ORGANIZE YOUR FOOD
Whether you love cooking or hate it – we all need to eat. So having a system for your grocery shopping, meal planning, and meal prepping is the first area to get your life organized.
Organize your grocery shopping
This may seem like common sense to many people, but actually making a plan before heading to the grocery store can be so helpful!
Take some time to look through your pantry, fridge + freezer. What item do you already have? How can you use those in meals in the next week? What needs to be used up soon? Once you’ve answered these questions, begin to write your grocery list.
I like to plan 4-5 meals for the next week before grocery shopping. That way I’m only buying the ingredients I need and can eliminate food waste!
Meal planning
Meal planning can look different for every family! Some people love to plan every single meal + snack for the entire week. I’m not one of those people!
Like I mentioned before, I will brainstorm a few meal ideas, but I don’t always stick to them 100%. What’s important is that you find a system that works for YOU.
MEAL PREPPING
Meal planning and meal prepping are NOT the same thing, although the terms are often used interchangably. Meal prepping refers to actually making your meals ahead of time. This is not something I do currently, but it works well for so many people!
If you find it hard to cook every day – either because you don’t enjoy it, or just don’t have the time – meal prepping might be the solution.
ORGANIZE YOUR CLEANING
I THRIVE in a tidy, clean and organized home. I’ve also realized that maintaining my home is a full-time job (even without kids!). You may overlook your cleaning routine as you work on getting your life organized, but it’s so important!
Daily Cleaning Routine
Everyone has different standards for their home. You might even have a different standard based on what season of life you’re in.
I’d engourage you to write down your daily non-negotiables. Keep these realistic + practical! Mine are:
- Never go to bed with a messy kitchen
- Aways make the bed
- Quickly tidy the living room before bed
You can read more about my daily routine to keep a clean home here!
Weekly / Monthly Cleaning RoutinE
Your weekly and monthly cleaning habits will be different than your daily habits! Some people prefer to do one large task each day. For example: Monday – Laundry, Tuesday – Bathrooms, etc. Other people prefer to do everything on one day (usually the weekend if you work full time).
Decide on a system, and consider even writing it down somewhere. You can access my free cleaning printable here.
ORGANIZE YOUR CLOSET
This is often the first space we think of when we begin to get our lives organized. Many people spend a significant amount of time + energy getting dressed each morning.
My best tips for organizing your closet are to DECLUTTER and STREAMLINE.
DECLUTTER
Most of us think that having more clothes will make getting dressed in the morning easier. However, I’ve heard over + over again how decluttering your wardrobe can make this process much simpler.
When we declutter our clothing and get rid of items that don’t fit well, don’t go with anything, or just don’t feel like “us” – we get rid of the guilt that we have to wear them.
Instead, you’ll be left with only your very favourite outfits and it will be much easier to get dressed every day!
You can read this entire post about how to declutter + organize your closet.
Streamline
Streamlining your wardrobe can make life so much easier. Develop a “uniform” to wear to work every day. Maybe it’s dress pants + a blouse, maybe it’s leggings and a sweater. Whatever it is, have lots of options to just quickly grab every day.
I’m a believer in a capsule wardrobe – although I don’t strictly follow the rules. You can read about my fall or winter capsule wardrobes, or my 10 capsule wardrobe essentials.
ORGANIZE YOUR PAPERWORK
Getting my paperwork + important documents organized has been a massive task on my mental “to-do list” for way too long!
Creating a system for new paperwork that enters your home, as well as a way to organize existing paperwork can be a game changer as you try to get your life organized.
ORGANIZE YOUR HOME
Obviously organizing your home is a huge part of getting your life organized! This might feel like too big + overwhelming of a task – so break it down!
Start with one room at a time. If that’s still too overwhelming, start with one part of one room! For instance, start by organizing your kitchen cupboards, linen closet or just one junk drawer.
I’m a huge advocate in decluttering before you organize. When we just organize what we have, it tends to be a mess again in a few months. The first step is getting rid of the things we do not use!
I have a million posts about decluttering your home! HA. Here are a few:
150 THINGS TO CLEAN + DECLUTTER
DECLUTTER + ORGANIZE YOUR KITCHEN
10 THINGS TO DECLUTTER IN 10 MINUTES
ORGANIZE YOUR INBOX
Are you familiar with the term “inbox zero”? It’s the idea of keeping your inbox organized so that you can reduce it to zero emails on a daily / weekly basis. This is something I’ve found very helpful and it ensures that emails do not go unlooked!
ORGANIZING YOUR SCHEDULE
Organizing your schedule may be the most difficult area to get your life organized – but also the most important!
Our culture celebrates being busy. And while being busy isn’t always bad, or even avoidable – I don’t agree that it should be worn as a badge of honour.
Being too busy at the expense of your health, family, relationships, work, or goals is not healthy. Take some time to review your schedule and ensure that it is getting you closer to your goals + dreams in life!
ORGANIZE YOUR CAR
Organizing your car is important, especially if you spend hours in it every day!
This doesn’t only include keeping your car clean + tidy but also keeping it stocked with essential items such as extra oil, windshield washer fluid, kleenex, a change of clothes, and anything you could need in an emergency.
This post goes over how to create an emergency car kit!
I hope this helped you get your life organized this year! I’d love to hear what other aspects of your life you’ve been working on organizing!
