It’s January, which means everyone is trying to change their lives and be their best selves, right? I don’t know about all that, but I do want to help make the things you have to do easier, so you can spend more time on the things you want to do.
And a key to making that happen is getting your life organized. Let’s face it, women manage a lot of things—home, errands, appointments, work, children, and many more. We were designed to be able to handle a lot of things. But the only way we can do that well is to be have an organized life.
I am such a nerd when it comes to this kind of stuff. I have used some sort of planner since high school, and I love testing out new techniques that could make me more efficient.
Because the easier and faster I can take care of those necessary but not always fun things, the more I can do things like spend time with my family, read, craft, or the other million things I enjoy doing.
So, if one of the things you want to do this year is have a more organized life, I can definitely share a few tips that are a huge help to me. And bonus, I have blog posts you can read to get more information about almost all of these.
12 Things You Should Do to Have an Organized Life
1. Meal plan
When you get married, suddenly you have to think about feeding more than just yourself. And, my husband doesn’t like the idea of cereal for dinner as much as I do. So if I want to save money, get dinner on the table before 7 p.m., and avoid having to decide what to make at 5 p.m., I meal plan. Like every. single. week meal plan. I don’t think I could grocery shop without it. Each week, after looking at what’s on the calendar, I make a list of options for breakfast and lunch, and plan what we will have for dinner.
2. Create a morning routine
Seriously, I can’t say enough how much nicer and happier I am if I follow my morning routine. Sometimes, I decide to sleep in on the weekends and forgo my normal routine, and I always regret it. I feel better physically, mentally and spiritually if I exercise, spend time with God, and plan my day out every morning.
3. Create an evening routine
I know, I like a good routine. You probably already have an evening routine, but you may not have thought about it much. If you have kids that are school-aged, getting ready for the next day the night before will save your life. Things that could be part of your evening routine include making lunches, setting out breakfast dishes, planning out the next day, laying out clothes, or reading. Think about what things you could do the night before to make your morning run a little smoother.
4. Have a system for reminders, events, and tasks
Don’t depend on your brain to remember every single to-do that runs through your head. It is humanly impossible. You need a system where you put all of that information. And post-its everywhere don’t count. Whether you use a planner, an app, a calendar, or a combination of all three, you need to know where to look when you want to set a reminder for yourself or look for things you need to do.
5. Take advantage of the “top 3” technique
There are hundreds of tasks we could do each day, and it is so easy to spend our days doing things that are urgent but not important, like making phone calls or responding to emails. But you can ensure that you are doing a few important things each day by writing down the 1-3 most important things you can do each day to make progress toward goals you are working on.
6. Make use of bits of time
You may not have free hours during your day, but I bet you have 10 minutes here and there that are free. And, believe it or not, you can still get a lot done in 10 minutes. Make a list of things you can do in those small bits of time, like picking up the clutter in a room, sorting through your mail, wiping down the bathroom sink and toilet, setting out the ingredients for dinner, sending a couple of work emails, scheduling an appointment, or reading a book. Then, when those free minutes appear, get cracking.
7. Automate everything you can
We live in a wonderful time where we can automate a lot of things, such as grocery or food delivery, Amazon monthly deliveries through Subscribe & Save, automatic bill pay, clothing subscription services, and more. The less you have to go to a store or business to do something, the more time you save not to mention gas money.
8. Keep good records
If someone asked for your work history, how long would it take you to put it together? What about the last time you changed your home’s air filter? That is the power of keeping good records. It may be a little tedious to put together, but once you create a record or a reminder of something, you won’t have to think about it again.
9. Have a plan for laundry
The more people you have in your home, the more laundry you will have, and the easier it is to get behind and overwhelmed by the amount of laundry to be done. The only way to stay on top of it is to have a plan. Me and a friend of mine who works full time like to wash, dry, and put away one load each day. But I know some people who prefer to have one laundry day and do all the loads at once. It doesn’t matter what you pick, only that you have a plan.
10. Do similar tasks at the same time.
Let’s use an example of responding to emails. Do you think it would take more time to check and respond to emails each time one came in or to designate 30 minutes twice a day to read and reply to emails? Yep, it takes far less time to address emails only twice per day. Why is that? Because you aren’t changing your focus so often. And that same principle applies to a lot of tasks you do regularly like cooking, cleaning, or errands.
11. Track your spending
You’ll never know where your money is going if you aren’t tracking it. I highly recommend apps like Mint, YNAB, or EveryDollar. My husband and I have used Quicken to track our expenses and income since before 2006. I can see how much we spend in different categories (groceries, toiletries, utilities, etc) each month or even each year.
12. Make a cleaning routine
If you are very fortunate, you can outsource this completely to a cleaning company. (Praise the Lord!) But if not, you need to know when and what you will clean. Maybe you prefer to do one chore per day or clean the whole house in a few hours. Maybe you have the help of your entire family to clean. Either way, if you don’t have a plan in place, it will never happen until a couple of hours before you have people coming over. Am I right??
Some of these tips for an organized life may seem like overkill, but they will make your days and your life so much smoother and less stressful. And for many of them, once you put a routine in place, all you have to do is follow it without much thought.
Because having a morning routine is a way to get your life organized that I have personally found to be so powerful, I created a FREE 5-day audio course called Design Your Own Morning Routine. Your morning routine shouldn’t look like mine, it should look like what you need it to be, which is exactly what this course will help you discover. Take this course and at the end of 5 days, you’ll be able to check this organizing tip off your list.
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