Organizing and decluttering as always been therapeutic for me since childhood. I loved when things and places around me looked neat. Even my favorite free time activity was and still is to watch YT videos and read blog posts on getting organized. To me, a clean and decluttered place equates to organized mind. That is why I need to simplify my life and keep it organized.
What are some things you might do to be more organized?
Here are ten simple things that one can do to get their life organized.
1.Make Meal Plans easy.
Not everyone enjoys cooking or is okay with spending hours creating new dishes daily. Sometimes, we need some healthier options that can be prepared within 15-20 mins. The secret is to keep a Meal plan with 7- 10 simple dishes that you can create in 15-20 mins and is everybody’s favorite at home. Whenever you miss your meal prep or cannot order a take-out, you can pick one dish from that list for that day.Having this list reduces the decision of fatigue of what to do when you don’t plan. You have to check the ingredients you have and pick one from the list. That’s it.
2. Declutter your House.
No matter how much organized the house is, it is natural to misplace/throw things by you or another family member on days when all have a busy schedule. The simple tip is, in the night, before sleeping, give a quick scan to all rooms to check whether something needs to be placed back to its place.It’s like the proverb, a stitch in time saves nine. Doing this keeps the place organized without much effort and also won’t let things pile up. Bonus, you will have a clean space every morning!
3.Have an everyday to-do plan.
We all have so many tasks to get done in a day and it feels like the list never ends. The simple solution is to create a to-do list and write a few things that you are sure to complete on that particular day.I am a housewife and an entrepreneur. So, I need an everyday to-do list to ensure that I don’t miss my deadlines, call schedule and manage the household chores. I use a combination of journals and an online tool for my everyday business schedule, household chores, meal plan, and gratitude journal.
4. Simplify your Filing systems at home.
We all have so many important papers that need to be stored safely and also easily accessible.The common practice is using binders or folders to store them. The hack that I use to keep my filing system organized. I use a file with protective transparent sheets. I choose one folder for at least one-two categories.Example: Apartments + insurance.This folder will have our lease agreements, utility bills, rent insurance, car insurance, health insurance papers in each transparent sheet. Then, I put a sticky note on the folder with contents that are inside the sheets. This way, it’s easier to scan when I need something.
5. Declutter your Digital Clutter.
The most cluttered places for me on digital devices would be the gallery on my mobile phone and the download folder on my laptop. I think those are the most common cluttered places for most people.I start my weekday with a clean download folder and by Friday I would have filled it with downloads, client work, screenshots, and whatnot. So, every Friday before I end m Work-time, I organize all those files into respective folders and trash files that are not important.Similarly, for the gallery on mobile phones, we can regularly delete unnecessary images/ videos and back up the essential ones to cloud storage.
6. Password Management:
We use so many apps these days; even though it is easier to log in using Google ID, we don’t utilize that option all the time. So the simple tip is to use a password manager. One needs to be careful while selecting the method of storage as it should be safe and secure.I am currently using LastPass because of its positive reviews from my friends and clients. Having written them on a notebook or simple note app always makes me worried about its safety. With a reliable app, I feel a lot safer.Another option for password management is 1Password. My husband is currently using this is also reliable like Last Pass.
7. Inbox Management:
My husband and I are classic examples of the two kinds of people with inboxes. I have 0 unread 90% of the time while my husband has 705 emails unread. However, 700 of them are mostly junk emails that need to be unsubscribed and deleted.The simple hack is to daily/ weekly check the emails, choose labels for the important emails and discard unnecessary or promotional emails.If the number of emails is high, then you can spend time 15- 20 mins every day clearing the inbox rather than doing a major decluttering in one sitting.
In this blog post, I talk about simple ways to reduce your inbox clutter.
8. Schedule your Family time.
It might look odd, but the truth it takes effort from us to maintain our relationship with our immediate family, extended family, or friends that are living far. The simple hack is to schedule a time on your calendar: monthly or once in 2 months that you want to call your friend or relative. With this method, you still have connections with loved ones even with a busy life.
9. Keep a note on your Budget.
To be honest, we did not have a budget for a long time because we never brought or spent much on anything other than our grocery, food, utility, and insurance expenses. However, doing a simple tracker we realized that we were spending a bit more on our groceries than required also a few Amazon orders could have been avoided. Hence it is essential to have a simple tracker just to keep you in check with your financial goals.
10. Have a journal to brain dump
I do a brain dump regularly. I always feel better after a brain dump when I am struggling with negative emotions.How I explain brain dump to people who ask why should I do it, I say:Just like your house or workspace gets cluttered if you don’t take any effort to keep it clean. Likewise, your brain can feel cluttered with various ideas, emotions, and feelings. Brain dump makes you throw up all those clutter into a paper and take it out of your system.
My friend Sarah from Mindful productivity has a Brain dump Journal that you can buy on Amazon. She also has an episode on the Brain dump basics on her Podcast where she shares a simple brain dump strategy to decluttering your mind.
So, one of the ways for you to stay organized is to brain dump regularly.
CONCLUSION:
Getting organized may take an effort initially because you are setting up systems that will work with minimal effort later on. The most important thing I feel is essential to have an organized life is to include your spouse and kids while setting up these systems. So that you are not the only one, in the end, doing everything and they have no clue about these. I saw the change once I shared with my husband the organizing systems. He does them by himself and I don’t have to do everything all by myself.Good luck!
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