5 Tips for an Organized & Stress-Free End of Your School Year

Declutter Your Locker

Take the last week of school to declutter your locker. This not only allows you the freedom to dart out of school on your very last day to officially begin your summer season, but also it prevents you from getting really overwhelmed. If you leave it to the last day, it both feels overwhelming and prevents the summer season from starting! You can either do a little bit each day or pick a day in the last week of school to stay afterward for an hour to finish going through your entire locker. Either strategy works. It simply depends on your personality.

Recycle Any Unnecessary Papers from the Year

You want to step into the summer season with a clean slate and uncluttered energy to enjoy all the amazing experiences and memories that are about to unfold. That said, the best thing you can do is declutter all the homework, papers, binders, etc. that you no longer need for next year. This is a tedious task, but a necessary one. You can absolutely make this a fun experience by picking a day during the last week of school to stay afterward with friends and all go through your papers together. Spread everything out on the floor and have a recycle bin in the middle of your group so you can all work together to get rid of anything you don’t need.

Deep Clean

Once you have decluttered everything, it is important to do a deep clean. This completes the process of ending the school year. Once they are empty and decluttered, wipe down:

1. Your desk
2. Your locker
3. Your pencil case
4. Your backpack
5. Your gym bag
6. Your purse

Congratulations, you officially decluttered and cleaned out the school year! Now you can enjoy your summer with fresh energy and a clean slate.

Organize a Summer Bucket List

Three months of sunshine, friends, family, and pool days sound like a long time, but we often feel like summer goes by in a blink of an eye. So the best way to ensure you have the best summer is to organize a summer bucket list. This helps you see a bird’s eye view of the summer so you can cross off everything you wish to experience! Here are a few ideas for your summer bucket list:

1. Visit the ocean 3 times this summer
2. Take a road trip
3. Read 5 books
4. Take lots of photos with friends
5. Make homemade ice pops
6. Miniature golf night
7. Spend a night under the stars
8. Find a program to volunteer with
9. Kayak
10. Work on organizing your room
11.  Make pizza at home with the family
12. Go on a bike ride
13. Finish one passion project

Organize Your Summer Homework

As soon as you exit those school doors, you will want to leave your books behind you. However, most schools require summer reading and written assignments to keep your brain sharp. Before you know it, September will be back and those 5 books you were supposed to read will still be unread.

So organize a schedule and plan out how you will structure your three months off and what assignments you will do. A few organizing ideas:

1. Evenly divide the amount of books you need to read over the 3 months.
2. Get most of the reading done in the beginning so you can enjoy the rest of your summer.
3. Do half in the first month, enjoy the second month off, and do the last part in the third month.
4. If you are yearning to get the summer started and don’t want to do the work until the end, make sure you organize a plan starting at the end of July and beginning of August so you don’t feel stressed during the last week of summer.

To Wrap It All Up

You are probably so ready for the school year to end so you can start planning summer beach bonanzas and pool parties with all your friends. However, take time now to put a plan in place so you can end the school year as organized as possible. The above tips will help you do just that so you can enjoy your summer to the fullest!