1. Schedule a carpet and tile cleaning service. Most carpet cleaners offer tile and stone cleaning services as well as upholstery.  Email me directly for the best Austin carpet cleaning company I know and work with one on one.  We tend to put more emphasis on cleaning our carpets and forget about the tiled floors.  Take a moment to look at your one white grout and think if you can even imagine what it used to look like.  There are many summer germs in that tile that only a professional company can get out.  This is the week to set up that appointment!

2. Comforters and summer grime
Take the comforters off the beds and send them to the dry cleaners.  Kids ate in bed for breakfast, lunch, snacks and probably had the doggy and kitty with them joining in the fun while you were at work.  Look into discounts that dry cleaners run for cleaning of comforters to get the summer soils out.  Did you know Austin has an Eco Friendly dry cleaning company?  Email me directly for their information and discounts we can offer if you choose to use them as well.

3. Look beyond the shower curtain
Shower curtain liners most likely need to be replaced.  With the summer heat and mold build up in small places like the bathroom we rarely see the inside of our children's showers unless we ourselves are showering in there too.  If your children's bathrooms also become the guest bathroom when company arrives change the shower curtain liner today to eliminate your guests seeing it before you do.  If you currently use our services we can pick a new shower curtain liner up for you and add it to your monthly invoice.

4. Pantry clean out.
Make it easy for your children to find what's needed for making their own lunch by assigning a shelf for lunch and snacks throughout the school year.  It's also a good idea to line your pantries with shelf liners.  If your trash can has found a place in the pantry I would highly suggest taking it out and finding another home for it.  We don't want trash and food smells in one on tomorrows dinner menu

5. Schedule a professional cleaning company
If you have a cleaning company ask them to pay special attention to door knobs, light fixtures, around door frames, fridge handles, under kids beds and the laundry room.  Pay your household staff extra to take care of these extra tasks this month so that the cleanings can go back to normal routine service in the next few weeks after the children are back in school.

The iconic symbol to the unofficial end of summer is Labor Day and it is quickly approaching.
"Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance" for our children's success in the school year so let's get the 6 most important things planned for an easy start to the school year.

The dreaded list that the school provided for our children with some odd item that we can never find has been received.  The best way to plan this trip for supply pick up is to either pre-order the supplies through your school or check out online before stepping into stores.  Office Depot seems to always have every single item my children have needed from pre-K to Senior Year.  However during the mad rush to get supplies a lot of stores have those BIG BIN sales where everything is tossed in and it's a grab for all.  If you don't like that kind of madness

A. Time schedule
If your children share a bathroom the morning rush hour during the school year to use the bathroom may be your first issue of the morning.  Speak on the situation before it becomes an issue.  Set a morning schedule up for each child to use the bathroom for pre school preparation, especially if you have a boy and a girl sharing the same bathroom.  I suggest allowing the boys to prep first since we all know that young ladies usually have more hair and longer routines. This time schedule can also be used for bathroom cleaning assignments.  Make each child accountable for cleaning the bathroom on certain days so that everyone is involved in the clean up process
B. Time Glass
Another great idea is a time glass.  This is great use also for small children when sharing bathrooms together. They can all have one and that time glass gives them their own personalized time to utilize each sink for brushing teeth. It again can also be used for cleaning times in the bathrooms.  The main point of cleaning the bathroom is disinfecting.  Leave a bottle of mixed vinegar/Water/TeaTreeOil in the bathroom as a non toxic cleaner for each child to use to disinfect the bathroom on their assigned scheduled day.

You now have a week to go through your children's rooms and closets and to get rid of the old and unused and prepare for the new items the upcoming school year will bring in.  Go to a container store and grab some containers to ONLY keep items that you feel you will want to see 5 years from now from the past school year.  Take that container and place it in an area that is not in the child's room so they too can see there is now room for more growth. Don't forget about the closet too.  Take out old shoes, and go through the closet with your child to see what they may have stashed in the back to hide.  Who knows, you may find an old sandwich or lunch box from last year!

The school year becomes more of a routine lifestyle than the summer, but with so many people needing to be in so many places daily it's easy to get so busy that we forget.  Make a large family calendar and leave it in the mud room or side of the fridge for all to see and write on if any changes are to be made. That way the whole family is aware of what is going on and where everyone is during the week.  Don't forget to put small reminders on their like "Give Mom and Dad a Hug" because we get so busy with driving and running around to activities that we forget to love on each other!

Mornings are going to be busy so I suggest checking the cars gas gauge on Sunday evenings.  No one likes to jump in the car in the mornings with a load full of yelling children and an empty coffee mug realizing that you have to stop and get gas!
It's always better to get gas at night because as hot as it is in the summer

The first day of school is a moment of excitement, pictures, and routines.  Start a morning ritual with your children to show them you love them so that no matter how busy the school year gets they know that secret handshake or special kiss on the forehead is a quick sign of "Hey Kid I love ya".