Looking for ways to organize school supplies at home with ease?

Does the thought of organizing school supplies send shivers up your spine?

In this post, you’ll find tips to help you address a key back-to-school topic: how to organize all those school supplies!

Here are a few ideas to help you get those school supplies organized and under control.

Sort supplies by type.

When it comes to school supplies, sort supplies according to type or function.

This method can make it easy to find what you need in a pinch when you need it.

You could follow the old standby and store like with like, such as pencils with pencils, and books with books.

Or you could try out your own sorting methods. Use your imagination and sort items according to your needs!

Let’s say you are a really tactile person and you enjoy using items by use.

You might decide to group supplies according to their tactile function for easy retrieval:

Sticky – glue, paste, rubber cement, tape, tack

Pointy – scissors, compass, stapler, staples, thumbtacks, paper clips

Smooth – writing paper, loose leaf, construction paper, writing notebooks, plastic sleeves, binders

…and so on and so forth.

You could also sort items according to class or subject.

Think plastic bricks and compass for math class or a magnifying glass and scale for science.

You could also organize items by color, by weight, or any other method.

Separate everyday supplies from project supplies.

It makes little sense to sort through a mass of supplies only to locate a small item that you need on a regular basis.

That’s why it’s so important to determine which items you will use on a regular basis.

Sort supplies by type and then decide where these materials should be stored on a daily basis.

Ideally, should be stored on top of, inside of, or kept close to a desk or homework station.

Less frequently used supplies or those used for projects, presentations and other events, should be stored away from these daily use items.

Store project supplies in a spare bedroom, empty closet, or in a corner of a room on a shelf or in a large container.

Diversify storage containers.

Over the course of a school year you’ll come across lots of different projects and supplies.

While small plastic containers are great for smaller items such as crayons, markers and the like, they aren’t too helpful for larger items such as poster board, large sheets of paper or pieces of canvas.

When planning storage for school supplies, be sure to include small, medium, large and flat storage containers.

Place items into appropriately sized containers or vessels for easy retrieval and storage.

It doesn’t make much sense to store a handful of pencils into a giant five gallon plastic tub or tin!

Remember, you don’t have to purchase storage containers to organize or store items.

Take a look around your home for sturdy boxes, baskets, plastic containers, tins and the like that could be re-purposed.

How about you? Which school supplies are you going to organize? Join the conversation and leave a comment below!