Organizing paperwork so you can get ready for back to school

Have you ever lost really important paperwork? Maybe you didn’t completely lose it, but possibly misplaced it within a scattered mess of papers stacked haphazardly on the counter or table? 

This is how it used to be for us before I implemented a paper processing plan and included the plethora of papers that my kids would bring home from school everyday. Thank goodness we’re past that now! If you are in the midst of 9 million sheets of paper and artwork coming home everyday from school, trust me when I tell you that once they’re in middle school it gets so much better. Well, at least there’s not a bunch of paper coming home. Instead you have to pull the information out of your kids!

When I was looking for the best solution for my paper clutter, I would find all sorts of really beautiful ideas. So many pictures of how things could look if only I bought this file cabinet and color coded all the files or bought this closet organizing thing or had a whole wall to put in these cute little slots so that everyone could have a slot of their own. This is what society focuses on, how it looks. 

This focus on the fashion really frustrates me. It’s so distracting from finding a solution that really works. I always say FUNCTION OVER FASHION. When you focus on the function first you truly set yourself up for success. This success in your home organizing journey is truly what enables you to make it look nice later because it stays organized. In the course, Home Organizing for Beginners, I help you work through exactly how to focus on the function over the fashion. You learn the steps everyone must take in order to get started, get organized and ultimately stay organized. I like to call this building a solid foundation of home organizing. One that you build upon through every changing season of life. Ladies, it’s only $97 right now and you cannot afford to wait because the new school year is coming! I’ll drop the link to sign up below in the show notes.

As a mom looking for a fresh start in her home organizing journey, you want to be set up for lasting home organizing solutions, right? That means you’ll have to do something different than you’ve done before or what society tells us.

Instead of spending money on a cute cabinet with slots for everyone’s papers, you can focus on the function and implement this paper organization system for back to school.

In today’s episode I’m sharing why focusing on the function and flow of your kids papers makes all the difference, what this paper organization system includes and how you can implement it today.

WHY FOCUS ON THE FUNCTION

I’m going to dive a little deeper into what FUNCTION OVER FASHION really means within the context of organizing your paper clutter. You need to stop and think about the flow of the papers coming into your home from school. Mentally break it down because knowing what is actually happening, focusing on the actions your kids and you are currently taking will help you focus on the function. So let’s walk through what it could be like in your home. 

Your kids get home from school, drop their backpacks on the floor, kick their shoes off and run into the house looking for food. The important and not so important, papers are in their backpacks sitting on the floor. After a snack or maybe after dinner, the kids grab some books and such out of their backpacks to work on homework. Papers still sitting in their backpacks. 

The kids finish up their homework and run off to play or maybe get ready for bed. Books and such on the table, papers in backpack.

Morning comes and in the mad dash to get to school on time, the kids finally pull the papers out of their backpack. One kid throws them on the counter and runs out the door. Another kid sets them on the floor and runs out the door. The third kid - because I have 3 - shoves them to the bottom of their backpack with the plan of never taking them out because she got a bad grade on a test.

What would be great is if the kids would take the papers out of their backpacks as soon as they get home, right? I agree, but I also think taking that step might be too much to expect from them or even from yourself to be reminding them and such. That can come, but it may not be the best starting point. We want to lean into the natural order of things at first. That’s part of focusing on the function. I know I’m saying a lot of words and it’s not all coming together yet. But it will! 

WHAT'S INCLUDED

There are 3 key elements to this paper organization system.

The IN Basket, a Quick Review and To Process.

The IN Basket is a central collection point. This is where your kids will put their paperwork when they take it out of their backpacks.

A Quick Review is just that. A quick review done by you or by kids that are a little older, of the papers put into the IN Basket for anything urgent.

To Process means that you’ll review the entire contents of the IN Basket and disposition it, put it where it needs to go.

I’m going to go ahead and add a 4th key element. That’s giving yourself some grace through the changes. It will work when you don’t expect you or your kids to change habits overnight or for the process to work perfectly every single day forever. Life happens. We get busy and our priorities have to shift. So, please give yourself some grace.

HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS PAPER ORGANIZING SYSTEM

Now you know why you want to focus on the function in implementing this type of change. You understand the key elements of this paper organization system. Now it’s time to dive in and actually take action. Let’s go through the steps.

STEP 1

Set up an IN Basket. This is your central collection point. It needs to be where they are putting their papers now or as close as possible. Ours has always been at the end of the breakfast bar as soon as you walk into the kitchen from the garage. Don't worry if this isn’t where you ultimately want it to be. You want to get the habit in place. Then you can slowly move the IN Basket to where you want it to be. This can be a box, a bin, a slot. Anything that will corral the papers into one spot.

STEP 2

Communicate to your kids what you expect. Tell them that you want them to take their papers from school everyday and put them in the IN Basket. You can set the expectation that they should do so everyday before having a snack, but basically as soon as they walk in the door. Remember to give them some grace too through the process.

STEP 3

Set up a time daily when you’ll do a quick review of all the papers in the IN Basket. Now you can have confidence they’re all in one spot which I have to say is such a relief! Create a reminder on your phone or schedule it in your calendar so that you’ll do this daily.

STEP 4

Do the Quick Review by taking the papers out of the IN Basket, paging through them for urgent items. Return the rest of the papers to the IN Basket. Complete any urgent items and give them back to the right kid. That might be the hardest part. Even with only 3 kids I can still mess it up. And honestly, as I’ve gotten older I sometimes mess up their names!

STEP 5

To Process means to take a series of actions or steps in order to achieve a particular end. The end we want to achieve is an empty IN Basket. You’ll do this by going through all the papers in the IN Basket and deciding what to do with them. Then doing so.

I realize as I’m saying this, that this step could be a sticking point. Deciding what to do with all the things can be a challenge. Do you throw their artwork away? Do you save it? If so, where? This decision can be hard.