Back-to-school season can feel like a fresh start or a total scramble. In this episode, we explore how to approach this transition with compassion, not perfection. Whether listeners are managing their own lives or supporting kids, aging parents, or both, we offer small but impactful systems that reduce stress and bring ease to daily routines. It’s not about doing more, it’s about removing friction so life runs a little smoother. Because organizing is an act of care for the future you and the people you live with.
In this episode, we talk about:
- How to reset your space and routines for a smoother school season
- Why compassionate organizing supports both you and your household
- Easy, sustainable systems to reduce morning chaos and paper pileups
Mentioned in this episode:
- The Sunday Reset routine for weekly planning
- Creating functional drop zones for bags, keys, and papers
- A mindset shift from perfection to practicality in organizing
Review full show notes and resources at https://theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast
Review Transcript:
 Welcome back to Organiz and Cherish the podcast where we believe organizing is an act of care for. And because of that today we are talking about back to school organizing. So not just the Pinterest perfect kind. This is about setting up a compassionate foundation for the season of life. Uh, this episode is airing around the time where many of the schools here in the US are going back to school.
Uh, in around August, early September. So I thought let's talk about that, um, this year and talk about some of those back to school organizing tips that I have for you, but that actually are part of your life. They're not just Pinterest perfect. And so whether you're managing your own calendar, your kids' backpack, chaos, or your parents' paperwork.
This episode is for you.
Welcome to the Organized and Cherish Podcast with the organized flamingo. I am your host Stephanie, your compassionate and deficient professional organizer. Whether you are part of the sandwich generation helping a loved one declutter, or just trying to simplify life, this is the place for you. Together we will tackle those overwhelming piles of stuff, uncover purpose in what we keep, and let go with dignity and care, because it's not just about throwing everything away, it's about respecting memories and simplifying life.
Sound like a plan? Let's jump in and get organized. Okay, so first things first. Let's be honest, and let's talk about August and September, because August and September often feels like it's January's cousin, right? It's like that full of reset energy. It's that, uh, begin like a Monday feeling type of month, but without the pressure of the New Year's resolutions.
But it's like that still that same feeling of, okay, it's a brown new year. It's a brown new school year, but yet. For a lot of us when we enter this, this school year, it whether we have kids or not, by the way, this is not just if you have children, because some of you will find that you are absorbing that energy through your job, through the life that you live, what you might be in a seasonal type of job as well.
So for a lot of you, August and September is, is kind of that same feeling whether you have kids or not. Um, but yes, primarily if you have kids and parents that you're taking care of and or. Then this is, this time is extra heavy for you and extra busy and hectic. Um, but it does feel like a reset when we enter this season.
Similar to the New Year's feel. You're already tired, like you're entering August and September the beginning of the school year with all of these things that you had to do to prepare for this new school year. So by the time it starts, you are already so tired, you are over it, and that disorganization starts to creep in.
So instead of doing more, I'd like to introduce to you. The notion that maybe we just focus on removing friction. It's not new to us here at the organized Flamingo. So you've, if you've been here for a hot minute, you know that we are very much into a intentionality in your organizing, decluttering, and downsizing projects and life.
We really feel like that has to fit in with your life. Like the less friction, the better. We're not trying to recreate the wheel, we're not trying to recreate a room, and all of a sudden make it into something that in your mind, in a magazine, it would look perfect, but it doesn't work with how your lifestyle really naturally is.
So we are all about focusing on removing friction and living in spaces that work with your natural life and making the best out of that. So what if this was the year of smoother mornings? And then ease your transitions and ease your decisions in fewer paper piles. Okay? That that is our focus for this year, and that's what I want for you.
So let's talk about how we can get there. So let's begin with the mindset shift First. It's really important. Okay. I know that like the self-help mindset manifestation or if you pray or however, like sometimes I can get a little too cheesy, like let's just shift our mindset like, like you can just snap your fingers and hope for it or manifest it, or all of a sudden tell your mind that things are different.
I know that's not realistic. When you're in the moment, the last thing that goes through your mind is, okay, let me change my mind and be a more positive, or just a mindset, mind shift mindset person. Like in that moment, you're just so stressed. You are just trying to take care of the problem right now, so we're forgetting perfection.
That's what I really want to focus on when I talk about mindset shift. We're just letting go of perfection. We're remembering that your home is not a museum. You're building a daily flow that works for you in the people in your life. So a good guiding question for this could be, what's one daily moment that could feel a little bit easier?
So for instance, is it the morning rush? Is it the afterschool routines? Finding a clean mask or water bottle, like just choose one. Like what is one daily moment of your day that you would just love it if it was just a little bit easier, not perfect, not ideal, just just like 10% easier. That's the one you will focus on.
It's the concept of forget perfection, but also start small because that's when you start building momentum. That is when your body, your mind starts to associate small wins with bigger and bigger and bigger wins. You start getting accustomed to it. You start training your brain and your motion and your daily habits into something that is sustainable.
And when it's sustainable, you feel good about it. It becomes natural, it becomes easier, and you can keep this up long term. Back to school season is a great time to audit those things because you're naturally doing that reset of the year, like we talked about kind, kind of like the New Year's resolution thing.
This is a really good time for that because you're starting from scratch. You probably already put away everything from the last school year, that whole classroom, that whole setup, that entire schedule is in the past now. You're doing things differently. The teacher might be different, the school might be different, your child might be different.
Your parent might be different, the way that your parenting might be different. So this is always a good time for you to evaluate and start from scratch or just make some small adjustments. It's a great time to audit. Look at what you're doing, what you were doing, and let it go. Just let it go, and let's go ahead and start with something that is sustainable going forward.
Okay, so now that's the mindset part of it. Forget perfection. What is one thing that just could be a little bit easier, 10% easier for you? Let's pick that one and go with that. So a couple of few sustainable systems that don't require a whole lot of, uh, work that I have seen work really well. I'll give you some examples, but once you will pick the one that works for you.
Okay. I'm giving you some examples. And they work because they're just really sustainable and they're not, you don't have to think too much about them, but you're gonna pick the one that works for you based on trying to make life just a little bit easier and you're going to pick one area of that that has been really hard for you.
So, sorry, I'm still going back to the mindset shift for just a second. So because you need that part in order for you to pick a simple system that will stick. So the mindset goal part, which is always our step one, is really important. And when you go and pick the one area that you think will be, that you would love, if it was a little bit easier, it's going to be the one that either has been, you know, the one that you notice the most, the one that you notice the most, use the most, like an entryway, like the place where everybody just.
Comes in and takes off their shoes and puts their backpacks down, and that's the one area that for you, just is a trouble spot. But also, if it was just a percent easier, better, cleaner, tidier, it would put you in a better mood. You have seen it work before. Okay. That's another place that worked really well with people like you have seen yourself.
In a scenario where that one space was better, like if you meal planned, whenever you meal plan, you feel so much better. You feel more organized, energized, motivated for the week when you meal plan, maybe on a Sunday, right? Whatever that day is going to be for you. Or on a Wednesday, if you're more of a midweek person.
You have tried it before and it worked and it felt good. It's just that you could not sustain it. Those are the areas that I would suggest you pick because you've tried it before. Or you know that that is kind of like who you are or it's the most used area and you know that if that area was or more organized, tidier, it would make a big impact.
Okay, so those are the places I want you to pick. I don't want you to pick for this exercise the. Archived section of your garage where you keep your kids' artwork, that this is not this exercise, this is, that's exercise for ano. We have plenty of podcast episodes for that. If you're trying to tackle your storage room, your art archived sections, trying to.
Put all of your children's artwork or past work in a better solution, like organized solution. That's a different podcast. Today we are focused on simple systems that will stick for the new upcoming school year. Okay, so now let's go over a few of those sustainable systems that don't require a whole lot of work.
And I have seen work really well. So here we go. The first simple system that I have seen really stick, if you can get this one in a little bit of a better place, is the drop zone. Creating a, a place near the door for backpacks, keys, permission, slips, you know, bonus if it includes a charging station or a bin, or a library book or something like that, like a bin for, you know, returning things that you need.
Uh, but basically just a drop zone. It's the place that. Gets used the most because that is the first place that people come in contact. Right? Like your family, like they open the door from the garage or the front door, wherever, back door they come in. That is the drop zone. It's like the most, the common place where people put backpacks in.
Here's a misconception about drop zones though, that it has to be a mud room near the back door of the garage, the front door, whatever it is that you have, right? Like it has to be there. Not necessarily. You are going to pay attention to the way your family acts and whatever the spot is that is mostly used as a drop zone.
That's the drop zone. So I know sometimes some architects and some of the new builds, especially they designate one for you. Hopefully this is a designer or a builder that has done their homework and knows their consumer and they know where usually the drop zone will be. Like they just immediately put it next to the back door, next to the, um, laundry room in, in the back door, garage, or whatever it may be.
But hopefully they studied the way that their consumers. Come in and out or what it is that they mostly will be using because that's the drop zone. Here's an example of what I mean about the misconception. So I had a client once, uh, or many of 'em, but one of 'em in particular, they had, um, so their drop zone was the, the garage entryway.
Right? But they were not parking their cars in the garage. So when I came in, they, they just needed some help organizing their garage and their front, their whole downstairs areas. So I came in and did my work right. And the way that the mud, in their case, it was like a, it was a mud room near that back door that, or the side door of the garage.
And so that was, you know, the designated drop zone because that's the way that it was built. And I remember saying, why, you know, this is like, it was empty. Really? It was. So they used it as storage room. And I said, well, where, why, why is this so empty? And why is this stuff all over in the front room? Then, you know, they began to explain, well, we never park our cars in the garage, which is why, one of the reasons I was there.
We never park our cars in the garage. So everyone goes through the front door and the drop zone is the front zone or by the living room. Said, okay, great. Okay, well now that we're here, we're organizing your garage though. Will you be coming in through the garage and if so, then will this door be the one that you come in from?
And they said yes. Right. Okay. But those are the questions that they had not really thought about where, well, right now the designated drop zone is the front of the house because that's the door that they come in. Duh. Okay, sure. Maybe you might be in the background saying like, well, okay, that makes sense, obviously.
Right. But they didn't think about, so we were about to like organize everything the way that it is now. But what they didn't think about is, oh wait, we are organizing the garage so we can park. And so now the drop zone is probably going to change. Back to where it was designated originally. So think about the drop zone is the place that your family just gravitate towards to put down all of their stuff when they first come in and Yes, most likely it's the place where.
They come in. So it could be the front door for you. Maybe you drop off everybody at the front door and then you go and park your car at the side or a carport or your designated spot. If you live like in an apartment complex or townhouse type of a, a house where you don't have a garage that is attached or close to the home, you might have to park around on the street or whatever it may be, right?
So you drop off your family. So whatever that door is, see how your family reacts, where they put their stuff down and that becomes the drop zone. Hi, cherish friends. Life can get overwhelming, especially when you're juggling caregiving, clutter and everything in between. That's why I created the Organizing Cherish Weekly email.
That goes out every Wednesday straight to your inbox to help you keep the momentum inspiration going with tips and reminders of our upcoming events. All you have to do is head on over to organize and cherish.com and sign up for the email newsletter. It's free and you can up subscribe whenever you'd like.
It's my way of helping you simplify your life and respecting memories along the way. Now back to our show. Let's go on to the second. The paper flow. Paper flow is still big. We are still a paper society. I hate to tell all of you. I know. We have tried for years to go digital. Okay. We've now, we have bills that go digital now.
We have digital calendars and digital journals and all the things. And yes, we still use paper no matter what. We are just that type of society. I actually have an entire episode on paper, organizing the history of paper. And then, you know, trying to go from paper to digital. So we have episodes on that as well.
But today we're talking about paper flow. It's still here. Uh, unless you have gone completely digital. Great. So you can skip this part. Probably not for most of you. And if we are talking about back to school, your school probably has some paper that they're bringing home, uh, in some way, shape or form, especially for the smaller kids that are doing the artwork or they just have a lot more of that type of practice.
But for bigger kids too. I'm just saying that I, what, what I'm seeing right now as of 2025 is that usually the elementary aged children have more paper than the, um, junior high or high school. But, you know, every family's a little different. Alright. So, but back to paper, I would set up a, a place a home for incoming school papers.
Boundaries is super important and staying organized throughout the school year. So designate like a bin or a box or a big folder, not a little tiny, itty bitty one. Okay? If you are not a minimalist right now, I can tell you right now that that switch to go into minimalist mode is not going to happen just because you snap your fingers.
It is something you have to practice. Now, you might be devoted and you might be the outlier. Awesome. I'm not talking about you. I'm talking to the people. To the people. To most of us. To most of you that I have worked with, no matter what they say, they're going minimalist. It takes a while. It takes a while for your brain to be trained that way for your lifestyle to be trained that way, and for your family unit to be trained that way.
So you probably still have a lot of paper. So don't just do the little folder that you think that's, you know, we're just going to keep one piece of paper every month. That probably not going to happen. So I would pick something along the lines of a, a bin, like a, a more, like a seven gallon at least bin.
So it would be an about a foot deep or so. At least, and that is the area where you keep all of the paper for the year and you go through it religiously, often, quarterly, monthly, like set up something that is sustainable so it doesn't just keep growing and growing. And if it starts to overflow, you definitely want to go in and declutter or decide if you want to digitize it or or decide what to do with it so that you're not just accumulating paper just because.
Same thing with, uh, now, you know, I, now I'm at a place where I'm able to just keep things. Um, it's a, it's a drawer. It's about, I don't know, six, seven inches of a drawer. And so that's become our, our drawer for my kiddo's artwork from school. But honestly, he, he is bringing home more and more, he's practicing his letters.
He is doing really cool crafts. He is putting together books. So that, uh, my boundary for this ne this next year he is actually going into kindergarten will be a bin, like a bigger bin. And that's something that I will go through at the end of the year. So December, 2025, right? You know, around the time when we go for the holidays and then I'll do it again at the end of the school year.
That is what I know I can sustain. Hopefully I can go through it more, but if not that is at least what I put on my reminders on my calendar. So for some people what works really well is to schedule like a five to 10 minutes, um, you know, like at a Sunday night or something and go through them. This really prevents that paper piles from haunting your kitchen counter.
Um, but if it's not sustainable, sustainable, like I said, for me it's just not sustainable. I don't really, that's just too frequent for me. I, but see, I've been doing this for so many years for other people that I've learned in my own habits, and I just don't think I can do it on a weekly basis. You need to create those habits.
I would go small. So I would go every week, every other week, five to 10 minutes, go through all those items in the bin and um, declutter, organized, digitize, decide what to do with them. Um, but if you are a little bit more, you've practiced, decluttering more every couple of months is perfectly sustainable as well.
Okay. Let's talk about resets really quick. You're gonna hear those buzzwords. The Sunday reset, the Monday reset. I do agree with them and I have seen them work really well with people except that it, it doesn't have to be a Sunday. The re, the key for the reset to work for people is for that day, for it to be the day that.
Naturally you're able, that you have some moment to think. So if you have family days on Sunday, so whether you go to your place of worship on Sunday, you have family day, Sunday, everybody gets together at your house, it's, it's a big, chaotic, fun and loving nonetheless, but like it's still chaotic kind of day.
Then Sunday is not really going to be sustainable. The Sunday reset doesn't work. So for you, maybe it's the Friday or the Saturday or the Monday, it's the day where there's more of that calmness. For a minute so that you can truly reset. You might have to create that for you. You may not feel like you have that in your life, so I would gently push you to make it happen because you need a minute to reset.
There is no way you can keep going and keep going and keep going with your school year and not have a system in place. It doesn't have to be a day where. You don't do anything. It's just, it just has to be a day where you keep a ritual where you, you can do like layout your outfits if that's a thing for you.
Um, restocking the fridge with lunch basics, going to the grocery store and doing all that. Syncing calendars with whoever you live with, right? That's what I mean about throw Sunday reset or Friday or whatever your reset day is. It's a weekly ritual. I can tell you that the people that can sustain that going forward are just more successful in keeping their organizing and decluttering, um, journey on, on check.
It doesn't get overflowing, it doesn't get overwhelming, just little by little, but you have to be consistent. And the consistency in picking the day is going to be depending on, on your own family. But what I, what I really wanted to mention about this is that the resets work. They work, I promise you. But you have to be consistent and you have to pick a day where you know you will have the least amount of distractions or interruptions, you know?
And then that way you have a little bit less of those meltdowns during the rest of the days. Now let's talk about products that accompany the drop zones paper flow area and having a reset. The most successful products I have seen work have been baskets that are aesthetically pleasing. But are not too deep.
Okay? So we want them to be semi shallow that you can get to the bottom of it without having to dig through to get stuff. Those types of baskets, ORs, are the most accessible ones, of course. Hopefully they're not too big. Or too small, they need to fit the stuff that you're dropping. So if you're primarily a family that has like teenage, older children, um, they have cars, so they need like car key drop zone, like maybe hooks, um, things like that.
But if they have like wallets or, or just things that are not as big. Then your bin basket will be a little bit smaller. But if you have children that have, you know, their sweater, their art, their, all their stuff, right? They're not going up to the room to put it away. Like they have like just a bigger, bigger, more childlike items then, and they're still kind of learning about putting stuff away or putting, taking this.
Taking their stuff to the room. I mean, heck, I mean, some adults are still learning, but I'm just saying typically if that's the personality type of the person that's dropping their stuff, then you do want them to be baskets that fit those items or hooks. Uh, so we're talking hooks for their sweaters, hooks for.
Their hats or a basket for their hats. We are more of a basket, so each of us has like a basket for the winter. We all put our mittens, our hats in our respective baskets, and then our shoes go into these cubbies and our sweaters and jackets are, are hung on hooks. And so that's how we have it in our drop zone.
And then we have one basket where it kind of put paper or anything that we may need. But for some families, like I said, they may, they may want their own area for each individual person. For some people, they just combine everything in one place. But you just want the items that in there to just not be so, so big and shallow like, or so big and deep.
That stuff gets lost underneath, um, or way down deep in the bin. Okay. That's the type of places and things, or excuse me, bins and baskets we do not want or we want avoid for. Everyone's different, but really whatever way you, you organize your calendar or to-do list, some of you are list people on your Apple Notes page, on your Google, you know, uh, like your Google folders.
Great. Whatever you're using now is the one that I want you to use for a reset. Like to keep your reset checklist and to keep your reset reminders. We don't want to create or buy a whole new calendar system for your reset or to lay out to remind you that you know what you wanna wear for the week or whatever.
I just want you to have your current calendar, what you use now, because that is what will feed your list for your reset. Like if it's your grocery store list, if it's your, um, laundry list, whatever it may be. Um, so I just want you to basically use the same tool you're using now to get organized for the week if you don't use anything.
Then I want you to rely on what naturally feels better. Are you more of a paper person or a digital person? But here's where this one gets tricky. If you think you're a paper person, I'm trying to encourage you to think about what is a thing that will, you will carry with you at all times. Even if you love a beautiful journal, is it too heavy, too cumbersome?
Your lifestyle is just not, does not work around carrying a big, bulky calendar, big, bulky binder, right? Some of you just don't have that type of lifestyle. It just would be. In theory it's romantic, but in realistically, it's just too bulky. It, you're just carrying way too much, too many things, too many children, too many responsibilities to be carrying and having to remember your planner as well.
So if you're more, you probably are more of a digital person. Everything lives on your phone. It just naturally does. You scroll on your phone, you take pictures of everything, like everything lives on your phone. If that's the case, then your reset schedule and checklist is going to live on your phone. If you are a person that loves carrying your book around and your physical calendar binder planner around, then do it on there.
It's just you've, you've gotta go with your natural way of being, especially as you learn new habits, and we can develop new habits as you build on these. Alright friends, so that is it for this week. Remember that this season doesn't have to start with stress. That school year season can have a manageable way of, of being.
It doesn't have to be stressful, it can have joy, and let's always start with that compassion. Like it's already hard enough to start something new. Start with new teachers, new habits, and you already have life to have to worry about. You don't have to be worried about. What is the most perfect way to organize?
Just remember that. It, it should fit your lifestyle. So choose something that is organically part of your life, the way that you already do things. Have it work for you so that you can be organized in a smart way. And it doesn't have, you don't have to fight it, it doesn't always have to be picture perfect.
Um, have it work for you. So find systems that are easy to sustain, that go along with your li natural life, you and the people that you live with. Always remember that organizing is that act of care for future you and the people you love. So hopefully you see this as an inspiration that it doesn't have to be super hard.
You don't have to make everything perfect and beautiful and Pinterest worthy. It just has to work for you and it has to be sustainable. Okay. Alright, so let's make space this school year, not just for schedules, but for smoother mornings, easier decisions and hopefully even a little bit more peace in your space.
Okay, until next week, happy organizing. Have a good day. Bye. Thank you for listening to the Organized and Cherish podcast with the Organized Flamingo. If you enjoy today's episode, I'd be so grateful if you left a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. It helps others discover our show. For full show notes, resources, and more organizing inspiration, visit www.theorganizedflamingo.com/podcast.
Until next time, happy organizing.