Ways to Get Organized for Summer Paperwork

First shared in June, 2011, this series was sparked by an appearance on My Carolina Today where we had more content than time ~ sounds pretty typical for a busy Mom! Our lives are tied to the seasons and I hope this series gets your summer moving in the right direction now!

Today we are talking about ways to get organized with paper.  I can’t stand the backpacks that come home at the end of the year.  It feels like a mountain of paper and it all gets dumped.  And don’t tell me that you might not have had a year or two where you left it all in the backpack until August when they go back to school for the next year.  Don’t worry…your secret is safe with me.  But this year, its just not gonna happen!  Here is how you are going to process your paper.

1. Clear the Desk: Make sure your desk is as clean as can be.  Make sure your kids inboxes, which I hope you’ve been using, are empty and ready for them to on the last day of school offload everything out of that backpack into their personal inbox.

2.  Empty the Inbox: You are going to got through that in box with your kids and put a time frame on it no later than 48 hours.  I’m really not joking. Within the first 48 hours of your kids coming home, even with everything else that is going on, together you are going to tackle this.  And I hear you saying “But wait a minute…what am I going to do with all of this?”  I’ve got you covered.

3. Awesome Artwork: Sit down with your child and that big huge stack and guess what, your child is going to decide what you are going to pitch and what you are going to save. Focus on items that are display worthy and create a fresh summer bulletin board to enjoy each one. For anything you want to save, put it in an artwork storage file, either accordion style or a snap top bin.  But lets say you’ve got too much…what’s a Mom to do?  You are going to scan it.  Put it on a disk and put in with the artwork, pictures, and keepsakes labeled by year with your child’s name and there it won’t take up much space. The only thing that will be out are those things that are worthy of display.

4.  Just One File: One folder, one hanging file, however you want to set it up, this is where your child’s papers will go for the school year just completed.  This one file will hold all the important papers that you might need for future reference, things like report cards, tests results, awards, and activities. Think things you might need for education meetings, both gifted and perhaps support, things needed for an application or special program, and once you get to high school, anything you might need for a future college application. Bottom line, you need to get it down to one file. Even if you use a binder all year long, I promise it will be big enough to help tell your child’s story in an academic or application scenario.

5. Make a Scrapbook: With your child, create a scrapbook while their memories and the details are fresh. You can spend the entire summer on execution.  It can be a couple pages for each year or it can be an entire book whatever works for you.  I’m always happy to just grab a few pages but the key is to grab those details now no matter when you make the final product.  We like to spend time working on photos all summer long with the kids helping to sort photos and its a great creative project for those really hot summer days.

6. Carry Your Coupons: This can be a Mom’s best friend for summer fun!  Create a special coupon book just for the car to fill with all sorts of great coupons and gift cards to different places where you and your children might want to go. Think a surprise lunch out, a special treat for ice cream, and coupons for activities like indoor soccer, a roller rink, bowling and more.  Keep this in your car so its with you wherever you go, making for a great surprise you knew you had on hand all along.

I hope these tips help you plan for that paper and make sure you aren’t buried in it but rather out enjoying an amazing summer.  Tell me…

How do you handle summer paperwork?

Thanks so much for stopping by ~ see you next time!

 

I look forward to summers home with my children all year long. I fight to protect this blessing with all my might knowing I can never get it back. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say it requires additional organization to make it as fun for me as it surely will be for them. I’m beyond grateful I can be here to help them weave the stories of their lives, one backpack at at time. How do you handle the paperwork that is their year?

©2013 GO MOM! Inc. All rights reserved. To repost or publish, please email Molly.