1. Revamp the closets. Before the shopping bags enter the bedrooms full of new outfits for the new school year, clean out what no longer fits and what just doesn’t make the cut any longer because it’s torn, faded, or stained. You know, kids tend to have that effect on clothes. And you need the closet space.
2. Wipe the slate clean. With your calendar, that is. To keep the family schedule on track after a lackadaisical summer, employ the use of a large dry erase calendar and message board center to organize the paper paraphernalia of meetings, practices, parties, and events all in one stylish place.
3. Do the sporting goods shuffle. Store away the floaties, boogie boards, water guns, and pool noodles and dust off and organize the sports equipment that will be making an appearance on the field or court this fall. Decorative bins or baskets as a part of your back entryway storage keep these items at hand.
4. Swap your shades. Though August is not quite time yet for pumpkins and such, transition into the new season by toning down brights and adding in some school-spirited primary colors in table linens, guest bathroom hand towels, and couch throw pillows you rotate.
5. Revamp your outdoor living spaces. Some may use them consistently and some may use them sparingly in the heat, but regardless, keeping your patios and porches picked up, swept up, and well stocked will entice lingering activity outside as the after school hours wind down in the coming months.
6. Outline your “office space.” Since the lines of recreation and work in the home blur during the summer, help line out the difference by creating proper homework stations for your kids that supply them with everything they need to get crackin’ on the books without all the entertainment distractions.
7. Make your own menu. Free range snacking runs rampant June through July, so plan to rein it in and provide proportioned, nutritious after-school snacks and family dinners with a little more structure and planning. Making a menu plan ahead of time and grocery shopping accordingly can organize your eating and your food budget at the same time.
8. Make the beds. Now would be a good time to take advantage of end-of-season sales and spruce up the look of the kids’ beds with new, perhaps more grown-up bedding selections. Your available options can surely provide some contemporary choices that fit everyone’s style preferences.
9. Stock up. Your go-to items of the back-to-school days involve more than what makes the cut of the lengthy school supply list. Consider things for home like tissues, cold medication, extra white socks, bandages, batteries, wipes, water bottles, and lunchbox favorites that wait their turn in your pantry.
10. Soak up the last of summer. Take a day trip to the beach, savor the last crops of summery tastes like watermelon and peaches, and relish the longer daylight hours. And if you’re like me, one of the things you love most about the seasons is that they change. And then they let you anticipate their return.
DesignInMind column; appeared in the Valley Morning Star August 7th.
