Swamped by notes from school? Here are Love2declutter’s tips for getting ahead of the game…
1. Check for school emails and children’s bookbags everyday
It sounds obvious but we all forget to check children’s’ bookbags until the day that your child asks why you are the only person who hasn’t sent in the slip and money for the school trip in two days time!
So remember to check your children’s bags everyday to make sure you don’t miss anything. For teenagers, you could try asking every few days as they may not like you going through their stuff!
If your school uses email attachments to distribute notes, check daily and print out any that need a response – or they will get forgotten.
2. Deal with the notes same day if possible
Once you’ve got hold of the notes, don’t let them hang around for a few days. Almost inevitably, they will get lost, buried under all the other stuff that seems to arrive on a daily basis. Since the children went back to school I reckon I have filled in around 12 forms and written 3 cheques; and that doesn’t count the ‘information only’ notes I have read through. If I hadn’t deal with the notes as they came through the door, I would already be losing it, barely 2 weeks into the new school year!
If you need to write a cheque, don’t make excuses, go and get your cheque book and an envelope and fill in that reply slip!
Put the note in your child’s book bag and remind them in the morning to give it in. (That’s about all you can do to try and ensure the school gets it on time!)
3. Write dates in the house diary
Each time you get a school note relating to an event, make sure you enter it in your house diary or calendar. This is really important. I also add notes like ‘£2 spending money’ or ‘needs packed lunch’. I also file the note in the diary so that I have all the details to hand on the day. If you can’t do this, then have a notes file,
Don’t forget to throw away the note as soon as the event has passed – or you will have yet another pile of paper in the house…
4. Plan ahead – put reminders ahead of the date – VERY IMPORTANT
What am I talking about??? Well, say for example, that you have a note about the Harvest Festival. It will probably ask for items to be brought in on the day to be donated to local charities. To make sure that you have the items ready, you need to remind yourself on your (Internet) shopping day that you need to buy something for the Harvest Festival. Similarly, if your child will need a packed lunch for their school trip, make a note a few days ahead of what you need to buy.
So that’s it, our 4 point Action plan for dealing with all those school notes!
If anyone out there has any more tips, we would love to hear from you.
