Organizing Tips for a Simpler Life

It’s late February…already! Is life speeding by and are your resolutions a thing of the past? I’ve said it before, I don’t believe in making New Year’s resolutions (see my blog on Intentional Living for more about that). I do believe in keeping things simple, and organizing can become one of those simple things for you.

Think of being organized as a way of life, something that can be achieved over the long haul and something that you can make progress on in small ways, all year long. It’s not a one-time event. That would be difficult, not simple.

Being organized is about clearing clutter from your mind as well as your space so you can live your life with intention. It’s about having systems in place to find things when you need them and to easily put them away when you’re done.

Here are some tried-and-true tips for dealing with common challenge areas.

Paper:

Map out the path paper takes from your front door to its final resting place, which is typically a filing cabinet, the shredder or the recycle bin.

Literally walk a piece of mail from your door and create a system for dealing with it. It really can be that easy. Your system will need:

• A landing pad – a place for the mail to live until you can sort it.
• A command center – a place for you to act on important items such as paying bills or making follow up calls and appointments. The paper will stay in this area until the task it represents has been completed.
• A filing system – a simple system that is intuitive to you.

Clean out your files every January, shredding what you can.

Laundry:

Have baskets and hangars handy for clean laundry.

Hang what you can right out of the dryer.

Put a load in the washing machine before you go to bed but don’t start it until the morning. Start the machine on the way to the coffee pot – this is a great way to get a jump-start on the day.

Create a laundry plan that breaks down this never-ending task into manageable parts. Consider doing linens one day, one child’s clothing the next, parent’s clothing another day, etc. It’s easier to keep up with folding and putting clothing away in smaller batches too.

Make folding laundry part of your evening routine as you catch up on your favorite shows and family time.

Teach kids to put their own laundry away.

Garage:

Use the perimeter of your garage – shelving racks work well and won’t break the bank.

Store items based on category and frequency of use.

Keep a wastebasket in the garage. A lot of garage clutter is trash – have a place to put it so it doesn’t pile up.

Break down all those Amazon boxes and recycle them. Trust me on this one!

You Got This!

I want you to have confidence in your system and your ability to manage it. This can ease the anxiety and mental clutter that distracts you when you feel like things are getting out of control. You can do this!

Life gets messy and that’s ok. If you have a good system in place a ‘clean sweep’ can put it back together in 10 minutes! Simple, right?