It’s time to get organized. The new year, winter weather and time spent inside mean it’s a perfect time to get organized. Whether it be your closet, your pocketbook or your home, when you get organized, you are able to feel more confident, happier and it helps you get things done with ease.
Not many of us like organizing or getting rid of stuff, it’s kind of frustrating and can feel overwhelming. I always take the new year as a fresh start for getting new organized through tools and decluttering. When you have the right organizational tools at hand, keeping up with errands and to-do lists won’t feel like the end of the world. Plus how great does it feel when you don’t have to search for something, you know exactly where it is!
How to Get Organized: the Right Way
- Clear your mind. First thing’s first. You need to organize your thoughts and emotions before you begin organizing the things around you. Last year, I found a great meditation practice. The trouble was that there was no accountability, except to myself. I have now learned that I am the only person I need to be accountable to. With a little yoga or a stint on my meditation pillow, my life felt more balanced and stress was so much easier to manage. To start organizing your life, you have to first spend time on yourself. Learn to de-stress, declutter your mind and focus on things one at a time.
Make your home a “Happy Haven.” Your home is where you recharge and relax, it should feel that way. If you’re like me, your surroundings have a large impact on your ability to feel calm, relaxed and productive. When you decorate your home in a way that calms you, you are helping your future self getting home from a hectic day. Invest in some plants, light furniture and shelving. Make your home YOURS. Add in your personality, utilize your favorite colors and pay attention to natural light. You might live in the city where natural light in your place is hard to come by. That’s okay; try to set your place up in a way where you accentuate whatever light you get. Invest in mirrors or white furniture. Put away extra things you don’t normally use, and try to spend at least a few minutes cleaning every day. Your home has a lot more of an impact on your mood than you think. When your home is your sanctuary, you are able to relax and get through your to-do list.
- Declutter. Have some extra clothing you aren’t using anymore? Donate them. Go by this rule: if you haven’t worn it in a year, you don’t need it. If you feel like your home decor makes you overwhelmed, find a drop-off near you that gives back to a cause you care about. It feels good to give and get rid of things that no longer serve you. Have cute things you made or bought but no longer have any use for? Try Depop or Etsy to sell your things you no longer need in your life.
Make stationary your best friend. It isn’t lame, trust me. Notebooks, tabs, pens, sticky notes, and calendars make your life easier. Sure, you can do a lot of that one your phone, but I’ve noticed when you write things down and are able to hold and see them, you are more likely to check off that errand and feel the excitement of that actual checkmark. When your organization is tangible, it’s harder to forget it.
- Get the Perfect Planner. Nothing changes your life and keeps your more organized than the PERFECT planner. Emily uses the Tools4Wisdom planner and it rocks. Great planners don’t just give you a smarter space to add your schedule, but offer notes sections, contact information, inspiration, guides and overall make your life so much easier. They become your entire life in your pocket. You can choose exactly what type of planner your need: weekly or daily, thick or pocket-sized, vertical or horizontal. Planners come in all shapes and sizes, and the perfect one for you is out there.
- Invest in A Wall Calendar or Dry Erase Board/Clip Board. Your planner goes with you everywhere. That’s great! But, sometimes you need to have your to-do list and your ideas at eye-level. Large, bright and in your face. Invest in a calendar next to your home office, or, if you don’t have a study space at home, in a place like your bedroom where you are able to use it. Clip board/dry erase board combinations allow you to write down tasks and pin down important papers. Tickets to the conference, important business cards and special memories have a new home where you can see and reach them.
- Don’t forget about the fridge. Ok, so you have a calendar or dry-erase board on your wall. Why do you need something on the fridge? When we’re rushing in the morning, we don’t normally take the time to look at our to-do list. We do, however, go straight for the fridge, be it for the yummy fruit, weekly pre-prepped breakfast, or the creamer for our coffee. When you have your to-do of buy-list staring right at you, it’s hard not to remember. Add some inspirational quotes on your fridge to give yourself a little bit of a morning boost, and you’re set for the day!
- Make color your friend. Invest in colorful sticky tabs and notes. Get folder dividers in different designs. Reach for colorful pens and and paper clips with inspiration on them. Every January, the dollar section of Target fills up with colorful, inexpensive, stationary to make your work-space happy, colorful and organized. I just spent almost $80 on a lifetime supplies of pens, clips, organizers and planners. You might not be as obsessed as I am, but when your ideas are divided up in quirky sticky notes, it’s hard not to find them. I’m currently writing my thesis, and sticky notes are my life. I am able to reference exact areas inside books and find specific thoughts I wrote for myself in my notebooks. Find more fun stationary at Urban here.
- Find fun ways to organize and display your belongings. Invest in vanity, a container for your makeup, a basket for your notebooks and planners, or a branch shelf for your necklaces. It’s not just your work belongings that need a nice home; cute and creative displays for your belongings go a long way and make it easier to find them in the morning.
Take things One at a Time. Sometimes I slack when it comes to managing my day. Although I make it on time, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t rushing out the door. I’m a great procrastinator but its not really serving me anymore. Like me, learn to take things one at a time. Don’t rush or try to multitask; something will always be forgotten. Instead, use your new stationary to keep track of your errands.
I hope this inspires you to get some goals underway. My resolution this year is to finally get some big things out there, and in order to do that, I know these little things are going to be very important. Getting organized will go a long way in helping achieve my goals.
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