20 Tips for How To Get (and Stay) Totally Organized
Let me guess; you're stressed. Right?
Of course you are, or at least you have been very recently (or you're about to be very soon).
It's the modern badge of honor, the benchmark against which we measure a person's contribution in society.
The more stressed, frazzled, and short on time we are, the more important we must be, right?
With 75 percent of Americans reporting at least one symptom of stress at any given moment, from lack of sleep, to irritability, to severe fatigue, it absolutely blows my mind that any of us would wear our stress levels proudly.
Why can't we go about life happily, efficiently, and stress-free?
I promise you that it's possible.
The best way to start? By staying organized.
The less time and energy that you spend on sorting through your daily tasks, the more time and energy you have to relax and actually enjoy your life.
There are many ways to organize your life that give you a much healthier and happier work-life balance. Here are some of the simplest ways that you can begin organizing your life right now.
1. Write Things Down
As simple as this sound, writing things down can have a tremendous impact on your ability to stay organized. It takes the undo stress and pressure to remember all of the stuff that you need to do each day and puts it into a neat to-do list that is there for you when you're ready to address it. Begin writing things down in a daily task list so that you can free up your mind for more important and enjoyable things. Things that should be written down (versus stored in your sometimes reliable memory) include:
Items on your grocery list
Chores or errands
Upcoming calendar items, like appointments, children's activities, or tasks for work or school
Notes or ideas for future reference
2. Make Routines And Schedules
We was a lot of time trying to get things done - but not actually getting them done. Meaning, we spend a lot of time trying to get to our tasks, setting aside time to complete them, and finding ways to organize the steps to getting them done.
Then, in the end, we don't get nearly as much done as we had hoped.
The solution?
Stay organized with your time so that what time you actually spend on your tasks is 100 percent focused on the task at hand. This can be done by time blocking your daily schedule and setting aside the time to complete your tasks. Whether you keep the schedule in your planner, in a to-do list app, or in the calendar on your smartphone, stick to a routine and schedule that allows you to accomplish your tasks everyday.
3. Do It Right The First Time
If something can be done within two minutes or less, then do it right away. The key to staying organized is to not let stuff pile up and clutter your space, whether at work or at home. The easiest way to ensure that this doesn't happen is by tackling your tasks right away.
Rather than waiting for reminders or for the clutter to become unbearable, take care of the small tasks right away and staying organized will be a whole lot easier.
When you get your mail, throw away the items that you don't need. When you get home from vacation, put things away right away. When you finish a meal, wash your dishes before leaving the kitchen.
4. Store Everything On A Cloud
If it can be stored on a cloud, then that's where it should go. Receipts, notes, to-do lists, photos, important documents, and basically anything else that can be digitized should be and sent immediately to a cloud. Lots of people really like storing their photos in the iCloud Photo Library but that leaves you dependent on an iCloud account and device. Instead of going with the trend, go with what works best and give Google Drive a shot. The free version holds 15GB and the cheapest paid version is just $1.99 for 100GB of storage. Plus, you can access it from any computer that has access to the internet, unlike with an iCloud account. The less physical stuff you have in your immediate space, the more organized life will be.
5. Put Things Away Right Away
No matter where you are, at work, school, or home, put things away - right away. You'll notice that life runs smoothly when you keep your space organized. You'll spend less time looking for things, less frustration sorting through clutter, and more time getting things done.
How To Organize Your Home
Rather than placing sticky notes all over your home in hopes of keeping track of all the things you need to do on a daily basis, try to develop good habits for keeping your home organized.
6. Throw Things Away That You Don't Need
Things that you do not use regularly and that you do not absolutely need can be the first to go. As tempting as it may be to hold onto sentimental items, they are only contributing to the mess in your living space. An easy way to take care of this is to go through a purging process. Prioritize which items in your home must stay and then find a way to rid yourself of the rest. Anything that can be sold, put it up on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist. Everything else can be donated to a local charity. The less stuff that you have in your home, the more space you have for relaxing and enjoying your life.
7. Give Everything A Home
One of the easiest ways to keep things organized in any space is to give every item a home. Start putting things away in a designated place and you'll find that you spend less time searching for things, tidying up, or organizing clutter. Instead, everything will have a place and will run smoothly.
8. Declutter Your Home, Declutter Your Life
Paperwork, memorabilia, knick knacks, and expired food take up way more space than any of us would like to admit. But if you spend just a little bit of time on a daily basis getting rid of unnecessary clutter, you will soon find that less effort is needed to stay organized and manage your time.
9. Keep Only What You Use Regularly
If you're unsure of which items to prioritize in your decluttering efforts, ask yourself whether or not you use the item regularly.
If you haven't used something in the last three months (or you can't even remember when the last time you used it was!), then get rid of it. It's unlikely that you'll even miss it once it's gone.
10. Buy Only What You Need
On the other side of this massive decluttering effort is the super important task of not buying any more clutter to add to your home! Don't buy things you don't need, no matter how great the bargain is or how cute you think it'd look in your home. Only buy what you need and your life will stay a lot more organized without having to put in much effort at all.
How To Stay Organized At Work
We work more efficiently when there is order to our workspace. Start making it a priority to staying organized at work so that when you sit down to work, that's what you actually do.
11. Do One Thing At A Time
Some of us brag about being super multitaskers - but it’s really nothing to brag about. It diminishes our focus and ability to complete assignments in a timely manner. Instead, set aside time for phone calls, emails, meetings, and assignments so that when it's time to do what you're scheduled to do, you can actually get it done. You will find that you work more efficiently when you do only one thing at a time.
12. Delegate Responsibilities
One of the best traits of small business owners and great leaders alike is knowing when tasks should be delegate, and when they should be done. If a task or assignment can only be done with your unique expertise, then go ahead and do it.
Everything else? Delegate it to someone else.
This helps free up brain power and energy for doing what you do best.
13. Don’t Procrastinate
Make life easier by getting things done right away. The sooner that you can complete your work, the less likely you will become overwhelmed by it. Organize things in folders and files, giving each assignment a home in between your designated work time. Take care of the work that needs to be done and get rid of the rest.
As for everything else? Toss it out.
14. Save Passwords In An App
How many times have you had to reset a password simply because you couldn't remember the exact variation of letters and numbers you chose for your login? The process of resetting a password is tedious and time-consuming when you have to do it multiple times a month. Instead of going through the hassle of resetting your password ever again, or, god-forbid, storing them on a post-it not in your desk drawer, use an app like LastPass. With LastPass, you can easily store your passwords and have them automatically populate when you go to log into a familiar site. You can also sync the app with your smartphone so that you can easily log into sites from anywhere in the world without having to remember a single password.
How To Be Organized For School
Students are perhaps the most organized people of all, completing an unreasonable amount of tasks each week on top of a self-care and social routine that many adults can only dream of. But if you want to make your life even easier, then clean up your daily habits to make your life even more organized.
15. Set A Routine
There is absolutely no problem with having a robust social life and lots of sleeping in during college. In fact, it's almost like a rite of passage to sleep past noon and make questionable decisions with your peers the night before an exam. But if you're not staying on top of your assignments and exams, then it will all be for nothing. To make sure that you're not wasting your time in college, set a routine and stick to it. Set aside time for class, for studying, for work, for social events, and for sleeping. By having a routine, you are more likely to complete your work and also have a fulfilling social life.
16. Schedule Uninterrupted Work Periods
When it’s time to sit down and work, do exactly that. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb, lock your door, and stay out of social media. Maybe you set a timer for 30 minute increments or maybe you block off an an entire afternoon at a time. Whatever it takes, work for blocks of uninterrupted time to work more efficiently. The less that your attention is divided between tasks, the more that you can use your time and energy efficiently.
17. Empty Your Binders Weekly
If you take a look at your binders, notebooks, and planners right now you'll likely find a mess of paperwork and flyers that you haven't looked at since the day you put them in there. Rather than letting these pile up and get in the way of you being able to access your important work easily, clean out your binders regularly. Toss what you don't need in the trash and organize the rest.
The Best Organization Apps for Worklife Balance
There are a few apps that can help you stay organized and prioritize the tasks in your life. These are our three favorite.
18. Simplish
The Simplish app allows you to keep track of projects, shopping lists, calendar appointments, and daily habits. You can easily share the tasks with team members and access your to-do lists and projects from any mobile device. The interface is easy to navigate and it's easy to see which tasks you've completed, making it a fun and easy-to-use task management app. It is designed to simplify your life and help you stay organized.
19. KeepMeOut
KeepMeOut blocks sites that are distracting you from the task you are trying to complete. You can block social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, that would ordinarily distract you so that you can stay focused and organized during your designated work periods.
20. Insight Timer
Meditation is one of the most powerful and free tools that you can use to increase your ability to focus and reduce stress, so why not add it to your daily routine? The Insight Timer app provides the perfect set up for you to both practice meditation and time your work periods. I promise you that if you start meditating regularly, your life will naturally become more organized and less hectic.