Back to School!

If you are a parent you will be breathing a big sigh of relief any time now!  School holidays are over and your children will be going back to school.   If you work outside the home this brings to an end the never-ending logistics of childcare during the long school holidays:  if you are based in the home you can once again have a little bit of space!

September always feels like time for a new start.  The children have probably got new shoes, school uniform and enough items of stationery to open a shop!  How about also giving your home a bit of a restart this autumn?  The following Ten Tips will not only make your home a nicer place to be but should also streamline the process of getting you and the kids out of the door on time each day!

1. Declutter.   We ran a recent blog on this called Declutter for Summer.  If you’re anything like us you were probably full of good intentions but never got round to it – also the weather has been so lovely who wants to be inside clearing out?!  But now autumn is on its way why not give it a go?
2. Re-organise your kitchen cupboards.  Make sure everything is in a logical place and that the storage helps the “flow” of the kitchen.  For example if you are baking a cake or preparing a particular type or meal, does the way you have stored things help you to get to the quickly and in the order you will need them?
3. Give the kids their own kitchen storage – for example a shelf in a kitchen cupboard or a drawer.  Also perhaps a storage box in the fridge. They could keep their packed lunch items there and – even better – start to make their own lunches!
4. In the kids’ storage area(s) they could also keep also all those school bits and pieces that always disappear just as you are about to leave the house!   Yes it may take a bit of effort to remind them to put them there in the first place but once the habit is established this will save lots of time and stress in the mornings
5. If during the kitchen rationalisation process you realise that you are in need of kitchen cupboard replacement, or your drawer fronts are a bit shabby (rather than chic!), or your cupboards need some additional storage solutions inside then do spend a few minutes browsing through the kitchen section of our website to see how DIY Homefit makes it easy to do any or all of these things.
6. DIY Homefit also has a wide range of wardrobe solutions to make your bedroom a joy rather than a disaster zone!   If your bedroom storage isn’t working for you then it really is worth putting time and effort into changing things: just think how much less hassle the morning rush would be if you can see things clearly and get to them easily!
7. If any of the bedrooms in your home are small then why not consider changing the doors on your fitted wardrobes into sliding doors?  This can save an enormous amount of space in a room as you don’t need to allow an area for the wardrobe door to swing outwards.  There are also some fabulous designs for sliding wardrobe doors, including mirrored doors – as shown below – that add light and depth to the room.  Your bedroom could look twice the size – and be a lot tidier! – just by using mirrored sliding doors.
8. Once you have got your wardrobes into some semblance of order you will feel great, but it’s all too easy to let them slip back into chaos again!   Why not make a goal for yourself that from now on every time you purchase a new item of clothing you will get rid of one?  Whether you give it away, sell it on eBay, or take it to the charity shop is up to you.  But times change and we all have stuff we no longer use – so why let it clutter up your home?
9. Also in the spirit of a fresh start why not try enforcing the “put things back in their proper place” rule?   It may sound rigid – and you will all need to be disciplined to make it work! – but just think how much easier your morning routine would be if everything was where it should be!
10. Leading on from the above, one final rule:  Do It Today.   Any little thing you spot that needs doing, just do it.  THis may seem overwhelming at first but once you get in the routine it won’t be.  What makes you think that you will have any more time tomorrow than you do today to change that lightbulb or put the rubbish out or pick up the apples from the garden before they rot!   If you can do things as you come across them, whenever it’s possible to do so, your home will be a better place.

Good luck from all of us at DIY Homefit with getting the kids back to school – and with streamlining your home this autumn!