Printable Back-to-School Checklist – and SHOES!

Oh, you guys. How quickly summer is flying by.

Not that I’m entirely sad about that (working from home with bored kids is hard, y’all), but when I really think about? I’ll miss these lazy mornings and impromptu after-dinner trips to the pool. Right now, we can hang out front with the neighbors, eat late dinners, and watch movies in bed. Because who cares what time we wake up tomorrow, right?!

School seems like a long, long way away. 

Except for the part where I planned on the kids wearing their current shoes all summer long, only to realize they had both grown almost an entire inch *each* in the last SIX weeks (!!!). And they didn’t just grow taller – their feet grew, too. Which meant that the Back-to-School shoe shopping I had planned on doing sometime around, oh, the day before they start school, had to be bumped up a bit so the kids could actually wear shoes this summer that fit their feet.

I did all of our shoe shopping at Famous Footwear. Of course, new shoes are always great fun – they make you run faster and jump higher (right??), and in my case, they actually make you happier.

You can find inspiration and summer/Back-to-School style ideas at #ohsofamous. You can even share your own pictures of your new Famous Footwear shoes on Twitter or Instagram and get in on the fun – be sure to tag them with #ohsofamous!

You know what summer looked like to me, twenty years ago? It looked like strawberry lip gloss, sunflower perfume, and red Converse. When I went shoe shopping “for the kids,” I found these red shoes and was immediately seventeen again (well, minus some rainbow shoe laces and a whole lotta attitude).

Buying our school shoes now also reminded me that while it feels like we have tons of summer ahead of still, these moments are fleeting – and the kids will be headed Back-to-School in no time. And like last year, I’ll be scrambling as we get everything together and prep for the coming year.

But unlike last year, this time I have some experience under my belt. And I have a whole list of things I’ll be better-prepared for this year, and that’s what I’m sharing with you today – a free printable Back-to-School Checklist to help you prep, organize, and buy everything you need for the new school year.

I learned the hard way that early school mornings are easier when breakfast is planned, lunches are made, and clothes are set out. And I also learned (the hard way) that public school is one form after another, one account you need to sign up for after the next, one schedule to memorize and then another. Just going into the school year with a tiny bit of preparedness can go so far!

This two-page printable checklist has stuff to do over the summer, things to buy as school gets closer, and what to prep for the first week of school.

You can print out your free Back-to-School prep lists here.

And then you can spend more of your summer enjoying your family – and less time stressing about Back-to-School! 

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.