5 Amazing Hacks to Start Off Your School Year

How many of you were ready to go back to school?  I spent the last weekend before school trying to fit everything in that I’d forgotten to do.  We went to our state fair-ate a ton of food, went to the butterfly tent and saw a traveling reptile show.  We played video games in the penny arcade and went on a few rides.  We went to the beach and practiced our swimming.  My son practiced his limit testing as he kept trying to swim in the 6 foot swimming area.  We went mini-golfing, got soaked in bumper boats and then raced go karts.  We grilled out with neighbors and enjoyed some corn hole toss games and jumped on our trampoline.

Now that I’ve had a few weeks to recover from all of my revelry, I thought I’d share a few quick tips and hints to make your school year a little bit easier:

Jenga clean up:

I posted about this last year after 18 years of dreading Jenga clean up.  You still have to rebuild the game-but still-100x better than trying to put the blocks into the box from the top.

Articulation card sorting:

This is how I keep my card decks in order by initial, medial and final consonants.

iPad Charging:

Need to use that iPad or your iPhone in the next hour-but you forgot to charge it?  Put your phone/iPad in airplane mode.  It will charge twice as fast!

Book Loaning System:

Are you an SLP  hoarder like me?  Take pictures of the people who are borrowing your stuff so you remember who has what!  I have tons of books and materials and I like to share my materials so others can learn.  But I’ve had difficulty with families or other professionals who don’t return my books.  So now, I take a picture of people borrowing my stuff so I know who has what.  Plus I can send a funny text message if they forget to bring it back.  Funny in MN anyhow, potentially passive aggressive in other states.  

Infinity scarf wall:

I can’t wear shirts that come to close to my neck.  Maybe it’s part of my thyroid disease-or maybe it’s just a unique sensory thing of mine.  So I tend to wear v neck or scoop neck shirts.  These scarves help make sure I am work appropriate and nothing is sticking out where it shouldn’t be.  I used command strips on the wall and then I can just hang up all of my scarves.  When we first got married, I would be leaving for work, and my husband would always compliment me by saying something like, “You look really sexy today”  Which always gave me pause, because SEXY was not the look I was going for with my twinset cardigan and jeans.   

Hope these tips help you stay organized for the next year.  I’d love to hear your favorite organizing tips too!  What’s the best thing you’ve learned in the last year?