Leadership, Personal Development, Success Library, Time Management

Organize Your Life a Little Each Day

Do you have a feeling of despair at the mess in your home or office? Perhaps you’re not even dealing with a mess. You might have things fairly tidy, but maybe you can’t find a single thing when you’re looking for it when you need it.

If this sounds familiar to you, you need to think about what a good organizational strategy can do for your productivity. Being more organized will make your life easier as well as save you time at the end of the day. If you’re interested in organizing your life, think about these effective organization strategies:

1. Tidy a Little Bit Every Day

Many of us shudder when it comes to cleaning. If you think that you have to break out the brooms and mops and spend the whole day cleaning, then you’re in for a surprise. The truth is, by spending just ten or twenty minutes a day organizing your space, you’ll be making a huge difference.

Start with cleaning one area each day. This can be a deep cleaning or just a superficial cleaning but at least you’ll feel productive. Once this becomes a habit, you’ll finish your cleaning faster and have more free time every day.

2. Everything Has Its Place

When you’re organizing your workspace or your living area, everything needs to have a place where it “lives.” For instance, scissors need to live in a specific box or drawer, as do other small things. If something doesn’t have a specific home, it will wander. It might get lost and generally add to the clutter that pervades your area.

Take some time to really consider your options when it comes to making sure that everything has a place on a permanent basis.
Reminders

3. Get yourself a professional journal or a daily planner and use it.

Sometimes just the act of writing something down in a book can really help you remember where you need to be and when.

Another way of reminding yourself of important events is to use post-it notes or an organizer on your cell phone. Experiment and use whatever method works best for you and your lifestyle.

4. Throw It Away

When you’re looking to de-clutter your workspace, make sure you throw away things that you no longer need. Every day do a quick purge and get rid of things that pile up on your desk or kitchen counters. This will get you more space and give you a better idea of what is going on in general.

Daily mail and papers are the biggest clutter culprits. Be sure to throw away any junk right away and file away any important papers. The longer these things stay in a pile, the more likely they will get lost or forgotten.

5. Set Routines and Learn to Delegate Chores

Keeping a home organized and running smoothly can be difficult, especially if you have a large family. Establish set routines so certain tasks are completed every day. Assign large chores, like laundry, to a specific day of the week. This way you know exactly what chore has to be accomplished every day.

Delegate chores to your spouse or children that are age-appropriate. Dividing the work among many family members teaches everyone how to work together as a team.

No one expects you to go from clutter-bug to super-organized overnight. By simply implementing a few of these tips into your life, you will re-discover what it’s like to be prepared and organized both in the workplace and at home.

Caitlin Fillmore

Cait is a former nonprofit executive with extensive fundraising and marketing experience in human service, healthcare, arts, religious, and animal organizations. Throughout her career, Cait focused on elevating transparency and storytelling at nonprofits in Iowa and California. Cait studied journalism at Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa and worked as a reporter before her nonprofit career. Born and raised in the Midwest, Cait moved to California in 2017. She now works as a freelance writer and spends her free time cooking and cheering on the Chicago Bears. You can view her work at www.caitlinslhfillmore.com.

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Organize Your Life a Little Each Day

1. Tidy a Little Bit Every Day

2. Everything Has Its Place

3. Get yourself a professional journal or a daily planner and use it.

4. Throw It Away

5. Set Routines and Learn to Delegate Chores

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