Back to School: Tips for Parents in Boston

As the end of the summer break approaches, it’s natural for students and their parents to start planning for their return to school. Starting a new school year can be exciting, daunting, challenging, and nerve-wracking for children, so as parents, we need to help them get ready for the new school year. Here are a few back-to-school tips.

Organize Your Home

Over the break, it’s normal for your home to have become somewhat messier than normal. Make a team effort with the whole family to clean up, de-clutter and get organized. Not only does this put everyone back into work mode and set the scene for being back in school, but it also means your kids have no excuse for not being able to find their gym kit or book bag the night before going back in school. If you’ve got lots of junk to get rid of, save time by renting a dumpster. It’s so much easier to be able to toss things away as you’re sorting, rather than maneuvering around piles in your home and making multiple trips to the local recycling center.

Clean Out Your Closets

Linked to above, make sure you sort through your closets while getting your home in tip-top order. If your child has had a summer growth spurt, it’s better to know beforehand instead of finding out they have nothing suitable to wear for their first day in school! It also helps your child find everything they will need for their schooldays. Get rid of clothes and shoes that no longer fit or are showing signs of wear and tear. You can donate items in good condition and discard the rest. In case you open the closets and discover a huge pile of hidden laundry, there’s no need to feel overwhelmed — get practical time-saving help from your local laundry or dry-cleaning service.

Get Vaccines

School can be a veritable breeding ground for germs. When kids start mingling again in school, you might find that your child comes home with colds, sore throats and earaches more frequently than when they’re off school. Head to your local pharmacy to get the family updated with their flu shots. While you are there, you can also conveniently pick up various school supplies and other back-to-school items like backpacks.

Check School Updates in Advance

Nobody likes being surprised on the first day back to school. Put your mind at rest and check for pertinent updates on your school’s website and prepare accordingly. Are there any special supplies your child needs for the next academic year? Give yourself plenty of time to make any necessary purchases. Confirm the actual first day back and read up on your school’s most recent COVID policy. Get any required COVID supplies like masks while you are at the drug store as well.

Arrange Activities

It doesn’t need to be all work and no play when the kids go back to school. Keep your kids engaged and motivated outside of the classroom by making sure they have plenty of fun with their peers in the evenings and on weekends. It can be as simple as arranging with other Boston parents for kids to meet up in the neighborhood park or playground. Alternatively, take a look at your town’s library calendar to find diverse activities and events geared toward youngsters.

Set those school year daily routines in motion, like school transportation, lunches, study habits, bed time, etc. Finally, give your child a good pep talk, a pat on the back, hugs and kisses, and send them off to a good start!

Sometimes You Really Should Use a Dry Cleaner

For the most part, you can generally do laundry at home if you have a washer and dryer. It’s convenient, and it’s not that difficult. However, there are times when using a dry cleaning service really is the better choice, even if you have access to laundry facilities. Take a look:

1. You Have Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are creepy, crawly, and incredibly tough to get rid of. If you find them in your home, you should have a professional pest control service come treat the space. However, the task of treating your clothing and bedding is usually your responsibility. Having your clothing, linens, sheets, throws, comforters, and even drapes dry cleaned is the best way to ensure you rid these items of bed bugs.

Dry cleaning machines reach high temperatures of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Bed bugs cannot survive these temperatures. When treating a home for bed bugs, you need to be thorough. You need to remove them from all your garments and household items. Professional dry cleaners are trained to remove bed bugs and they will do the job without damaging your clothing or bedding. Your clothes and linens will come back clean and fresh as always.

Don’t forget to send your bug-infested dry cleaning in a separate laundry bag and labeled them as such so that the dry cleaner, too, will take care to separate the infested garments from those of other customers.

2. When Someone Has Been Sick

When someone in your home has been sick, it’s a good idea to send your linens out to be cleaned by a professional dry cleaner that offers germ-free laundry service. Having bedding thoroughly cleaned after an illness can help prevent the illness from spreading to other family members.

Green dry cleaners will use environmentally-friendly soaps to remove germs from your sick linens and clothes. You should bag the linens up separately to reduce the risk for cross-contamination and label the bag for germ-free laundry.

3. You Find a Stain on a Precious Garment

There are various ways that you can try to treat clothing stains at home. But if you find a stain on a precious garment, such as an expensive suit coat, a fine lace dress or a memorable garment like a christening gown, don’t try to clean it yourself! Send that item to a reputable dry cleaner that provides fine dry cleaning services. Professional dry cleaners have stain-removing treatments for different kinds of stains and different kinds of material. They won’t damage your special garment in the process of stain removal. They will inspect your garment to ensure every stain is removed, hand finish it and restore the fabric to enhance the life of your garment.

Even people with their own washers and dryers can benefit from using dry cleaning services sometimes. If you find yourself in any of the situations above, don’t hesitate to visit a laundry service near you.

Easy Tips to De-Clutter and Organize Your Closet

Did you know that studies have shown that decluttering your home can actually reduce anxiety and depression, and ultimately fewer trips to the drug store for medications? It’s more than just appearance, getting rid of clutter and reorganizing storage spaces in your home can make you feel more relaxed and grounded. I know for me, my closets tend to get a little out of control after time. When I begin dreading opening the closet door, I know it’s time to declutter. So here are my favorite tips for organizing closets.

Start Trying on Those Clothes

The major culprit of bedroom closet clutter is clothing. Look, we all have piles of laundry in various states of cleanliness in our homes at some point, but how much of those clothes do you actually wear? Maybe it’s time for a fashion show! Start trying on those clothes and make piles of “Keep” “Donate” and “Storage”. There’s no shame in keeping clothes that no longer fit, but there’s no point keeping them in your closet. For the clothing that needs to be put in storage, I would take them to a dry cleaner near me first – it’s always important to clean before you store your clothes. And if there is too much clothing to take to the store yourself, use a laundry delivery service.

Dig Out Those Hidden Treasures

Cleaning out your closet always reveals those long lost forgotten items waiting to be made brand new again. Maybe that vintage dress hiding behind your winter coats just needs a quick trip to the local dry cleaner. Or maybe those faded jeans can be cut into summer shorts. Cleaning out your closet is a great way to make use of the items you already have that still have a lot of life left in them. Perhaps with some clever alterations, you can wear them again with pride.

Baskets and Hanging Storage

When it comes to closets, you can never have enough storage solutions. I like to use baskets on the closet floor to separate shoes, handbags, and belts and hanging storage containers for folded items like sweaters, sweatshirts and off-season clothes. Hanging storage containers made of cloth or canvas are inexpensive and easy to find. And they’re amazing for smaller and narrower closets. When it comes to baskets, you may even have some laying around somewhere that you’re not using, or they’re super easy to come by at flea markets and garage sales.

So remember, to lower those stress levels and turn your home back into a sanctuary, start decluttering those smaller spaces like closets and pantries. You might even end up having some fun and find a few treasures in the process.

How to Care For Your Handmade Clothing

Handmade clothing items, like knitted scarves or crocheted shawls, are some of my favorite things in the world. If you’re into handmade or recycled clothing items like I am, you know that it can get a little tricky to care for them. Besides taking these items to the Boston dry cleaner near me, I can also care for my handmade scarves or shawls and other items at home. Here are some tips for how to do that.

knitting a scarf — Photo by Rebecca Grant on Unsplash

Items Made From Yarn

If you’ve been gifted a homemade item knitted or crocheted from yarn, there are several different materials that yarn can be made from. If it was given to you, be sure to ask whether it should be hand washed or dry cleaned, as the instructions would have been on the yarn label. But if you’re not sure what kind of yarn it was, always hand wash it. Cotton and acrylic yarn is usually machine washable, however, wool, bamboo and other delicate fibers are just too sensitive to throw in the wash. Hand wash your item in cool water with just a tiny amount of detergent, and then lay flat to dry.

Handsewn Garments

Handsewn clothing is another tricky thing to wash. Unless you were given specific instructions on how to care for it, you should always hand wash. If there are stains that you just can’t get out yourself, check with dry cleaners nearby, they will most likely be able to treat the item. Lots of handsewn clothing are a mix of different fibers, so although one fiber may be machine washable, another may not. So instead of throwing it in the laundry, take the time to hand wash and lay flat to dry. This will also prevent the garment from shrinking or losing its shape.

If the garment is very precious to you, you might consider using a fine dry cleaning service, where personal attention is given to the garment by a trained specialist at the dry cleaner. So take care of those special clothing items, and they’ll last for years to come.