6 Ways You Can Quickly Get Your Household in Order While Your Kids Are in Camp

You might not realize, but these long summer days are the keys to feeling organized for the entire year (hey, and you thought Pesach cleaning was that time…nope!). And it doesn’t have to be hard!

Whether your kids are away in sleepaway camp or just day camp, there’s still a lot you can get done! These are six not-terribly-time consuming things you can do to get your home life organized. 

Let’s start off our 6 things with 3 things you can do to organize your kids’ stuff: 

1. ORGANIZE THE PLAYROOM. Have you ever tried to clean up your playroom with your kids watching? Every toy that you dump in a garbage bag all of sudden becomes their favorite? Now is the time to organize the playroom! Throw out anything broken and give away anything that doesn’t get enough attention. If you start getting nervous about your toy binging, just keep in mind that studies have shown that kids actually find too many toys overwhelming, and it’s less fun to play when you’re drowning in dolls and buried in books. Kids have a bigger imagination with less. Streamline your playroom, they’ll be so excited to come home from camp and see their newly organized space!
2. ORGANIZE THEIR ROOM. Kids rooms can be even more challenging than the playroom. I once had a mom DM me on Instagram about her young daughter who was a hoarder. Her room was jam-packed with everything she ever laid her eyes on, from a button she found on the floor in school, or a 5-year-old goody bag from her friend’s birthday party. It was all stuffed into drawers and crammed into closets. It’s very hard for kids to eliminate things in their space, but it’s easy for them to add! I suggested that she organizes and cleans out her daughter’s space while she’s not there. Anything she deemed garbage should be packed away in containers and put in the attic just in case. After her daughter saw her “teenage room” (that’s what I told her to call it!), she didn’t want to add any of her junk back in! Seize the summer! Take advantage of cleaning out your kids’ space and upping the vibe. When they come back home they’ll be so excited to see their new space organized and decorated! Once a little bit of time has passed, bag everything in the hidden containers and donate or toss!
3. ORGANIZE THEIR CLOSETS. Now is the time to clean out your kids’ closets! Things might not fit or things they HATE and are just hanging there taking up space make getting dressed confusing. If your child is in sleepaway camp, most of their wardrobe is likely with them in camp, now is a great time to actually see what they don’t like and don’t wear.

Now, let’s move on and see three ways we can get organized when it comes to TIME MANAGEMENT:

1. CREATE YOUR MENUS…NOW! Make a list of different lunch and dinner ideas. You can even make your Yom Tov Menus now! This will be a great “go to” for the year. If you want to be a real rock star, start making some things and freezing them for that hectic time between camp and school. “Dinner Done” has great and easy recipes exactly for the busy mom.
2. LINE UP YOUR APPOINTMENTS NOW! If you know your school schedule, then you know when your kids have off from school. Now is the time to schedule their appointments for those days. I even booked things in December! I get the day I want and the time that is the most convenient for me. If you wait until a week or two before you’ll be fitting the dentist into your schedule instead of the other way around.
3. FIX YOUR RED FLAGS BEFORE THEY WAVE. What were your biggest struggles last school year? Maybe your daughter always left for school with her homework folder still hanging out on the kitchen table from the night before? Maybe your son always ran to chase the bus with one shoe in his hand? Maybe YOU were the problem, and you could never get lunch ready on time and there were mornings where you caught your breath after the bus left. You know and remember what your red flags were! Think about those recurring problems and find ways to fix them. This year you can try waking up 30 minutes earlier to make lunch while everyone is still sleeping, or get into the habit of lining up everyone’s backpacks and their shoes at the door the night before. Come up with solutions that fix the red flags that you already know exist!

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