Ruling Back to School! Find the SOLUTIONS.

The following post is sponsored by DSG by Dick’s Sporting Goods, Boxed, TechDen and Relay. All opinions and experiences are mine.

Not ready for Back-to-School? Me neither. I’ve been in denial for weeks now. But here we are. And I’ve got solutions for all of us… CBS Los Angeles’ KCAL-9 News at Noon let me spill all my current secrets for getting staying on task, on track and on top of all things family life at the start of a school year. WATCH:

PROBLEM? What the heck to wear — I’m selfishly talking about me here. Ha! They’ve got their school clothes, but what about all the other things?! Like dance class and rehearsal-wear. And: What about ME? I need my day-to-day wear too — something that’s going to look cute for me to do all my errands and manual labor around the house and also kick me in the tush to pop into the gym. I need comfortable, functional and cute. SOLVED: *New* DSG athletic-wear from Dick’s Sporting Goods.  Brand new, low cost option for whole family — mom, dad, kids (boys and girls). Color & print options! A super-wide range of sizes for all. Available at every Dicks Sporting Goods across country. AND: Anti microbial tech (that wicks sweat+bacteria away)…. so I don’t stink by noon. 1% of every purchase goes back to Sports Matter, the DICK’S organization that is dedicated to saving youth sports! (ALSO, YES: That is TV darling Candace Cameron Bure with all of us decked in DSG post-workout!)

(Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision for DICK’S Sporting Goods/AP Images)

PROBLEM? I can’t keep up with the struggle of keeping the house stocked with food & supplies… it’s way too time-consuming and expensive (and heavy, lifting those boxes from store-to-cart and cart-to-trunk and trunk-to-home). SOLVED: Boxed! A new online wholesaler that brings bulk shopping experience to our doors! Like, DELIVERED. No membership fees, free two-day shipping for all orders over $49… Boxed.com offers a crazy-wide range of bulk-sized products — snacks, school supplies, household items (laundry/detergent, etc), decor, pretty much everything to keep a household running. Their big Back To School sale of 20% off is happening right now (through Aug 18). 

PROBLEM? We want to keep track of our kids (after-school, activities) but don’t want to get a smartphone just yet…  SOLVED: Relay! A small, wearable screen-less device that works like a walkie-talkie to track our child at school, walking home, during activities, at friends’ houses, etc. It’s a one-button walkie-talkie device that connects to an app on our (parent’s) phone and lets 2-way or group chat happen with range like a cell phone (powered by 4G LTE & WiFi — works from NYC to CA!). GPS enabled. Can talk Relay to Relay OR Relay to app. Clip-able and durable design made for play (splash proof)… there’s even a new arm-band option for kids on the go. $49 for product, $9.99 for monthly cell plan. 40% OFF at on Target.com right now!

PROBLEM? Summer was ‘no-limits’ with screens and we you need to get kids on a limited-screens schedule for time management, homework, bedtimes. SOLVED: TechDen! First product use hardware & software for teaching healthy family screen-time habits. LOCKS DEVICES IN WHEN NEEDED — like a friendly iPad jail. In-home charging station for devices that ‘locks’ devices in until PARENTS program app to let kids use them during pre-set time limits. Parents program usage limits via an app, kids’ devices will only be ‘let out’ of charging station and will ‘work’ during that time — and, they will only work for as long as determined/programmed (ie: If I only want my kids using devices between 4-6pm on weekdays for 30 minutes at a time, I can program it!). We can also create rewards for good screen-time habits via the app. Trains kids for limits on devices, keeps phones out of teen bedrooms and creates healthy management during school year. 

CHEERS TO AN EASY SCHOOL YEAR!