pretend she’s a back-up dancer, craft cocktails, and run long distances. A relatively recent SAHM, she blogs family-friendly activities, DIYs and celebration fun at Not-So-SAHM.