Top 5 Organizing Products {School Days Made Simple}

The first few weeks or months of school can be an adjustment for the whole family. That is why I am sharing my five favorite organizing products that help us be more efficient and enjoy our school days. This is especially timely as my children head back to school today. We are later than most of the country, but I think these products will help any family with school aged children. We use each and every single one of these on a daily basis and they really are the items that keep us organized and cruising with our school day systems that work for us. Here they are:      hooks / homework box / caddy / drawer organizer / art portfolio DOUBLE HOOKS:  I first fell in love with double hooks when I used them in our mini mudroom. This space is used to be a coat closet. Because we live in Southern California, we don’t necessarily need a coat closet so we turned ours into a mini mudroom. It helps us keep the kids organized. The biggest asset in this closet are the double hooks that I hung. They allow each child to hang up their backpack and lunch box during the school year. When they come in the back door, after school, they each hang up their backpack, unload their lunch box, and hang that up as well. After they wash their hands it is snack time. That is just how we roll and it works really well for us. To see double hooks at work in our home go here.   Homework Box: These boxes are my absolute favorite. They are around $10 {but can be found on sale at the Container Store from time to time for less}. My son was so excited to pick out his own blue homework box this year. His sister has been using her floral one for over two years now. I keep them on our buffet near the dining room table. This is where the children like to do their homework. I like it as I can keep an eye on them and they are close to me while I am cooking in case the need help. These boxes host everything they need for the week. Both kiddos have a packet for the week and certain items they need each day. All of it is in their box. It is also helpful in keeping things safe and sound so nothing gets lost. You can see our homework box here.     The Utensil Caddy: This is my favorite product for corralling all art supplies. Both kiddos seem to always be needing crayons or colored pencils for their work. We put everything in this caddy and keep it close by. They can place it on the table between them and all art supplies are handy. I also keep extra white paper, watercolors, and glue in there.   Drawer Organizer: This is an inexpensive organizer from The Container Store. I recently implemented it into one of our kitchen drawers. It has a bunch of supplies the children might need that are not suited for their homework boxes or their art caddy. It has things like scissors, paper clips, a stapler, rubber bands, a pencil sharpener, post-it notes, a ruler, etc. You get the picture. Everything has a spot and they know exactly where to go if they need supplies. Work Portfolio: And last but not least, this is my very favorite product for containing special artwork and papers that the kids bring home from school. Look, we all know we can’t keep everything. To read more about my system for incoming papers you can check it out here! But these portfolios are so awesome for the items we decide to keep. Not to mention, the kids LOVE pulling them out and looking through their work from the previous years. I can’t say enough great things about these. More about how I use them here. So there you have it! My top  five picks for the items that keep me and the kiddos well organized during the school year. To locate any of them items, you can find links above under the collage. Wishing you all a wonderful start to your week. I am a puddle of tears as my baby heads off to kindergarten. He was just a baby. It’s really amazing how time marches on. h a p p y  o r g a n i z i n g.   UPDATE: Here is another utensil caddy. It is wooden and more expensive but would hold up very very well over the years.