By Jenny 
Do you have goals or resolutions about being more organized this year? January is now half over but I have good news for you! You can have a good chunk of your organizing journey completed by the end of the month that will help keep you organized all year-long! Want to know how?
Here are 3 ways to get organized now to keep you organized all year-long:
- Buy A Good Planner
I know many of you are thinking, “Oh, I use my phone for that”! I’ve done this before, too! The problem with digital planners, calendars, and events for me was that I would put them in my phone and forget about them until the alarm was going off telling me it was time for the event.
In order to get organized and keep myself organized all year-long, a paper planner is a must! (I prefer the Erin Condren planner but any paper planner is better than not having one at all! If you click on my referral link you will get $10 off your first purchase and they reward me in product credit! Win for all, right?)
Each Sunday after my kids are in bed, I take less than 30 minutes to look at the upcoming week, write down anything that is happening that isn’t on the calendar, and plan my week. I look at this time as an invisible accountability partner! I’m a visual person and love being able to check off everything that I get done and it’s very easy to look each morning to see what is scheduled out for the day!
- Buy only things you love or need
Do you feel like you are drowning in clutter? Last year I read Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
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.This book really made me look at my belongings (even though there are some cultural differences between Japanese and the American culture) and have a new awareness of why I’m keeping “stuff.” Kondo explains in the book that we should only keep items that “spark joy” or serve a purpose.
If you follow Kondo’s advice, your home will not be decluttered in 2 weeks. However, if you get started you will be closer to living with only things that make you happy!
I’m not finished with Kondo’s method myself but I have already applied her methods into my shopping and financial habits.
I no longer hang onto things that I don’t enjoy and my home is far less decluttered. I also stay on budget because I no longer buy things that I don’t love (or need to have). Instead of wasting money on a shirt that is just ok, I save that money to buy something I really love.
This also applies to storage containers (which evidently I had a problem with over-buying before). I don’t buy any container unless I know exactly what I’m using it for and where it will be going in my house. It’s very rewarding to walk into a room and only see things that you enjoy or are very useful! This book is a best-seller and you can probably find it at your local library!
- Declutter Technology
How many apps do you have that you never use? Delete them! When is the last time you went through your digital pictures, keeping the good ones and deleting the old? How about deleting the files you have saved on your computer and putting the things you need to keep on a flash drive? Finally, when was the last time you went through your social media accounts like Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook and deleted things you no longer needed or enjoyed or unfollowed people or pages that you aren’t interested in any longer?
These three things will help you accomplish your goals or resolutions about being more organized this year! Starting today, you can get to work on these and by the end of January, you will be living with less clutter, more timely with appointments, being able to plan some fun adventure on your organized calendar, and be surrounded by things that you truly enjoy.
Wouldn’t you feel less stressed if you were organized this year?
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