How quickly things can ascend into chaos as an adult. How does one balance it all with many different baskets of priorities that need attention? Juggling work, household duties, relationships, side hustles, and fitness can leave you feeling like something or someone is always getting pushed to the side.
Feeling like you have a grasp on every area of your life takes a little preparation to get and stay organized. Below we’ll go over the 19 best tips for organizing your life.
Clean-
Cleaning Upkeep-
Unfortunately, cleaning is something that you need to stay on top of, or else things quickly ascend into disarray. Little things can make all the difference, like making your bed as soon as you leave it. This small step can trick your mind into being productive and organized for the day.
Depending on your household size, have a designated day or two of the week for laundry. Clean as you go in the kitchen as much as possible and clean the dishes as soon as you’re done eating.
As annoying as it is, staying on top of things will ensure that things don’t pile up too much to the point of you becoming overwhelmed and neglecting things completely.
Declutter-
A decluttered space is more likely than not to create a decluttered mind. It’s more challenging to focus on tasks and priorities when your physical space is hectic.
Typically the less stuff you have the less mess it creates. You don’t need to sell all of your possessions and become a true minimalist but regularly go through your belongings to define what’s necessary and/or brings you joy and what is taking up precious room.
Cleaning Days-
Have one day a week where you can do a deeper cleaning of your home. By staying on top of tidying during the week and doing a deeper clean once a week, things shouldn’t get to the point where you have to spend too much time on it. Organizing your life is so much easier when you have a clean space.
Have A Designated Spot-
How many times have you been ready to go somewhere only to realize you can’t find your keys? Spending the next 20 minutes creating a tornado of chaos in the process.
By having a designated spot for everything you’ll know exactly where everything is. When you come home put your keys, shoes, handbag, wallet, etc in their designated spot right away. This simple step will save you so much time and headaches overall.
Technology-
Put Your Phone Down-
Screen time sucks you into a loop that can be hard to get out of. Apps are designed to keep you engaged. TV shows have cliffhangers so you NEED to find out what happens next.
Be cognizant of your screen time because a little 5 minutes here or there can roll into hours of your day if you’re not careful. If you’re really into a certain TV show allow yourself 1 episode a night to avoid binge-watching unless you’re sick in bed or having a lazy day.
Tech Declutter-
Organizing your life includes organizing your phone. Make an effort to do a monthly clean-up of your devices. Delete unused apps, unfollow people who you don’t connect with, delete duplicate photos, clean up your computer home screen, and organize files into folders.
Regularly go through your inbox and delete anything that doesn’t need to be there. Unsubscribe from spammy email lists that send you discounts and encourage you to shop for things you don’t need.
Simplify-
Simplify Meals-
Planning, shopping, cooking, and cleaning for yourself and or your family takes up a huge chunk of time. Aim to simplify things by planning recipes ahead of the week so that you can do a large grocery shop instead of making multiple impromptu shopping trips.
Meal kit boxes are a good way to save time and food waste. Many meal kit services usually have discounts for first-time users if that’s something you’re interested in.
Delegate Tasks-
As much as we like to think we can, we cannot do everything, and definitely not all the time. There are many time suckers for tasks that we realistically don’t need to be doing ourselves.
If you have a partner and kids at home can they have certain chores assigned to them? If you have the means can you hire someone to help with cleaning once a week or once a month? Can you hire an online assistant to help you with your online business admin?
Help doesn’t need to be full-time or all of the time but if you can delegate tasks once in a while you can save yourself so much time for your larger priorities.
Well-Being-
Declutter Your Mind-
It’s hard to feel organized and like you can get things done when your mind is a mess. Spending time every day to clean out whatever is going on up there will help you tremendously.
Try journaling your thoughts in the morning or before bed to help you process your thoughts and emotions. Getting a professional mental health therapist is also beneficial.
Taking a cold shower, exercising, and eating nutritious food all positively benefit your mental well-being. Getting your mind to be in a good headspace is the first step in having the energy and wherewithal to organize your life.
Relax-
Attempting to be productive 24/7 is going to eventually lead to burnout. The financial constraints of today’s world make you feel like you need a job plus 1-2 side hustles. Working hard is good but learn to give yourself 1 day a week where your main focus is to let go and recharge.
Schedule Self-Care-
Self-care and time for yourself are the first things that fall by the wayside when life gets chaotic. However, when you’re well-rested and well taken care of you’re more likely to have the energy and headspace to tackle your priorities and begin organizing your life.
Schedule an allotted time once a week for an hour or two for self-care, whatever that means for you. Whether it’s taking a bath, doing a face mask, or sitting with a book that you rarely pick up.
Fitness-
Schedule your workouts instead of waiting for the inspiration to hit which may or may not arrive. Schedule certain days of the week for different types of workouts or targeting specific areas of the body. Keep things fun and fresh with your workout routine by mixing things up.
Prioritize-
Do Hardest Tasks First-
The hardest task for the day is usually met with procrastination, creating ruminating thoughts of overwhelm and unnecessary stress.
When you can attack your hardest daily task first you’ll get it out of the way and the rest of your day will feel like a breeze. You’ll cut out the stress of knowing you have to complete the task and create confidence in yourself that if you can complete that then any other tasks will be easy.
Priorities-
Go over your top priorities for the day, week, or month. Aim to focus on your top priorities before you move on to the less important priorities. Often we try to prioritize everything and yet accomplish nothing. We can only give so much of our attention at once. By prioritizing your life you can give your full attention to wherever you need it most.
Time Block-
If you struggle with productivity try this Pomodoro technique. Set a timer for 25 minutes and complete uninterrupted focused work. When the time is up take a quick 5-minute break. After completing 4 of those take a longer 30-minute break. This method can help with organizing your life by breaking up challenging tasks into smaller increments.
Write Things Down-
Write things down as soon as they come to your mind. Use a physical pen and paper or jot them down in your notes phone app.
So many appointments, grocery list items, and other obligations get forgotten because you think you’ll remember something until another thought takes over. By writing things down immediately you can relax knowing it’s there when you need it.
Plan Goals-
Have a general outline of your future goals. Set quarterly and yearly goals. By having your goals in mind you can better understand the areas of your life that need more of your attention and you can prioritize appropriately.
Financial-
Budget-
Finances are a huge stress for many people. Although it’s a terrifying experience to peak into your finances, it’s crucial and necessary.
Look at your expenses versus your income to plan an appropriate monthly or weekly budget. Automate things like bills, savings, sinking funds, and investments so that you don’t need to stress out about whether you’ve paid that bill or not.
Taking an hour or so each month to go over your finances can bring you so much anxiety relief. When organizing your life having your finances simplified can be a huge weight off your shoulders.
Intentionally Shop-
Impulse purchases can easily create clutter. Learn to intentionally shop by not checking out immediately after something catches your eye.
When shopping online put things in your cart and wait a few days or a week. If the items are still on your mind after that then you’ll probably get use out of it. If you’ve already forgotten about it then it’ll probably be forgotten about in your home too. Not only will this save you space but a ton of money in the long run.
Conclusion-
Organizing your life might seem like a big task at first but only takes some small and intentional steps. Start with a clean space so that you can focus better without clutter and mess taking up your mental energy.
Tidy as you go as much as possible, deep clean once a week, declutter regularly, and ensure that everything has a designated spot. Cleaning isn’t just for your home but also for your phone and other tech devices.
Simplify your life by delegating tasks and simplifying mealtimes whenever possible. Remember to organize your mind and prioritize self-care so that you’re in the right headspace to have your life organized.
Get things done by time blocking, writing things down, planning goals, and doing your hardest tasks first. Organize your finances by budgeting and intentionally shopping. These are some ways that you can begin organizing your life. Hopefully, they help you to get and stay on track. Comment below which tip worked best for you.
