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How to Stay Organized

Day-to-Day Rules to Live in an Organized Way

May 2, 2009 Jeremy Glennon

There are little things that you can do every day, including maintaining good habits, to stay organized. Using these habits will help keep you organized.

Getting organized is half the battle. Once you have a system in place and once you know how to be organized, you will need to know how to stay organized. Follow these simple rules daily to stay organized.

Use a List
Keep Things Simple
Put Things Away
Clean as You Go

Use a List to Stay Organized

Get into a routine of writing a list once a week of projects that need to be completed. If possible, break each project into smaller projects. Then get into the habit of crossing out completed tasks from your list. Most tasks are repeated every week, so create a master list with space at the bottom to add additional tasks, and then make copies. Make a goal to cross out a certain number of projects every day so that the list is completed by the end of your week. Remember to post the list in a visible place.

Keep It Simple

The smaller the task, the easier it will be to complete; and completing a task feels good. If time is an issue, keep in mind that it is better to do a small project compared to doing nothing, even if the project is to only organize the bottom shelf of the medicine cabinet.

Make it a goal to complete one small project every day from your list that is outside of your standard "master list".
Divide your standard list into doable daily projects and cross them out every day.
Save larger projects for the weekend or any other day you have more time.

Put Things Away Immediately

Sometimes, instead of putting things back where they belong, items are placed on the nearest flat surface or in the closest drawer. This small form of procrastination can later end up being a large organizing project. Saving a couple seconds by putting something near you instead of back where it belongs can waste minutes later.

Get into the routine of touching something one time. Put dinnerware in the dishwasher after use instead of on the counter. Put clothes straight into the hamper instead of over a chair or on a bed.
Deal with things right away. For example, when mail is brought into the house, either take care of it immediately or put it in an inbox that you will deal with at a designated time.

Clean As You Go

Instead of having small cleaning tasks become a huge cleaning project, clean every time you use something.

For Example:

After you use the toilet, shower, or sink, quickly wipe it down.
Make your bed as soon as you get out of bed

Final Words

Look at these rules as routines and habits that hopefully become as natural as the habit of brushing your teeth or drinking coffee in the morning.

Learn how to organize from this Learn2Organize.com video blog.

Find home organization products at Organize It.

The copyright of the article How to Stay Organized in Home Management is owned by Jeremy Glennon. Permission to republish How to Stay Organized in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.