The Busy Mom’s Back to School Checklist

Back to School Checklist
— By Melissa Frasier (aka “The Busy Mom”)

Most people make resolutions about how they will do things differently every New Year’s Eve, like going to the gym more than once a month or cutting desserts out of their diet.  As we all know, those resolutions can be hard to keep after the first week, and it is easy to fall back into old habits.  For me, I make resolutions at the beginning of each new school year of things I will do differently to try make my life less crazy.
For my household, this school year will be challenging with three kids at three different schools, which will make for an even busier schedule.  With the back-to-school countdown fast approaching in the next weeks, it’s time for this busy mom to make her back-to-school checklist.  Let’s see what I have so far:
• Make lunches the night before, packing everything but sandwiches.
• Have a designated spot for all homework.
• Go through backpacks daily and toss unwanted papers
• Plan dinners for the week on Sundays, and make sure to have all the needed ingredients.
•  Have the weekly schedule written down on the family calendar.
•  Don’t forget to eat breakfast every morning!
•  Leave the house ten minutes earlier than usual.
If you noticed, most of the things on my checklist have to do with feeding my family, which seems to be a never ending task.  I am sure all you busy moms can relate to the tedious job of trying to plan and prepare meals for the family, so my main goal is to try and prepare for this task by planning ahead.  I tend to fall into the same old patterns of making the same things every day, so for me I need to think about the week on Sundays.  Creating a weekly menu and shopping for all the ingredients should keep me on track.  Also, packing lunches the night before is another resolution I have tried over the years, but I am determined to do it this year.  I am going to try and do this as I am cleaning up after dinner and recruit my kids to help bag their own lunches.
I also noticed that my checklist involves resolutions to save time, which is one of my biggest stressors.  So making a goal to leave the house ten minutes before I normally do will be interesting.  Can I actually get out the door with everything ready to go and not forget a kid in the process?  This remains to be seen.  Tossing all unwanted papers and going through backpacks daily is another time saver, keeping me from accumulating a pile of papers to go through later.
Don’t forget to make your back-to-school checklist ASAP.  What is most important to you?  Whatever your back to school checklist looks like, try to remain positive about it.  Change is hard, and some days will be smoother than others.  Don’t forget this is your busy mom checklist, and you can edit it or toss it out completely, if it is not working for you.  Even if you only stick to one thing on your checklist this year, that is one more change you have made in your life to make things better.  So to all you busy moms out there, happy back to school!