3 Simple School Year Systems to Keep Your Home Organized

Get organized before school starts with 3 simple school year systems. Discover back-to-school tips for managing papers, schedules, and clutter.

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Your home’s about to be flooded with papers, projects, calendars, and a million back-to-school forms, and we’re here to help you stay sane.

Hi, I’m Tara! I’m a mom of three boys and I can tell you, getting systems in place before school starts has been the key to keeping our home running smoothly.

On top of wrangling my own crew, I run a small business in Lexington Kentucky where my team and I help delcutter and organize homes in and around the central Kentucky area . Since 2020, our organizing team has helped hundreds of families take back their homes. One of the most common themes of families with children? Trying to navigate the mental load of all the schedules and papers that come with the school year.

We’ve supported families in traditional, hybrid, and homeschool settings and most of our team members are parents ourselves. Today, I’m sharing three of my favorite back-to-school systems that you can implement right now to hit the ground running this fall.

P.S. Perfer Video Content?

Last year, I stopped by Live From Chevy Chase to share these same quick, sanity-saving tips for organizing your home (and your brain).

Throughout this blog, I’ve included links to shorter video clips on YouTube and Instagram that break down each of the three tips in more detail. If you’d rather watch the full six-minute segment on YouTube, you can head HERE!

But if you’re ready to dive into the how-to, complete with photos (product links), examples, and practical tips grab your caffine of choice read on!

1. Create a Drop Zone for School Stuff

The moment school starts back up, your home, more specifically, your kitchen island, turns into ground zero for backpacks, permission slips, half-eaten snacks, and “keepsake” artwork.

One of the easiest ways to get ahead of the daily chaos is by setting up a dedicated drop zone, a designated spot where everything can land the second your kids walk in the door.

Here’s how:

Start by observing the natural flow of your home.

Think about the path your kids take when they come inside. Do they enter through the garage or front door? Do they beeline for the fridge, or head straight to their room? The drop zone should live along their natural route, ideally right where the backpack is already landing. This is your first big win: working with the path of kid migration, not against it.

Sure, you may want everything tucked out of sight, but if you want the system to actually work, it needs to be age-appropriate and intuitive. Systems that require major detours or too many steps? They just won’t stick.

The good news? Your preschool and elementary-aged kiddos already know the drill. At school, they hang up backpacks and lunchboxes and drop papers into cubbies. All you have to do is replicate that routine at home!

Side note: The bins holding the kid's papers in the photo above are the Multipurpose Bins from The Container Store. The size shown is Large and can be purchased HERE. The arts & crafts bin is a 10x10 bin that can be found various places (the one we used was by The Home Edit and purchaesd at Walmart however, Walmart no longer carries them).

Here’s how to make it work:

• Add a hook at their height for backpacks and coats

• Place a basket or bin nearby for folders and papers

• Create a spot for lunchboxes to be emptied and repacked

A few reminders:

• Don’t expect it to click on Day One. This is a new habit, and like all good habits, it takes some gentle (and frequent) reminders. If you’re picking them up from school, give them a heads-up as you pull into the garage:

“Hey, remember, when we walk in, hang up your backpack, unpack your lunchbox, and pop your shoes in the cubby.”

They’ve been holding it together all day and are ready to flop, so help their brains make that transition with a little structure.

• Make it kid-friendly. 

Classrooms are designed for kids, and your home should be too. Hooks, bins, and cubbies at their level empower them to be independent.

• Expect more from your older kids.

Middle schoolers and high schoolers are absolutely capable of unpacking their own lunchboxes, putting things away, and yes, even packing their own lunches in the morning.

They will rise to the level of responsibility you give them. Giving them ownership over their daily routine not only lightens your load but it builds independence, confidence, and real-world skills.

Pro Tip: If your entryway doesn’t have built-ins, consider adding a freestanding cabinet or repurposing an old bookshelf in the garage or mudroom. It doesn’t have to be fancy it just has to work.

🎥 Watch the short clip: Create a Drop Zone on Instagram

2. Tame the Paper Chaos with Your Phone

One of the biggest organizing pickles my clients are in is all the paper calendars or paper reminders.

You don’t need to keep every paper that comes home, especially when you’ve got a powerful organizing tool in your pocket.

Here’s how to make your phone your organizing assistant:

• Get the important Dates on a digital or wall calendar.

Use a shared digital calendar to input important dates: sports schedules, band concerts, picture day, you name it. Include your partner and older kids so everyone stays in the loop. As my kids have gotten older and now have phones this has been a game changer for our whole family! All of the various sports schedules are on there and we tag who is responsible for pick up or getting someone to a particular activity.

For little ones, a visual wall calendar can help them start building awareness around schedules and events. When my kids were younger I bought a “year at a glance” expo style calendar and put it on the wall in our kitchen - yes it was big, BUT they could easily see what was happening when and start to take responsibly for looking foward. Mom should NOT be the only one carrying the mental load of all the schedules.

• Take photos of reference documents like class lists, lunch visitor policies, or event flyers.Then, create a digital photo album labeled “School Year 25–26” (or whatever the year is) and add everything there.

  
  

  Add your partner and other family members to the shared album so they’re not constantly asking you who their teachers are, or what the procedures are if they want to have lunch with their child or bring in birthday treats.

  
  

🎥 Watch the short clip: How to Digitally Organize Kids' Back-to-School Documents

on YouTube or Instagram

3. Be Intentional About the "Artwork"

Your child brings home a masterpiece: a bear having lunch with a unicorn. It's adorable, but also you are super glad they told you what it actually was a picture of because in 10 years, will you remember what it is or why you saved it?

Try this:

• When your child brings home a project, ask for the story behind it, and write it down right on the back or on a sticky note. Add it to the keepsake bin with context so Future You knows why it mattered.

  
  

• Over time, those bins will fill up. That’s where the transition purge comes in.

  
  

At the end of elementary, middle, and high school, sit down with your child and go through the bin together.

• Let them guide the decision on what’s meaningful to them.

• You’ll probably pare down to 10–20% of what you originally saved, and that’s OK!

• If they don’t want something but you do, then keep it in your memory box (not theirs).

  
  

This is a beautiful opportunity to reflect, laugh, and maybe even cry a little. These moments matter, but not every scribble does.

🎥 Watch the short clip: How to Handle School Paper Keepsakes

on Instagram OR on YouTube Part One and Part Two

Final Thought: Organizing = Empowering

Organizing for back-to-school isn’t about perfection. It’s about building habits that help your home (and your people) function more smoothly. Whether it’s a bin by the door, a shared calendar, or just letting go of the clutter you don’t need, it all adds up.

And remember, you’re not just managing stuff, you’re raising amazing humans. Every time you empower them to take charge of their own things, you’re teaching life skills they’ll carry into the world. As someone sending their oldest off to college this fall, I can tell you: showing them how to use their phones to stay organized now will pay off big time when they’re adulting on their own.

And for those of you still deep in the preschool-and-spaghetti-sauce years, if your calendar is crusty and your fridge is decorated with macaroni art and a taco magnet? That’s real life. And you’re doing just fine.

Watch the full segment about back to school organization on Live From Chevy Chase below.

Are you a fellow Kentuckian looking for help decluttering and organizing your home?

We’d love to support you! Just fill out our contact form and schedule your free consultation. We will chat about your space, your goals, and how we can help bring a little more calm to your everyday.