Back-to-School Cleaning

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back to school, cleaning house, goal setting, Home Maintenance, organization, to do list

Students, parents and teachers all have back to school prep rituals. Yesterday was my students’ first day back to school and in honor of it, I’m posting my back-to-school home projects. Hopefuly I’ll remember to check them off as I accomplish them. And yes, I’m one of those people who go back and add something, just so they can cross it off of the list.

Below is a ritual of home projects I do at Back-to-School time (it’s much different than my fall cleaning tasks):

√Upload songs onto IPods
√Rewrite my schedule
√Clean out pantry & restock
Make food that has been pushed to the back
√Clean out clothing closet
√Put aside unwanted clothing to go to B Green Loft
√Hem new pants
√Repair buttons, snags, etc.. on clothing
Polish & repair shoes
Resort jewelry and make repairs
√Reorganize coat closet
Trim indoor plants
Wash & Wax car
√Vacuum & Steam Clean car
Clean out bathroom cabinets
√Get rid of unwanted products & expired products
√Give myself a facial, manicure & pedicure
√Treat myself to a new beauty product and a new accessory
√Clean out magazine rack
Organize torn out magazine articles & recipes
√Get rid of old toys
√Take dog & cat to vet
√Get water bottles, ice-packs, misc. things to take to work
Prep easy dinners for the freezer
√Put aside 10 back up lunches (no need to refrigerate, microwaveable lunches, such as cans of soup) for Hubster and myself
Write out a few menu items
Clear off desk
√Clean out inbox
Clear off computer desktop
√Write a to-do list of my fall garden & home projects
√Get out my leather bag and restock it with school essentials
Plan a yard sale or donate unwanted items
√Restock laundry room and cleaning products

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Back-to-School Resolutions

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back to school, goal setting, motivation, new year's resolution, organization, resolutions

August & September Resolutions
When you’re a kid, the new year begins when you go back to school and Dec. 31st and Jan 1st are just fun days to celebrate. January is cold, snowy and has a lack of sunlight, so it’s easy to break the resolution before you even really begin. Summer leaves you more motivated and energized, so why not make your New Year’s resolution now? Even as a preteen I adopted the practice of making resolutions at back-to-school time. This practice is perfect for everyone, whether or not you’re a parent or child.

What is Your Resolution?
The most common resolutions are to eat healthier, exercise more, get organized, spend more time with family, become more productive at home/work and to get out of debt. Only you can decide what will make the biggest impact on your life. I encourage realistic goals, where you know you can achieve results within the year.

Write It Down!
The first day of school I always ask my students their resolution for the new school year (My son and I talk about this the day before school begins). I then guide them as they prepare an action plan on how to achieve their goal. The most important thing is that they write it down! The first few pages in their journal are dedicated the their goals and plans. Take a lesson from my students and write down your goal, come up with steps to help you achieve this. Write down limitations and how you can overcome them. It doesn’t matter whether it’s on your blog, a journal, or a piece of paper on the fridge… write it down!

Start Today!
Take the first step of your goal today! Even if it’s a baby step, you’ll feel inspired if you start immediately. So google healthy recipes, clean out a closet, call a family member or friends and plan a get together, spend one-on-one time with each of your children, or write down those ideas for that novel. Start today!

Revisit Your Goal It!
For the first 6 weeks after we start our goal, I have we revisit our plan once a week. We give feedback on how well we think we’ve done so far and on any new limitations that have appeared. After the first 6 weeks, if they’re on track, then we revisit our goal at the end of end month to review our progress and also get back on track.

Share Your Goal!
If no one is in on our goals, plans and dream, it’s easy to brush it under the carpet when we get off track. Just like I have my students do, we need to share our goals with one another. Sometimes a friend’s feedback is all we need to keep us on or course or to help us steer around the obstacles. Whether your spouse/partner, sibling, or best friend, it helps to have a support network.

Start by sharing with me! What is your resolution going to be? What is the first step you’re going to do to today in order to achieve this?

Frugal Green Teacher

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back to school, eco-friendly, frugal at work, frugal teacher, green at work, green pledge, green teacher

Today my summer is officially over, back to school I go. These are some frugal green (eco-friendly) things I do at school to do my share.

Stainless Steel Travel Tea Mug –  If I stopped by a coffee shop every morning to purchase my must needed morning tea, I would shell out… 192 days (including in-service) x $2 a cup = $384! There’s a chunk of change in my pocket! Plus that’s 192 paper cups, cardboard cozies, and plastics lids that are not going into the landfill! Of course my first year, I went through 3 travel mugs, but that’s still more in my pocket and less in the landfill.

Nalgene Water Bottle or Stainless Steel Water Bottle – Talking all day does dehydrate one! I stay hydrated by filling several bottles to lat me the day. If I do have to purchase a plastic water bottle, I refill it as many times as possible before recycling it. My plan this year is to store an extra bottle for the day I leave mine on the counter at home or when I’m running late. If I bought as many disposable plastic water bottles as I drink water, I’d shell out $4 a day x 192 days = $768 and 768 plastic bottles that didn’t need to be made.

Turn Off the Lights – I keep the lights off in my classroom as much as possible, by letting in as much natural light as I can. During the dark winter hours and sometimes on dark cloudy/rainy days I turn on one row of lights and leave off the other row to try to save electricity and cash for my school. It might not be a lot in one year, but in the long run it adds up. Imagine if every teacher did this!

Shut Down My Computer – I have two computers in my classroom, one for student use and my teacher laptop. By shutting them down before I leave for the evening I save some electricity and my school some money.

Lunch – Once a week I take a lunch that doesn’t need to be refrigerated and at least twice a week I pack something that doesn’t need to be microwaved. All my lunches are packed in reusable containers. If I don’t use a brown paper bag, plastic baggies disposable napkins or disposable utensils, I save myself some dough and the landfill.  Estimated savings $40 a year. Packing the cloth napkin is always the hardest to remember.

Saving Paper – I keep a bin for scraps of construction paper when we’re working on projects, I encourage students to find a piece in there before cutting from a new sheet. When my students are also using both sides of their paper. I’m also working on cutting back my use of post-its, by using reusing scratch paper instead.

In one year I’ll have saved $1,192 for myself, some dinero for my school, and a small piece of the environment. What would you do with that extra cash?