How to Establish a Back-to-School Routine on a Budget #HealthyEssentials

DISCLAIMER: This post is part of the HEALTHY ESSENTIALS® 2014 program by Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc. and The Motherhood, who sent me a box of products and compensated me for my time. Opinions, experiences and photos shared here are all my own, and I hope you enjoy them.

Since this is our first official "back-to-school" season, we are total newbies with setting a routine.  I remember what I used to do back in the day: get to bed earlier, buy new school clothes, etc--but with kids of your own it's totally more complex.

Fall can be expensive!  First thing to do is to set a budget.  When you have a general idea what you have to work with, you know how to designate the money.  Since my girls had a growth spurt this spring/summer, I got out all of their clothes and took inventory.  We had an afternoon fashion show and set aside items that didn't fit anymore.  Don't forget the shoes too!  From that point, I would focus on one item of clothing every week or two, based on sales.  The first week, Children's Place had an amazing deal on jeans, so we stocked up.  Two weeks later, Target had a deal on undies/camis.  When you break it down throughout July and August, it doesn't seem as bad!

Another tip: don't wait until the last minute for school supplies.  Sales will continue all through August, with basically the same prices...but the selection becomes much smaller.  Print coupons when you see them, they go quickly!  If you can, wait until 2-3 weeks into school to hit the clearance.  I like to make bags for teachers with the markdown finds.

I don't know about you, but summer is rough for me.  My hair gets dry and frizzy, my skin is dry--when the end of August came around, it was time to refresh!  With my kids, they have all sorts of summer scrapes and "flip flop feet" to deal with (permanently dirty looking feet, even after a shower!).  Right now Johnson + Johnson has over $40 of printable coupons for their #HealthyEssentials program.

• For the kids: 
• Lubriderm is our favorite lotion.  It's moisturizing, yet doesn't have the irritating scents like some other "big kid" lotions.  
• Neosporin to help heal all of those bug bites and summer scrapes.  I also picked up a few new boxes of Band-Aids. 
• No More Tangles conditioner and spray can't be beat, especially with Gabby's curls.  We've tried other brands, but this is something we always stock up on! The conditioner is great for post-swimming/beach tangles, we leave it in for 2-3 minutes during the bath.
• For the adults:
• Refresh your skin with Neutrogena oil-free pink grapefruit scrub. This is my go-to for getting soft skin and it smells amazing!
• Take off that nail polish! After the sand, sun and flip flops, your feet have taken a beating.  I like to let my nails breathe for a few days before putting on a new polish.  Sally Beauty Supply has a great cuticle oil that I keep by my toothbrush to apply at night.

The biggest step to getting back on schedule is to stick to it, which is hard during the busy summer.  My girls still occasionally nap, so near the end of the summer we cut those out (early bedtime outweighs the cranky kids, right?) and tried to push their bedtime to 7:30-8:00.  Now that school is in session, we're trying to keep that schedule going on the weekend too.  We'll see how that goes!

For me, I had to organize myself--which, if you know me, is not easy.  I like to say I'm an organized mess because I usually know where something is, but I'm quite messy. I try to pack as much of the lunch at night, so I just have to quickly add components in the morning.  Backpacks are all lined up by the door at night, with shoes right next to them.  This saves SO MUCH time in the morning!

Check out over $40 in Healthy Essentials coupons to save while you're shopping this month!

What Back-to-School tips can you share?