There are a ton of articles out there giving you tips to get your kids ready for school. You can find some of them right here on DIY Adulation. However, there are things that moms need to do to get ready for the school year that aren’t about the kiddos. That’s why I’m sharing mom’s back to school to-do list with you.

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Mom’s back to school to-do list focuses on all of those things that we often forget about during the craziness of back to school. Is your monthly budget updated for the school year? Have you worked out what your day looks like while the kids are school? These are the things that aren’t covered with tips for preparing your kiddos.

They’re still totally important parts of getting ready for the upcoming school year, though. Make your life easy with this list of the often overlooked details that moms need to get ready for anything the school year can throw at you. You owe it to yourself to make the transition as easy on you as you make it for the kiddos.

1. Prep Your Finances for Back to School

Back to school comes with extra costs that aren’t in your summer budget. It’s important to start planning for those expenses in your budget now. I also recommend keeping some of the school money budget in cash. There’s nothing worse than finding out right before school that your child needs money for something and not having the cash on hand. Here are a few school expenses to consider when planning your monthly budget.

Dances
Book Fairs
Field Trips
Teacher Gifts
Class Parties
Fund Raisers
Sports and Activities

2. Grab Your New Planner

I’m a huge fan of refreshing your planner when school starts. Your kiddos are getting their new planners and your daily schedule is getting a major overhaul from summer. A fresh planner makes the whole process easier and helps you get excited to tackle your day’s organization. I love the Big Happy Planner because it’s so easy to customize with the sections that I need to keep our whole family organized.

3. Create Your Meal Plan

Speaking of getting your new planner squared away, now is the time to start planning your meals for the busy school year. Prepare easy breakfasts kids can make themselves in the morning and freeze sandwiches for easy lunch packing. Don’t forget about yourself too, especially if all of your kids will be in school this year. Prep your meals for the week and set an alarm to remember to eat. Without kiddos constantly requesting snacks and meals, it’s easy to lose track of time and forget to eat during the day.

4. Purge Kid’s Clothes

Before you go shopping for back to school clothes, you want to have a clear idea of what your kids actually need. Purging clothes that are in poor condition and that no longer fit them is the easiest way to do this. Take some time before the summer ends to sift through every piece of clothing and donate the ones that are still in good condition but don’t fit. Not only does this help you get organized, it will also save you money when you go shopping.

This is also the perfect time to separate school clothing from play clothing. I like to keep a drawer designated for play clothes so that the kids can easily find outfits to wear outside after school. This can be a great way to reuse those clothes that still fit but aren’t in good enough condition to wear to school.

5. Plan Your New Routine

Whether all of your kiddos will be in school or you’ll still have little ones at home, your daily routine changes drastically from summer vacation to the school year. Grab a daily planner (you only need one sheet) and sketch a rough idea of what your day will look like. Don’t worry if this changes once you get into the swing of the school year. This simply gives you a map to your days when you pull out your planner.

6. Review the School Calendar

It’s easy to get caught up in the back to school craziness and forget that life still continues outside of school. Review the school calendar and put it in your planner now. This makes scheduling the holidays and any vacations so much easier later on. You also want to make note of any administrative and one-off days that the kids don’t have school during the year.

7. Think About You

Another thing that moms forget about during the school year is taking care of themselves. I’m totally guilty of this. Summer runs me ragged between vacations, activities, holidays, and the insanity that comes from having 3 kiddos at home during the day. It’s easy to let self-care slide during the summer months. School starting is the perfect opportunity to make self-care a priority again. Make it even easier on yourself and schedule weekly self-care in your planner. Scheduling it makes you more likely to follow through on it.

Find tons of tips about taking care of yourself in the series How to Rediscover Yourself After Marriage and Motherhood.

8. Create a Paper System Now

The school year means it’s time to get prepared for an onslaught of papers. Get a system in place now that makes corralling it all a breeze. I recommend having at least 2 different baskets. One for papers that need mom’s attention right away. This is for permission slips, order forms, and anything else that needs action from mom. The second basket is for all of the items that they want to share with you. My kiddos love showing me their artwork, great test scores, etcetera. Unfortunately, my schedule isn’t always conducive to a 30-page paper viewing right after school. The second basket lets the kids clean out their folder and prepare their bags for the next day without my immediate attention. Then when I have a moment, we can go through the papers together when I can give them my full attention.

9. Prep a Car Bag

As kids get more involved in sports and other activities, there will more and more time that you spend in the car. Be ready with a car bag stocked with items you need in a pinch. Items to include in your car bag:

Snacks
Baby Wipes
Empty Plastic Bags
Cash
Extra Clothes for the Kiddos
Empty Water Bottles
Time and Heat Resistant Snacks (Think nuts, granola, jerky)

10. Label Everything

Don’t put it off until the last minute. Instead, take the time now to label everything. I love my label maker for labeling things like lunch containers, school supplies, and water bottles but you also want label coats, jackets, and backpacks too. For these items a permanent marker works just fine. Again, don’t put this off. There is so much to label especially as you get more kiddos in school. Get started now to avoid a mad labeling dash the night before school starts.

Mom’s back to school to-do list is exactly what busy moms need to prepare for the school year transition. It helps you effectively plan your new routine, update your budget, and generally make your daily life so much easier. I think we can all use a little more easy in our lives. Make your life even easier with the awesome back to school planner available to monthly printable bundle subscribers! Learn more right here!

See where I’m linking up!

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More Ideas You’ll Love:

Capture Memories with DIY School Year Journals
Easy Homemade After School Snack Ideas
Awesome Back to School Style Ideas: DIY Edition
First Day Teacher’s Survival Kit – Cookies, Coffee, and Crafts

There is an important part of prepping for back to school that moms overlook. You are so focused on getting the kids ready that you forget about getting you ready. Find out how to plan your day when kids start school so you don’t make the same mistake this year.

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Ordering a product through these links may result in a commission. Read the full disclosure here.

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This is hitting me especially hard this year. I have been a stay-at-home mom for so long that I forget what it’s like to have any semblance of free time during the day. That’s all changing because my daughter starts kindergarten this year and my baby starts next year. That is quite a precipice.

On the one hand, I’m super excited to get to shower daily without interruption. Of course, on the flip side of that, it is scary. I’ve been a mom most of my adult life. It has defined me more than I care to admit. How do you move forward?

It starts with a plan. You and I can’t wait until school starts and hope it works out. Instead, we have to make a plan now to move forward in this next stage of life. Let’s make it as easy as possible with these steps for how to plan your day when kids start school.

Step 1: List Your Tasks

The first thing you need to do is list your tasks. This goes beyond a regular to-do list. Think about the stuff that you already do on a daily basis and add in things that you want (or need) to start doing as well. These should be things that you want to do in addition to the tasks that you have to do.

No matter how big or small the task, list it. Here is an example of a list of tasks to give you some inspiration:

Put Away Dishes
Workout
Meditate
Get Shower
Help Kids to the Bus
Do Laundry
Write/Journal
Vaccuum
Craft
Help Kids with Homework
Make Dinner
Load Dishwasher
Family Time
Read
Get Kids Ready for Bed

Step 2: Design Your Ideal Day

Once your list of tasks is complete it is time to design your ideal day. This is what your day looks like in a perfect world where everything always goes to plan and you accomplish every task on your list easily. Here are a few questions to help you plan:

What time do you wake up on your perfect day?
How much time to you spend cleaning your house and what does it look like?
Will you spend any time outside of the house or does your day primarily take place within the home?
When do you fall asleep on your perfect day?

Use these questions and your list of tasks to plot out your ideal day. This is easiest if you write down the times of day hourly on a sheet of paper, starting with when you want to wake up and ending with when you go to sleep. Then arrange your tasks along those hours accordingly.

Step 3: Evaluate Your Ideal Day

This is the hardest step of the entire process. Look at your ideal day and evaluate it with the eye of a skeptic. Are you trying to fit in too much? Is there any room for relaxing or is every hour filled to capacity?

On the flip side of that, are you slacking? Do you have 2 hours allotted in the morning for putting away dishes? If so, chances are, you are not challenging yourself to truly be your best.

Take a hard look at your what your day looks like and think of adjustments you can make for your day-to-day life. Maybe instead of breaking up cleaning into individual tasks throughout the day it is better to designate a cleaning hour and call it done. Perhaps you gave yourself 4 hours of reading time at the expense of balance to work/homemaking. These are the things you need to think about and evaluate.

Step 4: Create Your Basic Daily Plan

The last step in this process for how to plan your day when kids start school is to create your basic daily plan. Think of it like the skeleton of your day, supporting any supplemental tasks and errands. Ideally, there will be room for a bit of everything while creating the flexibility to change day to day without completely throwing you off track.

Example Basic Daily Plan

Don’t feel like your basic daily plan needs to be hourly and rigid. I typically break mine down by times of day. It also allows me the freedom to make changes as necessary (such as for field trips, grocery shopping, or doctor’s appointments) without totally ruining my flow or important tasks I need to complete. Here is a quick example for you:

Mornings:

Mornings are for me because I kind of totally hate them. Aside from getting the kids ready for school and on the bus, I focus on me. This is when I start my coffee, workout while it brews, then meditate and shower. When all is said and done this only takes about an hour of my morning, leaving me free to handle small tasks such as putting away dishes and starting laundry before I start writing.

Afternoons:

I get a ton of great light in the afternoon so that is when I do any crafting that needs photographed. It is also the perfect time to finish up any additional cleaning tasks I need to before the kids get home from school. Once they are home, it is time to help with homework and start thinking about dinner.

Evenings:

The evenings are the time of my day that revolves around my family. I usually make dinner while the kiddos play.
Sometimes I read, watch TV, or hop on social media while I do it. Then we eat dinner and spend some time together. This can be playing a game, which we love, or sometimes reading together or watching a movie. Whatever it is, I try to focus on them during this time.

Nights:

After the kiddos go to bed but before I crawl into my own, I tie up loose ends from my day or work on my blog some more. I like to finish off my day reading a book in bed before finally closing my eyes.

The key for how to plan your day when kids start school is to focus on key points and tasks instead of rigidity. If you try to start with too specific and tight of a schedule, you will be more tempted to give up when you falter or fail. Instead, adjust your schedule as your practice it more in a way that pushes you to try harder and rediscover yourself. Don’t use this new schedule in a way that leads to burnout. That doesn’t help anyone at the end of the day.

Also keep in mind that this basic schedule should be for during the week and not weekends. If you still want a schedule for the weekends create one that is different from your Monday through Friday. Weekends are inherently different from weekdays and your time will reflect that.

See where I’m linking up!