Back-to-school tips: Mom of 4 shares her top money-saving and time-saving hacks
It's time to streamline back-to-school season with these simple strategies.
For many parents, the words "back-to-school season" trigger instant dread and anxiety.
With supplies to gather, new clothing and uniforms to pick out and busy schedules to coordinate, it's not surprising that the phrase leaves some feeling uneasy and unprepared.
Thankfully, Shannon Doherty, the woman behind the popular "At Home With Shannon" Instagram and TikTok pages, has a solution.
"I have four children and I think all moms can relate -- back to school is such an exciting time, but it's a lot," Doherty -- mom to Leontine (Lala), 8, Colton, 6, Fallon (nicknamed Peaches), 5, and Hunter, 3 -- told "Good Morning America."
"You go from summer to school and you need to get back into your routine. So it's really just being able to be efficient in the morning and being organized and getting as much done as you can because I really think your children being able to leave in the morning and head to school in a positive, good environment just makes the whole day that much better."
Get started on your own back-to-school reset with some of Doherty's top tips.
Money-saving back-to-school hacks
With inflation hitting families especially hard this year, Doherty reminded parents to shop at home and repurpose household items whenever possible.
Reuse what you already have
"I love doing reusable hacks in general. I try to do them as much as I can. Recently, I did reusable sponges, where we wet the sponges under water and put them in little plastic baggies, and we use those for ice packs," Doherty said, adding that sponges are also widely available in dollar stores if you don't already have some at home.
Other items are likely already in your kitchen. "We'll use empty Pringles containers and put crayons around them to make really cute crayon holders for our playroom," she said. "We also like to use cereal boxes to make bookmarks. I cut fun cereal boxes out with my kids and we'll make fun little bookmarks with those."
Time-saving back-to-school hacks
In the kitchen: Make a breakfast station
"My oldest, Lala, she gets up very early. So I like to have [a] breakfast station downstairs and she can go downstairs and really make her own breakfast," Doherty said. "She loves the independence of being able to pick out cereal [and] yogurt. I do these fun mess-free squirt milk bottles, I put it in condiment jars and they can put their own milk in their cereal."
Doherty suggests going either the simple route, by putting things out on a counter, "or you can [do] it like I did, on a bar cart, and make a big station."
In the kitchen: Create a self-serve lunch system
Doherty follows the same formula for packing lunches.
"Something I like to do is meal prep on Sundays. What you do is you put different bins of food groups so there's a protein, a dairy, a fruit, a vegetable, a treat and you lay it out for the week and you show all the different options to your family," she told "GMA."
"You put them in little bags, and then in the morning, instead of having to think of what you're going to pack everyone, you just pull the bins out and let the children go through each bin. They know to pick one from each bin and pack their lunch. It's fun in the morning and it's a lot more organized because everything's already cut up, set and you know they're packing healthy lunches that they like."
In the kitchen: Be strategic about snacks
"In our fridge on the side of the door, I leave these containers of healthy snacks that I pack on Sundays when I'm lunch prepping. I have the tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, yogurts, cheeses, everything in reusable pickle jars that I use," she continued. "They can go in and grab what they want."
And if frozen sponges and ice packs aren't available, you can also substitute with chilled foods too.
"My kids would always say that their yogurts got warm by lunchtime so if you freeze them, it acts as a little ice pack in the lunchbox but then it's also the perfect temperature when they open it at lunch," Doherty said.
In the bedroom: Make mornings more organized
If getting ready feels like a struggle, try picking out the kids' outfits for the week ahead and separating them into a shoe organizer or labeled bins.
"I like picking our outfits out on Sunday and having them ready for the week," Doherty said. "You can leave the outfits in the shoe rack organizer. Leave five and so Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, [the kids] just pull out from the day of the week and they know what they're gonna wear."
Doherty said you can also do the same for sports gear and outfits for extracurricular activities.
Parents can also try color-coding essential supplies to help everyone quickly identify belongings.
"We started a new system of color coding so everyone in our family picks a color," Doherty said. "Lala loves pink, Colton loves blue, Fallon loves purple and Hunter loves orange so we go through and they pick out all their supplies in that color so you know if you see the purple crayon or the purple scissors, purple pencil case, [that belongs to] Peaches."
"It does keep everyone's stuff organized and separated, which is great if you have a big family like ours," she added.
In the home: Set up a command center.
"Make a command station … and just keep it all there. So they see Mondays -- dance, ballet, hockey, lacrosse -- you have it all [visible] somewhere that you go," Doherty said. "[Ours] is right by our kitchen [and] dining room. My family can look up and see what their activity is for that day or the week and it really just helps because it's easy."
In the home: Start each day with positivity.
Doherty said she put a mirror by her front door last year that reads "I AM," meant to set the tone for her children as they leave for the day.
"The idea behind this 'I AM' mirror is that before they leave the house, they look at it and they say to themselves, 'I am motivated,' 'I am powerful,' 'I'm a great lacrosse player,' 'I'm going to change the world.' They say things to each other and themselves out loud and I really think it gives them that confidence," she said.
In the home: Set up a catch-all tray
To stay on top of school-related paperwork, Doherty created a "Mommy's Mail" station next to her front door.
"There's always papers that I need to sign or that my kids need to bring back to school that I feel like I'm forgetting," she explained. "So my kids know if it's in their bag and I need to sign it, to put it right in that folder. So I check that."
"I have a little pen there. I know I need to sign it and then they know before they get on the bus to check if I put anything back in the mailbox for them to bring to school," she added.
In the home: Work smarter
Doherty's kids are all involved in sports, so when it comes to corralling dirty gear, she suggests keeping a shower caddy in the car to collect the soiled stuff.
"Put that in the back of your car, so when they get in ... they put their muddy cleats and shoes right in the shower caddy in the back seat, so it does not get messy all over the car. And then when they leave, you just bring the caddy right out and wash it out," she said.
Overall, Doherty recommends organizing as much as possible to set everyone in the family up for success.
"I think the key for back-to-school success for any mom is just making it as efficient and seamless as possible," she said. "[Be] as organized as you can be the night before or a few days prior, [and] your mornings will be so much easier. And as much as your kids can do themselves, it's a really great lesson for independence and teaching them these routines."
It's important to stay realistic too, she said.
"I know not everything is going to be perfect. We won't always get everything done and you have to be OK with that and just know that you tried your best and don't let that get you down. Tomorrow's a new day and you'll get it done," Doherty added.
"For all the moms out there getting ready for back to school, we got this. [Remain] as organized as you can but also enjoy it because time goes by so fast."
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