Organization for Everyday Life

Some people are naturally organizers. Some need more help. Some seem to be completely hopeless. I personally fall into the naturally organizer category and Patrick has already proven to be a follower of mom's footsteps.


I wanted to offer a few tips that I incorporate into my everyday life to make my days less chaotic:

• Take my medicine/vitamins while the shower is warming up (consistency is key to remembering).
• Shampoo, rinse. Conditioner. Soap/bathe. Rinse conditioner. This allows the time for the conditioner to work while utilizing the time to get something productive done.
• Get gasoline on the way home rather than making yourself late the next morning on the way to work.
• Prepare lunches for the next day the night before.
• Prepare any checks and mail the night before you need to pay/mail it.
• Get kids' clothes out the night before.
• Consider choosing your kids' clothes an entire week ahead so all the work is done on Sunday before a new school week begins.
• Get own clothes out the night before.
• Have kids clean up their toys before bedtime so the house is clean when you get up each day.
• Have a menu plan for shopping purposes.
• After buying groceries, assign each meal to a specific day (I base mine on the date on the meats and fresh produce as well as any special schedules for the week). This prevents indecision that leads (at our house) to eating out for convenience.
• Schedule bill payments or have a system to organize bills that allows you to never be late.
• Establish a bedtime and bedtime ritual for consistency for your children...they thrive on schedules.
• Make sure you plan and schedule fun time or family time if needed. I know that if we didn't plan on it sometimes, it just wouldn't happen.
• Label bins/drawers/etc to find items easily (we do this with our children's toys as well as our toiletries).
• Clean out the medicine cabinet once a year. Pick a date that's easy to remember...an anniversary, daylight savings time, the first day of spring...whatever works for you.
• Change batteries in smoke alarms consistently (see item above for scheduling ideas).
• Make sure all pantry items are visible or you WILL buy something you already own by mistake (this is one I need to work on!).
• Keep cleaning products together. I personally keep general cleaning products that are used all around the house in the laundry room and bathroom cleaners underneath my bathroom sink. That's always the bathroom I clean first, so that seems to be the easiest solution.
• Keep a calendar or white board of appointment and/or important dates visible.
• Buy birthday cards at the beginning of the month for everyone celebrating that month.
• Keep stamps on hand.
• Throw away junk mail before placing it on the countertop. We have enough regular mail cluttering our countertop that we certainly don't need the addition of more paper!

This is just a list of items that I do (some more successfully and consistently than others) to try to simplify my life.

What about you?