How to be organised

When I was younger, really I suppose before I went to university, my room was an absolute tip. I was messy, nothing in my room had a place, I didn’t have plans for my future and generally I just wasn’t organised. Now though, I can say I’ve flipped that all around and would call myself an organised person.

For me, being organised kicked in when I went to university and rented my own house. I cared a lot more about my space, I wanted it clean and tidy at all times. Everything had a place and I liked that, it was ordered and neat. I also had to be a lot more organised to keep up with the workload of my degree.

When I moved back home I was in an impossible small bedroom, my things were spilling out and it drove me nuts. Thankfully though, we are now in a house where finally (having waited only my whole life), I have a big bedroom. As it is now, I have lots of storage space, everything has it’s own place, it’s neat and organised. I clean my room weekly and I never just leave things lying around, I make sure to put things away. My mum would definitely confirm that I was not like this five years ago, so how have I done it?

Write things down

First of all, I think not everyone is naturally good at being organised and that is totally okay, I wasn’t, but I got there. It takes practice to train your brain to think differently and be less lazy. A huge thing that started my organisation was writing down lists of things I needed to do, be it my washing, polish my room or write a blog post. I have a planner at home and at work so I always know where I am with my to dos. I also really utilise my phone’s calendar app. Everything I do is in that app, I always know what I have coming up. This makes making plans a hell of a lot easier, I don’t have to worry about double booking people because I know I have the day free.

So that’s tip 1, write things down and make lists, keep a diary to remind yourself of key dates. It’s a really good way to never forget anything, I even have a notes folder on my phone for people’s names, because I’m awful at remembering them, so this helps for that too!

Be tidy

Tip number 2 would be to try and be tidy. I know that part of being organised means you’re probably also trying to be tidy. But if you know where things are in your room, in your car, your bag etc, then it makes you feel a lot more organised. I have two little pouches that sit in my bags, one has cosmetic type things in it (tissues, pain killers, nail file etc), the other electronics (headphones, charger etc). This way if I need to switch bags at any point, I know I have everything with me I need. This also reminds me when I need to buy new products too and saves me duplicating my spending.

It’s so easy to forget things if you’re in a rush, but if you know where all of your items are, or you’ve already got them ready the night before, then you can’t go wrong. I find I get into routines with things like leaving the house for work, I know the exact order I get ready in and what fits around that, so it makes it hard to forget to do or pack anything. A tidy environment definitely helps me keep on track with this.

Don’t let things build up

By this I mean, it’s all very well and good writing a to-do list, but don’t let it remain an uncompleted one. I hate the feeling of having a load of emails I need to reply to, I like to know my time is my own and I don’t need to spend it catching up from past Beth. It’s much easier for you to get the things you need to do, done. You will leave more time to do the things you really want to be doing and you will feel way more productive!

Plan

This last point may seem obvious, but planning your days and your future days can really help. With my blog for example, if I know I’m going away for a weekend, I know I need to have some blog posts schedule in advance of those dates. As someone who does a lot online I have to be able to plan a content schedule for the future otherwise my posting would be a mess. I always make sure to assign time to what I need to do and I do this based around my future plans.

I suppose this is quite similar to my first point, if you write down your plans then you can’t go wrong! Future you will thank you too, I always jot down important dates, order numbers, booking references etc on the notes page of my phone.

So there’s a few tips to get organised, I know everyone will have different way of doing things, but these are mine.