Home Office Part 2: Backpack Station

Home Office Part 2: Backpack Station

Click here to read Part 1: Setup

Kids require a lot of gear for school. Backpacks, coats, gloves, shoes, projects, notes from teachers, and notes to send back to the teacher. We needed a space to 'catch' all these items when they came home and keep them all organized. I thought long and hard and sketched several designs before deciding on one I liked. 

First, I needed a place to park their shoes. I like to keep school shoes separate from dress and play shoes. They are required to wear tennis shoes for gym class, and I hate hunting for missing shoes. I got them each a bucket in their color to hold 2 or 3 pairs of shoes. They typically hold rain boots, tennis shoes, and casual slip-ons.

Then, I needed a place to hang their backpacks and coats. We live in the south, and weather can vary from 100* to low teens, hot and muggy to rainy and windy. So we needed it to hold a light jacket and a heavy winter coat, as well as the backpack. I decided on these pretty three-prong hooks, which were sturdy enough to support the weight of everything but also looked nice on the wall. 

I also wanted to hang a bulletin board to hang notes, permission slips, schedules, and other important information. This is also where I keep a list of emergency contacts and information in case my children have to call 911. I use large thumb tacks to hold the important information at the top, since it doesn't need to be changed often. I added smaller tacks at the bottom for the kids to pin up anything I needed to sign. I often hang up finance information or other family notices on the board as well.

Finally, I wanted it all to look cohesive, rather than a jumbled mess of stuff. I picked out this lovely bench with three cubbies to hold the shoe buckets and a comfy seat for them to sit and take off their shoes. The seats also raise up for additional storage, which is nice for school projects or extra supplies they may need. I think it pulled it all together and made my entryway look a little nicer, while also helping keep school needs organized and ready to go.

I love the way it looks, and getting the kids on the bus in the morning is easy when everything is by the door and ready to go.

Mornings Are Hard

Mornings Are Hard

Getting children ready in the morning can be a challenge. Add in pets to take care of, parents who have to get ready for work, and differing schedules, and you’ve got a recipe for chaos. Planning ahead is the key to success. Many people choose to pick out their clothing the night before, but I can’t always guarantee I will be home at a decent time, or remember to do it on hectic nights, so I do the entire week at once. It has made mornings so much easier!

First, I set up a weekly organizer. Finding the right sizes, colors and quantities were the hardest part of this. I ended up using these stacking organizers I found in the kitchen section at Wal-Mart. They came 3 in a pack for about $5, so they were affordable enough to stock up on. I chose to do only kids’ clothing first, so I needed 15 (3 kids, 5 days). I opted not to do weekend outfits as we rarely leave the house on weekends. Since I could only find white bins, I needed to color code them myself. I used a roll of duct tape in each of their colors and just put a strip on the front. It needed to be visible when the containers were full, but it wasn’t necessary to cover the entire bin. I used the leftover tape to identify laundry baskets and other containers, but more on that later.

On the inside of each bin, I wrote the day of the week. It only had to be visible when filling the containers, so I just wrote it with a marker inside.

I then stacked them according to height, and lined them up for the week. This made it easier for my youngest to figure out which one to grab, since she was still learning the days of the week. Everyone grabbed from the same stack on the same day.

In each bin, I placed socks, underwear, pants, shirt, and matching accessories if needed (bow, belt, etc.). Everything they needed was ready to go.

We have our shoes in a separate organizer, but you could include them in a weekly clothing organizer if you wished. We no longer spent precious time hunting for the right pieces, and Daddy no longer dressed the children in off-season, ill-fitting clothes.

How it works: as I take clothes out of the dryer, or go through closets for already put away clothes, I match the outfits and fold them together. Since I only do Mon-Fri, I have all weekend to get it together. If I am washing clothes during the week, I will fold the outfits I want and separate them, and the kids put the rest of the clothes away. This way, when the organizer is emptied on Friday mornings, I have most everything ready to fill it for the next week. You could do it all Sunday night, or two weeks at a time, or whatever works for you. As long as everything is ready to go Monday morning, you can’t go wrong.

Now enjoy your morning cup of coffee just a little bit longer, the hard part is done!

Items Used:
Scotch Super Thin Waterproof Vinyl Plastic Colored Tape, .75-Inch by 125-Inch, 5-Pack

Basic White Stacking Bins - 3-pack - 12" X 9" X 5"

Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Markers, 12 Colored Markers(30072)