How to be More Organised with these 15 Simple Tips

Organisation is a skill, and as with any other ability, practice makes perfect.  Even if you don’t consider yourself an organised person, that doesn’t mean that you cannot improve your organisational skills with time.  Yes, it may take some effort, but the good thing about organisation is that the better you get at it, the less there is to do.  In addition, you can take small steps to start getting organised, and very soon see big results. Here’s how:

1. Give Everything a Home

That includes your shoes, your notes, and even your emails.  Yes, your emails!  Storage, filing and sorting are your three best friends when it comes to organisation.  By giving everything a home, you will no longer be surrounded by loose items, or in other words, by clutter sitting around everywhere.  The only challenge here is making the effort to put that clutter away in its new home, but once items already have a place to call their own, it becomes ten times easier.

2. One Consolidated Place

Whether you’re a tech geek with a love for apps, or prefer writing things down on traditional diaries and calendars, make sure to keep all your information in one place. Whether it’s a shopping list, a calendar of events or your to-do list for the day, you’re more likely not to miss out on anything if all the information is together.  For example, bullet journaling is a great way to do this because a bullet planner can be anything from a diary, to a calendar, to a habit tracker, to whatever you want or need it to be.

3. Routine

Routine is the mother of organisation.  Building a routine means that you now have time to complete certain tasks as the time it takes to complete them is now inbuilt into the makeup of your day.  You will also, most likely, get used to doing things or not forget to do them if you do them every day, even if it’s a simple task like making the bed.  Take some time to create a routine, incorporating those tasks that you never seem to find the time for, to also give them a ‘home’ timewise.

4. Breakdown Tasks

When creating your routine schedule, break tiresome tasks into smaller pieces, allocating time for each of the chores.  Spreading your tasks out can make them easier to complete and seem less tiresome. You’ll soon find that smaller jobs always feel more doable.

5. Tidy Up. Regularly.

An organised space leads to an organised mind.  Many people find they cannot work or concentrate if there is too much clutter surrounding them.  Having a tidy space is key to getting yourself organised, and you’ll soon find that you will have more energy to use on tasks without that mess on your desk. Just like being organised, the more regularly you clean up, the less time it will take you to keep a tidy space.  Incorporate some time into your daily routine, even as little as 15 minutes a day, to put things away and declutter.

6. Money Management

Being organised does not only mean managing your time but also your money. There are plenty of apps to help avoid overspending, and if you’re not tech-savvy, try to get into the habit of writing down what you pay out as soon as you spend it.  It could mean something as easy as keeping receipts to track your spending. First, calculate your average spend on the necessary items and allocate a budget each month for these expenses, with a smaller budget allocated to entertainment or extras. If you’re going over, leave non-urgent items for the following month in order to split expenses evenly.

7. Stock Oldest Items First

When you go grocery shopping, put the newest items at the back of your cabinets and the older goods in the front so to use up the older items before they go bad, and leave the newer items for later. We tend to grab the first thing that we can reach, so strategic positioning of consumable goods is key.

8. Put Things Away Immediately

Or allocate time to do it. Get into the habit of putting something away as soon as you use it, so that there is no backlog of clutter.  If something cannot be put away until later, allocate time in your day to put it away, otherwise, it will probably linger there for months.

9. Set Some Time to Organise your Digital Clutter

We don’t just have physical clutter, we have digital clutter too.  Whether it’s our emails or 20 identical photos of our puppy sleeping, set some time aside to delete your junk mail, remove any duplicate photos and organise any other digital clutter you may have.

10. Buy 2 of Everything

When you go to the grocery store, make sure to purchase two of any supplies that finish regularly, such as tubes of toothpaste, detergents, shampoos etc.  This way you will always have a spare in the cupboard when your current one finishes, and you won’t ever be caught with bad breath or in a mad rush to go to the store for single items.

11. Prioritise your Tasks

We may not always want to do certain tasks, and will probably always start with the easier ones first, often being too tired to complete the important ones.  Make a list of your tasks and put them in order of priority, with the easier tasks reserved for when you have less energy.

12. Schedule Tasks for When you’re More Alert

If you’re a morning person you’ll want to schedule important tasks for first thing in the day, to have the energy to complete them as well as to do them properly.  If mornings are not your thing, schedule your most important tasks for the afternoon.  You’ll find that you will complete more tasks when you’re naturally more alert.

13. Make Use of Dead Time

Use time which would otherwise be considered wasted, such as waiting for your appointment or commuting to work, by doing something positive and productive. Clear your inbox whilst on the bus, or reorganise your calendar whilst in a waiting room, or simply unfollow useless accounts on social media when waiting for your ride.  With our phones everywhere we go, filling in otherwise dead time with productive tasks has never been easier.

14. Schedule Time to Organise your Time

It may sound silly, but scheduling your time does actually take time.  If you don’t set some time to schedule your time, then you will probably never get around to setting yourself a routine.

15. Storage Boxes

Like a diary or an app can consolidate everything in one space, similarly consolidating your clutter into one area can also help with organisation.  A very simple example is how at school you would group all your pens, pencils and stationery into one pencil case.  It’s a very simple example but captures the importance of storage.  Home-related examples include placing your paper bags compactly into a storage box, your jewellery in a jewellery case, and miscellaneous items that can usually be found running around in one compact place or box.

Being more organised can result in a mind more at ease, and a relaxed mind usually means overall mental health.  And whether it’s health insurance, home insurance or even boat insurance that you need to get organised, Laferla’s here to help.