These are my best tips to get organized. Some of these tips I have practiced for years and others have been recently implemented.
I may add to this post as time goes on or change some things up, but as of today, this is how I stay organized. I think you’ll find this post helpful.
30 Tips to Get Organized
- Get rid of your clutter – The best way to get organized is to have less crap to organize. The fewer things we own, the easier it is to maintain and keep track of them. I beat this drum a lot because the message never changes. Get rid of things that don’t serve your purpose. The things you don’t need and don’t love. Owning fewer things is the easiest way to stay organized — there is no better way.
- Go digital – Receiving, sending, and storing information on the internet is the absolute best way to reduce paper clutter. And when I say paper clutter, I mean, documents, bills, photos, to-do lists, and almost everything in between. Not only can you store your entire life on a laptop and smartphone, it also makes the information easily accessible which can help increase productivity.
- Use Google Calendar – I’m a huge fan of Google apps. Not because I think they are the best [they’re not] but because of their simplicity and ease of use. Schedule your time and appointments in Google Calendar. Here’s a list of the categories on my calendar.
- Family – All family-related events [birthdays, anniversaries, etc.] synced with my wife and son
- School – Synced with my son’s school calendar
- Appointments – My personal appointments
- BFC – A separate calendar for tasks involving this site
- Each category is color-coded so I can easily see specific events and you can also un-select a category to simplify it further. Although no calendar is perfect — including mine — it gives you a decent picture of what the day/week/month will bring.
- Email – Can you guess which email platform I use?? Gmail is the best and most robust email platform out there. Set up an email system that filters emails, properly labels things, and makes it easy to get to inbox zero on a daily basis. Gmail is pretty much the control center of my life, and by coming up with a thoughtful system, I’ve been able to keep on top of things without too many hiccups. Play around with your email and design a system that works for you. In all honesty, email shouldn’t take longer than an hour per day, as long as you keep with it.
- Automate your finances – Use paperless billing and autopay features. Most of your bills will come in via your email system and automatically be deducted from your bank account. Plus, you’ll never be late on a payment. This is a huge time saver and a good way to stay organized. For more on this see Minimalist Money Habits To Boost Your Finances
- Make to-do lists – Keep to-do lists handy and up to date. I keep mine on a Google Doc where I can access it from my laptop and smartphone. I’m not a fan of other productivity apps simply because they overcomplicate and take up more time than they save. More on that later.
- 3 Things – Schedule 3 high-priority tasks per day. Get them done. Anything beyond that is a bonus.
- Clean as you go – Make cleaning and tidying up, part of your daily routine. Do it as needed and don’t wait for messes to build up. In my house I do the dishes a couple of times a day, however, it’s never a big load. Usually just a few cups, bowls, plates, and so forth. Enough that they need to be done but not enough to be considered overwhelming. By cleaning in small chunks, throughout the day, our home stays moderately clean and enjoyable.
- Create a place for everything – Give your stuff a home. A spot where your items live. When you’re done using an item — put it away.
- The 10-minute rule – When I see something out of place, or something that needs to be done, I’ll stop and take care of it. This is about being proactive with your organization. However, it can easily get out of control. So, I use the 10-minute rule. If something’s out of whack and it’s going to take 10 minutes or less to correct — I’ll take care of it immediately. If the task is going to take longer than 10 minutes, I’ll do it at a later date. The idea is, if you see a problem, fix the problem. This is how I avoid having messes build up over time.
- Laundry – Laundry is one of those never-ending tasks that can’t be avoided. Here’s how I tackle it. I do the wash every other day, usually in the evening. I wash all of our clothes with cold water – that way I don’t have to separate anything. Just one big load, washed, dried, and done. Everyone folds and puts away their own clothes with the exception of towels which I do myself. Occasionally there are specialty items to wash like bedding or delicates. I tackle these on the weekends. The only hiccup is getting my son to round up his dirty clothes off his bedroom floor.
- Household items – Here are my tips to get organized when handling food, groceries, and household items.
- Keep an ongoing list of things running low. Preferably on the refrigerator or some central location for everyone to write things down.
- Choose one day per week to do the shopping.
- Create meal plans with similar items. For example, chicken: as the main ingredient for multiple dishes.
- Frequently edit what’s coming into the house and how it’s being used. Are things being wasted? Do we really need three bags of potato chips? Etc.
- Household inbox – Use a basket or letter holder for papers and mail that come into the house. Preferably one you can place in a central area of your home. This will keep mail from cluttering up counters and tables. Plus, it will be in one location, easy to find, until it’s processed.
- Contacts – Names, numbers, addresses, and so on. I keep mine in my phone and have them backed up to Google Contacts. Easy.
- Smartphone apps – I wrote an entire post about how to eliminate smartphone distractions. Here’s how I organize my phone. I have a basic home screen that allows me to make calls, text, and see the time and weather. On a second screen [I call it my today screen] I have a calendar widget and access to email and my to-do list via the Google Docs app. On my app’s screen, I label things in folders. Social media, finance, tools, etc. Three screens and that’s it. Pretty minimal.
- Automobiles – Vehicles accumulate clutter. Napkins, CDs, and other random junk can pile up. My car is empty. Besides registration and insurance information, I don’t drive around with excess stuff. It’s just my personal preference but a clean comfortable car makes for a stress-free drive. There’s nothing to organize in my car because there’s simply nothing in it.
- Digital clutter – Photos, files, old messages, etc. Use delete and use it often. Organize the rest of it into folders with clear and intentional labeling. Make a point to clean your phone and PC periodically, just like you would your home.
- One in – One out – Use the one-in-one-out rule when bringing new things into your life. The rule goes like this: Every time you bring a new item into your home, remove or get rid of at least one other item. This will help you stay on top of clutter and prevent you from accumulating too much stuff.
- Systems – Create a system for everything you do. For example, I have a system for leaving the house and one for returning. I never walk out of the house without my wallet and keys and always return them to their *place* when I get home. It’s the same system every time and I never forget. Whether you call them systems or habits, going through the same routines for mundane tasks will help you be a more organized person.
- Simplify your wardrobe – Come up with like-colored outfits that you can mix and match. Or, if you want to go extreme, wear the same outfit every day.
- Don’t be late – Pay attention to the time and leave early for appointments. Put more clocks in your home if need be. Part of being organized is never being late and more importantly, never feeling rushed.
- Sort at the source – My local post office has recycling bins for junk mail. Each time we get the mail we take a minute or two to sort through the mail and recycle the stuff we don’t need — this way it never comes into our home. Be mindful when out and about and sort the things you don’t need, at the source.
- Organize your thoughts – Use the Eisenhower Matrix for decision-making and take some time to figure out where your priorities lie. Focus on the tasks that are important to you.
- Say no – Shorten your to-do list by saying no more often. This is as much of a productivity tip as it is an organization tip but again, think less.
- Keep it simple – I mentioned earlier that I don’t like productivity apps and complicated to-do apps. The problem is, it takes too much time to set up and maintain these apps when they are supposed to be saving us time. I’m hitting on this again because it’s important. Always simplify first, not last. You shouldn’t have to spend a lot of time organizing an organizational system. To me, it’s just dumb.
- Combine duplicates – When you run across duplicates combine them into one. If you have two bottles of ketchup open in the fridge, combine them into one and throw the empty one away. The same goes for digital material — merge and delete. When you start looking around there are a lot of duplicates that aren’t necessary. When we have too many duplicates it makes it much more difficult to get organized.
- Keep flat surfaces clear – Kitchen tables and countertops are a magnet for clutter along with desktops and coffee tables. By keeping these surfaces clear, you can easily spot items that got left out of place.
- Set a schedule – Set a schedule and guard your time fiercely. Emails at 1 PM, phone calls at 4 PM, laundry on Tuesdays, etc. By setting schedules and batching tasks it’s much easier to stay on track. Bonus: Other people will know what to expect from you. Barry always returns phone calls at 4 PM, he’ll call me back at around that time.
- Single task – Do one thing at a time is my favorite productivity tip. Finish that thing is my favorite organization tip. Things left undone take up space and mental bandwidth. It’s hard to stay organized with a bunch of unfinished projects. Start, then finish.
- Simplify – Simplify your time and simplify your life, then, simplify more. Reduce to refine.
Thanks for reading. I hope you found this post useful.
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