Getting Organized

Happy New Year

A new year, a new you! The new year is the perfect time to reprioritize your life and set goals for the months to come. We start our lists of New Year’s resolutions, our plan for getting organized, a list of new goals as well as goals from last year that we didn’t quite get to cross off the list.

A new year is a fresh start. A chance to reset and start over. It’s a chance to work on new habits & goals as well as things we didn’t achieve in the past year. I’d say that all of our lists of resolutions, goals, new habits, fresh outlook are different but one item that I know I’m not alone in adding to my list is getting organized.

I know I always want to start the new year with a clean house and order. Of course, I never know how long it’ll last but I can at least try. Right?

And what better way to plan than with lists and pretty notepads, right? I’d like to think that I’m not alone when I say that I love lists, notepads, and pretty paper. I love writing things down. There’s huge satisfaction in writing things down on a list and checking them off.

I’ve always been a list maker. I tend to make lists for almost everything but I feel like the new year brings even more lists. To-do lists, goal lists, resolutions list, agenda, schedule, calendar, meal plan, budget…all that stuff.

But where to begin?

Sharing a few common areas that I always want to add order to.

Getting Organized

What better way to get started than with a workspace? A space to keep things organized, a “command central”, and a place to keep all those lists.

Set Up a Work Space

• Desk: Do you have a space in your home that you can set up an actual desk? Go for it. Create a place just for you to keep your papers organized, a place to pay bills, a place to write in your journal or a gratitude journal. Maybe even a place to get back to the old habit of handwriting letters and thank you cards.
• Small space solution: Do you set up a spot and work at the dining or breakfast table? Or maybe your kitchen island or coffee table becomes your workspace? Organize all your necessities on a tray. Use a sleek pouch to conceal pens and receipts.
• Transform a closet or kitchen into a command station.

Organize Paperwork & declutter

In a world that’s going paperless in so many areas, how is it that I still feel like my life is being taken over by paper. Now don’t get me wrong, I love pretty paper and notepads but I’m tired of the bills, catalogs, brochures and everything that floods my mailbox.

• Follow the “touch once” rule. It’s easier to deal with it in the moment. Act on it, file it or recycle it. Don’t let it clutter your breakfast table or kitchen island.
• Centralize your papers. Keep everything in once place.
• Keep a routine going. Decide on a plan for the paper and deal with it weekly.
• Create a filing system. Decide on a place to keep your important papers. File box // basket // filing cabinet // hanging file
• Clutter bin: You can also create a clutter bin. Let this bin be where you keep all the papers and stuff that you need to sort through. Make a point to go through your clutter bin once a week. (This might be setting one’s heights too high but it’s good to have a goal. Good to have something to strive for, right?)

Life

• Calendar: I’m old school. I love using a calendar to write things down. Sometimes I even use different colors so a quick glance I know what’s going on. What can I say writing things down gives me the chance to check them off my list. LOL. For my last job, I traveled pretty much every other week so keeping a calendar helped me keep track of where I was and where I was headed. Now, I work two part-time jobs so writing down my two schedules helps me keep track of my life. (This is where the different colors come in handy.) I also like to keep track of the fun things that I do. I think it’s fun to go back and read what movie I saw or where I got that tasty meal or which museum I went to. A larger calendar gives me the chance to keep and attach tickets, movie stubs, menus and anything else that I collect along the way.
• Goals: We all start the new year off with new goals in mind. Whether it’s to lose weight, read more, have a more positive outlook, be in the moment or change a habit, it’s nice to have a place to write down your goals and record your progress. And refer back to next year to see if you accomplished all you wanted to or if something needs to move to the next year’s list.

Gratitude Journal // Goal Journal // Daily To-Do List // Planner 2020

I really like this one from Amazon. It has a little bit of everything. A place to write what you are grateful for, to-fo list, appointments, water intake, fitness and even a place to keep track of your meals. This one offers you a place to keep track of pretty much everything that we generally want to track as a new year begins.

Kitchen

• The kitchen can be another daunting place to organize. Or maybe it’s just my kitchen — my fridge and my pantry that I feel like needs a task force to get it in order.
• When I do decide to take on the task, here are a few things that I’ve used to help me get organized.
• Fridge: I use vinyl placemats on all my shelves to make clean-up easier in ease there are any spills, etc. I love this one from Ikea because it’s square and it works really well. Fridge storage bins are also a savior.
• Baskets or canvas storage bins in the pantry to sort categories. (container for pasta, snacks, plasticware, etc.

Your Closet

• Organizing your closet is a big task in my opinion. I feel that your closet can be an oasis, a sanctuary — so organizing it isn’t gonna happen overnight. I’ll do a full post on organizing your closet.
• In the meantime a crash course in closet organizing, you can organize them by category (pants, skirts, dresses, tops, blazer, sweaters, etc) and next you can organize by color. I have found that organizing by category and color helps tremendously. It helps with getting dressed a little easier.

My Desk

Currently on my desk…

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Desk // File sorter // Calendar // Notepad // Book // Blog Planner

I feel like getting organized is a task that we could talk on and on about and make more lists than would fill a spiral, but I wanted to share a few quick tips to get you started. Sometimes I feel like if we set are heights too high we feel we have a goal that we can’t accomplish so we give up before we’ve even begun.

By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands—your own.

Mark Victor Hansen

Good luck! I hope your year is off to a great start!