5 Ways To Be More Organised: Hacks For The Seemingly Incurably Disorganised

This is an organisation post for the seemingly incurably disorganised – the disastrously scatter-brained despite those best intentions. I am one of you.

the polite elephant

A little reference to one of my favourite children’s books there, but let’s address the elephant in the room: anybody who knows me will find it almost laughable that I am giving advice on being more organised. I imagine my husband will read this title and his eyebrows will disappear up into his hair. That being said, as someone who was not remotely organised before having children, the fact that we are all where we need to be on any given day is testimony to these tips.

21 days to make a habit.

Psychologists say that it takes twenty-one days to make a habit, and that’s all it takes. The problem is, if you’re not naturally organised, it’s twenty-one days to make every single thing you want to change a habit. But it is possible. I may not be organised, but I am ridiculously committed to anything I decide to do in life. Being that stubborn actually makes anything possible! If you decide that you are going to dedicate just three weeks to this, it will make a huge difference to the way you live your life.

 

Let’s get into it…

1. Have a calendar on your wall – not a diary you can Misplace.

 

 

The rate at which I can lose things is really quite astounding. I’m not exaggerating, if I end the day with all of my children accounted for – I consider the day a success. In all honesty, a diary stands no chance in my hands. I still buy them occasionally (usually on 1st January, when good intentions confidently cross the line into downright unrealistic) because there are lots of beautiful ones out there and I love the theory. But the fact remains, they never have more than a few pages written in them!

So I have two solutions to offer, and which you choose will depend on the type of person you are: either utilise your phone calendar, or stick a huge year-long planner on your wall. To be clear, I am not talking about something where you flip over onto a pretty picture every month… I have owned many of these over the years thanks to my inability to leave Waterstones without making a purchase, and not used a single one beyond January. In my experience, you can’t go far wrong with sticking a huge planner that displays the whole year ahead on your kitchen wall. My husband likes to put everything in his iphone calendar, but I find phones pop up with so many notifications that ‘Nova – Ballet 16:30’ would get lost.

 

2. Mother always said ‘Always make your bed in the morning, and never go to sleep with an dirty kitchen!’

 

 

My mother never said this. These are words I hope my children will be saying to their own children, because they matter. It’s an oldie but a goodie: ‘If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.’ Admiral McRaven had a point, and despite the fact that I can’t imagine anybody less suited to a military career than me, I couldn’t agree with him more.

A good day is far more about mindset than events, and I know that if I am in a positive frame of mind at breakfast, the chances of the day being a good one are far higher. Cleaning the kitchen before I get cosy for the evening is part of that… if I wake up to a dirty, cluttered kitchen, the whole day feels utterly overwhelming. Tidy space, tidy mind!

 

3. Parcel your laundry and double make the bed.

 

 

This sounds so simple, but if you are a mother, this could be life-changing! How many times have you woken up, disorientated, being told that one of your little ones have wet the bed or been sick? It’s countless times for me, and it really isn’t a big drama in this house. Firstly, when I do the laundry I don’t sort bedding by item (i.e fitted sheets, duvet covers, pillow cases etc) I sort each set, fold the duvet cover into a rectangle, fold a fitted sheet to the same size and shape, then pop them neatly into the matching pillowcase. Et viola, no scrambling about in the airing cupboard at 3am.

The other tip came from a teacher when my son Jacob was tiny and fell ill for quite a period of time and she saw how utterly exhausted I was: double make the bed! When I make the children’s beds my life is made so much easier when I use two fitted sheets, then if the worst happens I can just peel one off, throw it in the wash and only change the top sheets while I have sleepy children trying to crawl back into bed. It makes the whole process is much less stressful!

 

4. the One Touch Method

 

 

This is a game changer, and I can’t even remember where I first read it! When you come through the door at the end of a long day, do not throw your coat and bag on the sofa – put them away. How many things do you put down that you will just have to tidy up later, when you’re tired and so close to having a chance to relax? It just isn’t worth it! Not a simple task for the accomplished procrastinators among us, but something your future self will thank you for persevering with – put it away.

 

5. Meal plan for one week, for a month.

 

 

… And use it four times. Isn’t it marvellous to think that the next month of meals doesn’t require another thought?! I discovered over a decade ago that the most budget and planet friendly way to feed a family is to meal plan. Whether you are cooking from scratch or serving fine cuisine a la freezer tapas, knowing what is going on the table at the end of the day will make life a thousand times easier. Having said that, I’ve lost count of the number of times I have put off having to sit down to write a meal plan that everybody will eat (not an easy task with one child, let alone our brood!) and compiling the shopping list… so we have ended up ordering a take-away.

While there is nothing wrong with a treat, doesn’t a Domino’s taste so much better when it’s a planned family night as opposed to an unplanned splurge as a result of procrastination? Okay, pizza tastes pretty wonderful either way… but you see my point. Nobody remembers what they ate last week, my children are hard pushed to remember what I cooked them for dinner when they’re putting their plates in the sink, so don’t feel any guilt about recycling a meal plan.

I hope you found something useful here, and if you are going to try any of these or have any other tips then I would love to hear in the comments. I really enjoy reading through them and hearing your thoughts – I much prefer a conversation to me just talking at you!

Good luck!

Love,

Helen x