Every year, sometime in mid-July, I feel a shift. The days are still long and loose, but something in the back of my mind starts making lists. August is coming. And with it: three kids who need new everything, a school supply list a mile long, schedules that need to be put onto the calendar, and a house that spent all summer slowly unraveling. (Unravel we did, but it was the best kind of unraveling.)
For many years, back to school snuck up on me. I’d blink and suddenly it was August and we were searching for the right folders at the store with three hundred of our closest friends. A few years ago I decided to stop surviving back to school and start running it. Here’s the system I use now.
Big thanks to Kohl’s for sponsoring this week’s post, which allows this post to be paywall free. Kohl’s is a one-stop shop for so many brands my kids and I actually love, which makes back-to-school shopping a whole lot more manageable.
Before I buy a single thing, I do bedroom resets. I pull everything out of backpacks, clean out desks, go through closets and drawers (with two trash bags: one for donations, one for trash) and make an honest assessment of what we actually have and what we actually need. The best part about having two boys four years apart is that I can sometimes shop Brady’s hand-me-downs for Tyler and fill a few gaps this way. This reset saves me from buying things we already have and helps me see clearly what we need. (Plus, it helps the kids start school with a clean, organized space to come home to.)
I check sizes on everything — shoes especially. Kids grow in strange spurts and I have learned the hard way not to assume. I make a size list by kid, by category: tops, bottoms, shoes, outerwear, and anything specific their school requires. Having sizes written down before I ever walk into a store means I’m not guessing or overbuying. My kids’ schools have specific requirements for daytime, but we still need so much more for sports, activities, shoes, etc that back to school is the perfect time to just go all in.
Back to school isn’t just about stuff. It’s about establishing a new rhythm. And if I don’t establish the rhythm before the first bell rings, the school year will establish it for me — usually in a way that feels chaotic for the first six weeks.
I sit down with the school calendar before August starts and map out what our fall actually looks like. What days are early release. What activities are starting back up (and when are practices and games). What our morning routine needs to look like to get three kids out the door to two different schools without anyone forgetting their lunch (or losing their patience). I also use this time to make a few quiet decisions in advance: what we’re doing for lunch box lunches, any upcoming travel, what the carpool looks like. Small decisions made once, ahead of time, save an enormous amount of friction later.
Every school sends home a supply list and every supply list is slightly overwhelming. My approach is to combine all three kids’ lists into one list, sort it by category (careful not to leave off any specific details), and knock it out in one focused trip rather than piece mealing it over several weeks.
I also keep a small running list of things we tend to burn through fast so I can stock up while I’m already shopping instead of making a separate trip in October when we’ve run out of everything at once. (Like having backup binders on hand, IYKYK.)
This is the part that can take the most time. Multiple stores, multiple trips, kids with opinions, me with a list that never quite gets finished. Now I do it differently. I consolidate as much as humanly possible.
What I love about shopping at Kohl’s is that they carry brands like Nike, Lands’ End, LC Lauren Conrad that my kids are genuinely excited about — which means I’m not fighting battles about style or quality. I’m just checking boxes. Everyone gets clothes they’re happy with and I get to move through the list efficiently because everything I need is in one place. (Even Tyler’s Lands’ End uniform bottoms and THE Nike socks they all know and love!) There’s something to be said for not having to drive across town four times to piece together three kids’ wardrobes.
I usually do this trip on my own first to grab the basics, then bring the kids for shoes and anything they want input on. That system came together after one too many full-family shopping trips that ended with everyone hungry and me questioning my life choices. (A lesson learned the slow way.)
If I had to put a timeline on it, here’s roughly how I think about the window: Two weeks out, I do the room resets and make my lists. Ten days out, I tackle supplies and clothes. One week out, I lock in the schedule and start easing back toward earlier bedtimes. A few days before, I do a final check: backpacks packed, supplies labeled, first-day outfits decided.
It sounds like a lot written out, but spread across two weeks it’s manageable. The goal isn’t a perfect back to school. The goal is a calm one. By the time the first day arrives, I want to feel ready. Not perfect — the lunches will get forgotten and someone will absolutely lose a folder by day three — but ready. Ahead of it instead of behind it.
I’ve gathered some of my favorites from Kohl’s in my Kohl’s storefront below. Best of luck to you as you get your own crews ready to head back to school too!
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