Fall is a great time to check your organizing systems, and these three fresh fall tips for back to school can give you a leg up, even if you don’t have kids.

Organize Passwords

Group your passwords starting with the school district name. For instance, if Central School District uses the Schoology app, store that password under “CSD Schoology”. Even if you can’t remember the website or app name, all the school info will be together in one place, easy to find next semester.

Bonus tip: Use your school district name, not the school name, which will keep you organized longer than using your kid’s elementary school name.

Organize a Family Calendar

For God’s sake, start using a family calendar, whether a shared version of Apple, Outlook, Google, an app like Cozy, or a simple but effective wall calendar.

At our house, we use a wall calendar for events further in the future, but we also use a slab of quartz on our dining room table. It’s a countertop sample from Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and a dry erase marker lets us document the weekly schedule with all appointments.

It may not be pretty enough for you, but IT WORKS! The kids are old enough now that they help keep it updated. We all see it several times a day. And we all know who is supposed to be where.

Organize Paperwork

I showed you how to create a parent binder years ago. Then I showed you how to update a parent binder each year in about 5 minutes.

My oldest is a high school senior this year (yikes!) and her same binder has served me well for over 12 years. I keep a binder for each kid, even though they have spent some years in the same school.

The organizing magic is in the Avery pocket dividers. Keeping track of important papers is easy because “filing” them is effortless, and my counters are clean. Even the hubby can call in a kiddo sick day because the phone number is right there in the Contacts tab.

When the school or a club leader loses a form I already sent in? No problem. I have a copy in that handy pocket.

An organized binder like this can help with adult projects, too. Home improvement project? Divorce? Taxes? Job search? There are so many ways a project can help keep important papers handy, organized, and off the counter.

I hope you have a wonderful, fresh, organized fall. Drop your favorite BTS tip in the comments.