5 Home Hacks to Ease The 'Back To School' Blues

It might be starting to creep into your subconsciousness, but the school holidays have ended and it's time to realign the internal clocks with the school schedule! Here are 5 household hacks to ease the blues of going back to school and the inevitable chaos that follow.

Start Planning

Whoever said "he who is well-prepared has half won the battle" knows the importance of good planning. Even if school has started, you can still start ball rolling by making a list of what you need to do, buy, or organise. Can't keep track of your notebook or scraps of Post-its? Then consider covering a blank wall in your home with chalkboard paint. Here is where you can share all manner of schedules, to-do lists, photos etc. with the rest of your family; much like your very own Google Calendar! Not up to painting an entire wall? Then consider getting a unique looking but magnetic chalkboard to make planning ahead for your kids a breeze. This will also ensure that everyone knows everybody's schedules way ahead of time, and cut down on the stressful disorganisation that might have otherwise ensued.

Swapping Time

If you're the type of parent whose kid clamours for a new bag every school term, stop and seriously consider the monetary drain that it will make on your wallet. Instead of getting them new stuff, why not organise a Back to School swap party to exchange items that are still in a good condition? Not only will this educate your kids on the value of recycling, reducing, and reusing, it will also do much to conserve the natural resources that are used to make these things, not to mention your financial status. Your kids can also re-connect with their classmates or friends!

Make School Lunches In Advance

Are you looking for a healthier alternative to school lunches and after meal snacks that your kid has a habit of buying? Then search no further than your very own kitchen! You can make extra big batches of food like carrot soup or meat balls, and put them into individual containers for freezing. Such food are usually easy to heat up before your kids troop off to school. By only heating one portion at a time and freezing the rest, you reduce the odds of food poisoning that may occur from reheating the same batch of food too many times. To be safe, do not reheat food more than twice and make sure that it's thoroughly cooked.

Give Unused Or Half Used Notebooks New Life

Do you find that your kids tend to run out of notebooks to doodle on? Chances are the notebooks still have more than a few empty pages left inside them. Instead of getting them new notebooks, why don't you undertake a re-purposing project with your kids? Gather all the used notebooks and collect all the unused pages into a single pile, then bind them together into a brand new notebook! You can even decorate the covers to make it a truly unique learning tool for your kids.

Designate a School Bag Nook

Not too keen to designate an entire wall to becoming a chalkboard zone? Then you might be interested in doing up a school bag nook for each of your kids instead! It's fairly easy to set up. All you need to do is install one of those clothes hook under a cork board bearing your kid's name and VOILÀ! Your kids now have a space of their own to keep their bags off the floor or store their respective school loot. It's also a great tool for instilling self-discipline and open to all kinds of creative storage solutions if you have space to spare. And there you have it; 5 home hacks that can hopefully ease your 'Back To School' blues!