tips for staying organized

10 Tips for Staying Organized When Life Gets Hectic

Sometimes life seems to get so busy that it’s difficult not to feel really overwhelmed. At that point, it’s hard to fight the impulse to stay in bed and hide until it feels safe again.

While a hectic life may feel scary and unmanageable, there are some things everyone can do to take back control. Here are 10 tips for staying organized even when life pushes back.

1. Outsource

No one can do it all alone. We all need help.

That’s why outsourcing is a great idea. This is especially helpful for home-based projects that no one in the family enjoys.

So hire a cleaning service to come in once a month or even once a week. Have the lawn professionally mowed.

Even if the budget is tight, there are still options. Hire the kid down the street looking to earn a few extra bucks. Or try TaskRabbit.

2. Make a List of Priorities

While there are plenty of tips for staying organized that are helpful, making a list of priorities is extremely beneficial. It’s easy to get caught up in the small, petty things in life and even easier to start believing that they’re important.

At the end of the day, being happy, healthy, and spending quality time with friends and family are really the most important things in life to most people. So when life starts to feel too overwhelming, make a list of what is really important.

Then focus on that list rather than whether or not the bake sale item is homemade or store-bought.

3. Set Healthy Boundaries

These tips for staying organized won’t work without setting healthy boundaries. Once the priorities have been identified, it’s important to set boundaries around them.

If health is a priority for a family, then one way to set a healthy boundary would be to eliminate shopping for food in the aisles because that’s where the processed and packaged foods are sold. Instead, the focus would be on the outer aisles where the fresh fruits and vegetables are sold, along with dairy, fish, and lean meats.

Or if time with family is a priority then a healthy boundary would be to start a game night once a week from 7-8pm on Wednesdays, with no exceptions. These boundaries don’t need to be rigid, but they do need to be adhered to if they’re going to work.

4. All Tips for Staying Organized Should Include Purging

As lives are built, clutter is accumulated. Unfortunately, that clutter starts to overwhelm and complicate life in ways most people can’t imagine.

Clutter causes anxiety and depression. It also leads to poor decision making because often things are not tossed out of guilt, shame, or fear. But it’s not just physical clutter that is causing all the problems.

Spiritual and emotional clutter can also wreak havoc and affect emotional and physical health. So take some time out to go through each item in the house to see if it’s still being used and enjoyed by someone.

If it isn’t, donate, recycle, or toss the item out. It’s amazing how much clarity will arrive once the clutter is gone.

5. Let It Go of Perfection

Many people strive to be perfect.They think that being in control means their life will look and feel better.

But there is no such thing as perfect. The best any of us can hope for is to strive for excellence.

Then it’s time to let it go. Perfection is an unattainable goal. It prevents people from sometimes even getting started.

So let go of the idea of being perfect and be excellent instead.

6. Create Systems

Systems make life so much easier. Just make sure the system is easy for anyone to follow.

Misplacing housekeys is common in many households. One simple system would be to place a bowl or hook near the front door.

Upon arriving at home, simply get into the habit of placing the keys into the bowl or on the hook. It’s a simple way to avoid being late.

7. Label Things

The easier it is to find things, the less time is wasted. So label as many items as possible.

This system works especially well in the kitchen. Label jars and use it in the refrigerator so it’s easy to find items before they spoil.

Filing cabinets are another place where labelling will work wonders. Labeling also works well in bedrooms.

Labeling which items belong in which drawers can save a lot of time when putting clothing away.

8. Put Similar Things Together

It’s tough to find things when they are kept haphazardly around a room. So try to keep similar items together.

That way, when searching for a pen, it will be easy to remember they are kept right next to the pencils. It’s also easier to find items when they are always kept in the same space.

This works especially well for people who wear glasses. If there is a designated spot where they belong and they are always kept there when not being worn, it will always be easy to find them.

9. Keep Things Simple

None of these tips for organizing will work if the system becomes too complicated. So keep life and organizing as simple as possible.

The harder it is to accomplish tasks, the less likely someone is to actually do them. So try to make organizing fun and keep it so easy that a four-year-old can figure it out. Oversized planners are one way to keep life simple and well organized.

10. Pay It Forward

When life gets tough, it’s helpful to do something nice for someone else. Focusing on someone else helps people stop obsessing about themselves and studies show that doing good things for others has tons of benefits for the do-gooders.

Keep Learning

There are so many ways to make life easier and more enjoyable, but that only happens by learning how from other sources.

Whether it’s learning how to start a home-based business or just how to cook healthy food on a budget, we’ve got you covered so keep coming back to learn more.

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