It’s no secret to those who know me well that organization isn’t exactly my forte. While I don’t think that I’m a slob, I do struggle with keeping things tidy and having a place for everything. I also often feel like I have so much to do but I have no idea where to start. My husband can attest to the fact that when I say “I feel really chaotic right now!” I’m probably on the verge of a mental breakdown.
So in an effort to change my ways, I’m getting more organized this year! Here are three things I’ve done so far this year to become more organized and feel less chaotic.
- I bought an Erin Condren LifePlanner. These things are just beautiful and so helpful (and obviously I had to get this cover since it aligns so perfectly with my phrase for 2016). They are THICK and give you plenty of space to plan and make to do lists. I bought the vertical layout, which has 3 different sections for each day. I use the first section for my general to do list for the day such as laundry, cleaning, budget check, phone calls to make, etc. The second section is used for anything that needs to be done on this site (posts I need to write, photos I need to edit, videos I need to record) and I also schedule out my posts in this area. And the third section is my Health Check where I record my workout, how many hours of sleep I got, the number of carbs and calories I consumed and how much water I drank. I also use the bottom lines to record new habits that I’m trying to get into. I check them off when I do them. Eventually when these new habits are formed, I’ll replace them with different ones!
- I created measurable goals for the next 90 days, mainly by following Chalene Johnson’s 30-Day Push program. I’ve done this program a few times in the past, but it’s never really seem to stuck. However, I think that I’m doing well with it right now mainly because I’m being disciplined in other areas of my life. I’ve heard the phrase before “discipline begets discipline” and I think that’s really applicable in this case, especially with how disciplined we’re becoming with our spending. The 30-Day Push is free to anyone and is really great if you need help with reaching goals and with determining your priorities. Most of my 90-day goals align with my goals for 2016 and I’m well on my way to accomplishing several of them!
- I’m planning all of our meals. I’ve mentioned a few times about getting a meal plan and grocery organization system created. While there are still things that I want to improve about my system (which mostly involve my husband helping me nerd over Excel for a few hours), so far it’s working great! I downloaded this Menu Planner and made a couple of edits to the printable to fit our eating style (for example, we pretty much never eat pasta, so I changed that category). I got some colorful sticky tabs from the Container Store, I believeWe have our weekly plan hung up in our kitchen so we both have visibility to it. Greg has said that he likes knowing what we’re eating each day, and I like that we never have the “there’s nothing to eat for dinner” dilemma anymore. Meal planning has changed EVERYTHING for us.
So there’s three things that I’m doing to get more organized this year and so far, so good! Hopefully once these things become more of a habit, I’ll be able to add in other organization systems and slowly decrease the chaos!
Do you have any organization systems that I should add to my list? Please share in the comment section!
K.
