Tips To Get Organized During National Get Organized Month

Between eating well, taking care of the kids, working and having a personal life, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. That might be why the second most common resolution for people as they entered 2017 was self-improvement. Luckily, improving your life is often just as simple as getting more organized. One of the greatest benefits of getting organized is that your life not only looks better, it actually is better. Make 2017 the year you take control of your life. Here are a few tips that may help:

Go Digital and Condense

When you declutter, you want to get rid of things that you no longer need, but you don’t want to start throwing away things that have special significance. That being said, if you’re bogged down by dozens of old family photo albums, you can still keep all those memories without the wasted shelf space by taking old photos and videos and scanning them onto a disk.

Purge Your Desk at Work

Let’s face it, you spend at least 8 hours a day at your desk.  A few photos of your loved ones make the space feel more homey - but don’t get too carried away with bringing everything from home into work. Multiple pictures, toys and other unnecessary supplies will clutter your workspace and make it harder to get what needs to be done, done. While a tidier workspace is certainly more visually pleasing, it may also lead to less stress and increased productivity.

Make a Daily To-Do List

Get in the habit of creating a quick list on your phone of everything you need to do the next day (ie: go to the bank, pick up groceries, wash your car). When you wake up, make sure it’s the first thing you look at and refer to it throughout the day.

Use One Calendar

Do you use different calendars for different purposes? Having one calendar for work and one for your personal life can end up creating more confusion than cohesion. No matter what works best for you, paper or electronic, choose one method and put all of your activities and appointments in there.

Give Your Clothes the “1 Year” Rule

We know how hard it can be to get rid of clothes and shoes you once loved, but if you haven’t worn something in a year - it’s time to get rid of it. The next time you’re stuck inside on a rainy day, prepare to tackle your closet. Go through everything you own and check to see if it is damaged, pilling, stained or is just attached to bad memories. If it doesn’t bring you joy and you wouldn’t wear it now, it’s time to let it go.

Add 10 Minutes to Your Bedtime Routine

After your typical routine of flossing, brushing your teeth and putting pajamas on, carve out 10 extra minutes where you just organize your room. Throw any dirty clothes in the hamper, clean up any books off the floor and hang up what you want to wear tomorrow.