Back-to-School Amidst COVID-19: Family Organization Tips

It’s hard to believe we are headed back to school in the midst of a pandemic. If your children attend Austin ISD, they will not be starting back to school until September 8th. Students at other schools in the City of Austin or Travis County will be doing remote learning until at least September 7th. It is unclear what will happen beyond September 7th/8th. To help support your family in this “new normal”, I have created an updated and expanded post with back-to-school family organization tips specifically focused on prepping for back-to-school amidst COVID. This is not your typical school supplies, back-to-school clothes, lunch ideas type of post. I focus on a variety of information and resources specific to back-to-school in a pandemic, such as: setting up an ergonomic work or school station for all members of the family; supply recommendations for working and learning from home; how to ensure that you have sufficient internet bandwidth to handle all the Zoom calls; setting up the kids’ annual appointments and vaccine booster appointments (and options for this if you do not have insurance); tutoring and learning pod options; setting up the back-to-school schedule; household organization tips; strategies to support the dual career balancing act; and support groups for parents and teachers. As always, all information provided is based on Enriched Family’s independent research. Enriched Family does not receive any kick-backs or payments from any of the resources included below, nor do we accept advertising on our site.

If you are looking for information on alternative schooling options, check out our previous blog post, Enriched Family Roundup: Alternative Schooling Options for the Fall. As always, use the ideas that seem like they would be helpful to you and your family, and disregard those that do not. And bear in mind, you do not have to finish all of your organizing before the first day of school. Prioritize the most important things for your family and then ease into the rest as time allows.

Back-to-School Family Organization Tips 2019

Hey y’all! With plenty of anticipation, it is time to shift back into school mode. Some of you have already made the initial transition. We start next week in our district. My girls are both excited and a tad nervous about beginning 4th and 2nd grades. I am happy to get back to regular schedules, but still have some work to do to get my kids and household organized to start the new school year off as smoothly as possible. To help support your family, I have created an updated and expanded post with back-to-school family organization tips. As always, use the ideas that seem like they would be helpful to you and your family, and disregard those that do not. And bear in mind, you do not have to finish all of your organizing before the first day of school. Prioritize the most important things for your family and then ease into the rest in August and September.

Productivity and Organization Tips & Tools for Parents

Hey mamas and papas! Want to explore ways to create more order and harmony in your work and home life? I love helping individuals and families create practical systems that will make the days feel less rushed and more purposeful, including developing realistic household and family schedules that work; exploring block scheduling and other productivity approaches; creating easy family meal plans and meal prep strategies; and creating a variety of family systems such as household chore delegation, establishing daily routines, and creating positive behavior charts and daily routine task lists for children. I’ve compiled a quick list of productivity and organization tips and tools for parents below. The goal of these organization, time management, and productivity systems is to help you thrive in your personal and professional lives. Each tip and tool has been personally tested and has proven to be particularly effective in our family or clients’ families...

Making Resolutions Stick Through SMART Goals

Tis’ the season. Whether you like New Year’s resolutions or not, everyone is talking about them. Some of us are doing great, while some of us have already given up. This week’s post focuses on making your resolutions stick. While I think it is great to set resolutions or intentions for the year, if you really want results, it is time to shift from resolutions or intentions to S.M.A.R.T. goals. Developed in the 1980s by management consultants as a business tool, SMART goals are now used by businesses, nonprofits, and individuals to set and achieve objectives.

The SMART acronym and system for developing goals is fairly straightforward. If you want to achieve something in any realm, set goals, and these goals should be S.M.A.R.T…

Holiday Season Organizing Tips

Whether you are hosting or travelling this holiday season, I always recommend a little pre-holiday season organizing. Included are some quick tips to get your household and family ready for the holidays..

Roundtable Discussion on a Systems Approach to Organization: Facilitated by Enriched Family at The Hive on 11/10/18 @ 10am - Free!

Feeling a little stretched thin? Want to explore ways to create more order and harmony in your work and home life? Grab a cup of coffee at The Hive Austin and join Esha Clearfield from Enriched Family on 11/10/18 at 10am for an informal and engaging facilitated discussion on implementing organizational systems to help you thrive in your personal and professional lives…

Back to School To-Do List & Organizing Tips

Mamas and papas: we are on the home stretch! It’s almost back to school time!

We are nearly there, but still have some work to do to get our kids and households organized to start the new school year off as smoothly as possible. As I am working to do this at my house, I thought I would share with you my list of to-do items and organizing recommendations...

Easy and Budget-Friendly Summer Organizing Motivation and Ideas

I recently completed a number of organization projects that I wanted to share with you. Though many of us think of spring cleaning and organizing, it helps to stay on top of things by periodically organizing key areas of the home that tend to become disorganized quickly. Namely, the fridge/freezer, pantry, and closets…

Bringing Home Lucky: Preparing Your Family and Home For a Puppy

Our children have been asking for a pet for a long time. My initial, internal reaction was: "Like I need another thing to take care of!" However, our children are currently 8 and 6, and I work from home now, so somehow it seemed more doable. Cats were out of the question as our neighborhood is always losing cats to coyotes. So, we started looking around for the right rescue dog. It took about six months, but thanks to @austinanimalcenter and @happyfosterdog, we found our dog! As you can see from the picture, he is adorable (yes, I am biased, but objectively, he is just darn cute).

I am discovering daily what a joy it is to have a puppy, and also what an undertaking! Whew. As I didn't grow up with dogs due to family allergies, this is pretty new for me. So, I did what I always do when facing the unknown and put on my researcher hat. I thought I would share the results of my research for other folks out there who are getting a dog for the first time.

Five Days and Five Time- and Sanity-Saving Ideas: Day 5, Scheduling Care Appointments

Day 5: Always Schedule the Next Dentist, Haircut, Doctor, Fill-in-the-Blank Appointment While you are There

Today's post is about scheduling your family's regular care appointments for the year. This seems comically straightforward, but how many of us take our kids to the dentist and forget or put off scheduling their next appointment? No more. Make it a priority to always schedule your next appointment for any service or medical visit while you are in the office. This will save time in the long run and ensure that you and your family are up-to-date on wellness and self-care appointments....

Five Days and Five Time- and Sanity-Saving Ideas: Day 4, Control Paperwork Clutter

Day 4: Create an In/Out Paperwork System

Paperwork clutter getting you down? We are all inundated on a daily basis with mail, bills, important documents, and kids' school forms, assignments, and completed work. I have a simple, inexpensive suggestion to control this paperwork clutter...

Make Time for Self-Care

Day 3: Get serious about creating time for self-care.

We have all heard that self-care is important, but how often do we leave this very last on the proverbial list? It wasn't until I was in my late-thirties, early forties (and admittedly when I was out of the trenches of babyhood/toddlerhood with my kids), that I got serious about self-care.

When I say get serious, I mean: I made it a priority by scheduling it and sticking to that schedule as much as possible. I suggest you start out simply and don't overwhelm yourself (in the past, I have been guilty of being the queen of setting unrealistically high and undoable expectations). Choose one area to focus on at a time (such as regular exercise) and don't add a new self-care area until exercise is firmly part of your weekly routine (at whatever frequency goal you have set for yourself)...

Planning, Organizing Strategies, Informational, Self-CareEsha ClearfieldJanuary 31, 2018Self-care, 5days5ideas

Five Days and Five Time- and Sanity-Saving Ideas: Day 2

Day 2: Scheduled weekly grocery shopping and a little help from some friends...?

Today's post focuses on scheduled weekly grocery shopping. This and regular meal planning have made such a difference in our family life. This is a very simple, practical idea, but it took our family some time to fully commit to it. The key is to choose a day to make your grocery store list weekly (based on your weekly meal planning) and to grocery shop for the week and stick to it consistently.

I also highly recommend considering the use of an online grocery shopping service like Instacart. This changed our lives and that is only slight hyperbole (no ads or sponsorships here; I just genuinely love this service). Imagine, no more spending 1-2 hours on the weekend driving to different stores and grocery shopping with kids in tow, or running to the grocery store last minute to buy "something" to make for dinner that night when you and the kids are already tired and hungry. This is a recipe for disaster and a whole lot of impulse buying. You know what I'm talking about...

Five Days and Five Time- and Sanity-Saving Ideas, Day 1

It’s the New Year. Many of us are thinking about, or are already making progress on, better organizing our lives. And some of us have already given up (been there). In an effort to keep us motivated (myself included), I am going to post one practical, time-saving idea a day over the next five days. These five ideas may save you time, and, in some cases, money, as well as sanity. You will have to put in some time at the outset, but these suggestions will likely leave you less frazzled in the long run. Many are tried- and-true approaches that have made a big difference in the life of my family (others I am still working on).

Some of the ideas may not work for you and your family or may not be a priority; that’s fine. Pick the one idea (two if you are feeling particularly ambitious) that you think would make the biggest difference in your and your family's life and adapt it as needed. Then, once you have incorporated it smoothly into your weekly routine, you can try out some of the other ideas.

Day 1: Meal Planning...

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