10 Ways To Organize Your Life Now!

Getting organized may seem like an impossible task. But having an organized life simply means you know how to function most efficiently according to your own style, which isn’t as difficult as it may sound. Organizing is a skill, and anyone can learn it. The problem is finding your specific organizational style. What works for me may take someone else two hours to understand. Before getting started, remember that changing your behavior takes time.

Here are 10 tips that’ll show you how to organize your life at home, work and everything in between.

1. Find a place for everything. Start small, maybe with one junk drawer, but find a place for everything you have. “Have a specific place that you put your keys or the mail or your child’s backpack,” says Judy Barnette, a professional organizer in Franklin, Tenn. “People waste so much time looking for lost or misplaced items.”

2. Eliminate clutter. Open the mail over the garbage and throw out junk mail right then. Evaluate whether to keep receiving magazines you never have time to read, or consider rotating subscriptions. Gather frequently used papers such as phone lists and take-out menus in a three-ring binder.

3. Simplify the morning rush. Each evening, decide what you’ll wear the next day, and press it if needed. Also gather anything you’ll need to take with you in the morning, and put it in a spot near the door.

4. Do wardrobe maintenance. Go through your closet at least twice each year, and take out anything you haven’t worn in the past year or no longer need. Donate your surplus to a local shelter or to your church’s clothing closet.

5. Institute a paper routine. “If you do have to stack up the mail, have a set time each week when you will sit down and go through it,” Barnette says. Designate a specific spot for bills, and pay them consistently by tracking the due dates on your calendar.

6. Use technology. Consider scanning papers you want to keep—including everything from household records to old college papers—and keep them on a disk. Then you can shred and toss out the papers.

7. Tame your desk. Keep only supplies you need daily on your desktop. Gain more desk space by mounting your keyboard underneath and raising your computer monitor with a monitor arm.

8. Control your messages. Think before giving your email address or cell phone number to everyone; incoming information may be easier to manage if it all goes through one form of communication.

9. Supercharge your communication. Jot down an agenda before making a phone call, so you don’t forget important points. And be clear about the response you need when sending a message to a colleague—they can then provide a full response, even if they don’t reach you directly.

10. Maintain responsibility for your projects. Keep a written record of what you’ve delegated, and follow up so nothing falls through the cracks.