Simple ways to stay organized with kids

Back to school always inspires me to get it together! Does it inspire you too? You know clean out the closet. Organize the pantry.And this year back to school is totally crazy because I have 2 daughters in school, and 3 little people still home with me, two of which I am homeschooling. Needless to say I really had to up my game to stay on top of it all. Staying organized with kids has always been a challenge, but now it's a must!Here are 6 simple ways I am staying organized this fall:

1. I make a list! Every night before bed, with my old school note pad, and my old school pen, I write down my 6 most important tasks for the next day. No fancy app is needed here friends! And 6 things you ask....why not 10? or 5? Well in my past life I was a Sales Director with Mary Kay Cosmetics and they taught us the importance of the 6 most important things to do list. 10 is too many, and 5 is too little, but 6, that's the perfect number to cross of the list in a 24 yr period. You gotta do it the night before too, not the morning of.
2. Meal plan! I know! I know! You are tired of hearing about the dang meal plan, but really it is key to my day flowing smoothly. Most of the time I just pick 6 different meats, and 6 different veggies for the week, and on the 7th night we have left overs. You don't need a fancy recipe every night, just decide on your meat and then pick a veggie to coordinate. I do a lot of stir-frys where I throw the meat and veggies together. One pot meals are my favorite! I usually search Pinterest for quick easy recipes, and of course choose the one with the prettiest picture :) You can follow my stories on Instagram where I regularly share what I am making for dinner @thisloudhouse .
3. I do a load of laundry every day! This is a MUST! And really a load a day just keeps my head above water. My goal is to always do the load start to finish to keep the laundry room free of extra clutter since we use it as a mud room too to store backpacks and such,
4. Break your home into clean up zones. Assign everyone a zone (like the living room or kitchen) and after dinner set a timer, turn up the tunes, and see if everyone can get their zone picked up before the timer goes off! I do the deep cleaning, but you can use this idea of deep cleaning too. It's amazing how the house can go from disaster to tidy in less than 15 minutes. Let me say this though. It is important that you teach your crew how and where to pick everything up and put it away in their zone before you set the timer, unless you want everything thrown under the bed!
5. Run that dishwasher every night before you go to bed whether it is full or not. Just do it! It's a fresh way to start your day with a clean sink and clean dishes.
6. Make that bed! Roll out and pull up those sheets. I HAVE to have order in my bedroom to spread the organized mojo throughout the rest of my home.

. I'd love to hear ways you stay organized with your kids too! Leave me a comment and share :)Hope you have a wonderful day!Marianne