How to Organize Your Life and Keep It That Way in 7 Easy Steps

Do you often lose your bills? Does this make you late on your payments? You’re not alone.

23% of adults admit to losing bills and paying them late as a result. And if a habit is affecting your life negatively, it’s time to kick it.

Organizing your life is simple. It just takes work. That’s why most people remain a disorganized mess.

Fortunately, you’re reading this article. And that means you’ve taken the first step and admitted you have a problem. So, let’s see if we can organize your life.

1. A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place

Some of the most organized people in the world are chefs. They have to be organized or they won’t get their work done.

Organization is what keeps a chef’s flow going. And imagine if a chef just mixed up all their ingredients. Do you think someone who is allergic to shellfish would want to eat where a chef did this?

How does a chef stay organized? Think of how they prepare a meal.

Each ingredient has a place in their kitchen. Each ingredient even has a place on their workstation. They can grab without looking and know they’re grabbing what they need.

Imagine if you used garage storage systems for your garage. You wouldn’t waste time looking for that one screwdriver you needed or that one pair of pliers. If they were in their places, you could just open the right drawer and find the right tool.

So, the adage “a place for everything and everything in its place” will save you time. Use it!

2. It’s Easier to Clean Right After

Let’s use the kitchen as an example. If you fix your breakfast, then make a sandwich at lunch, and lastly, you cook dinner without cleaning up after each meal, how would your kitchen look?

You might not think you have time to clean up after yourself. You’re a busy person, after all. But imagine the stress you will feel when you come home and see the mess at the end of the day.

Cleaning up after each meal does several things. It makes it easier to clean up spills. Sauces dry and bind to surfaces making you use elbow grease along with cleaning solvents later.

Cleaning up right after also breaks up the tedious task of cleaning up the kitchen. If you procrastinate after a meal, the task just multiplies in length as the days wear on.

3. Recycle and Donate

Marie Kondo’s advice on the joy of something is probably complete crock to those of us who see the joy in keeping everything we’ve ever owned. But she is right in one thing. Pairing down your possessions can make your life less hectic.

Imagine having less stuff to scrounge through to find that one ugly sweater next Christmas. Or not having to lift that heavy pile of books to find your tax file.

Move your goods to a donation center and make your life less cluttered. Your future self will be grateful.

4. Toss the Expired Stuff in Your Pantry

“IN CASE OF APOCALYPSE” someone, presumably you, scrawled in sharpy on the old Spaghettios can from 2001. You scowl at it and think, maybe I’ll need this someday.

STOP!

Don’t put it back. Toss it! Go and buy new food that won’t give you tin poisoning or something worse.

Yes, canning technology has improved since the 1800s, but this is not an excuse to packrat every single can of Chef Boyardee you’ve ever bought and will never eat.

Not only will you avoid illness, but you’ll be able to see what you actually have that’s worth eating. You might even discover that 20-year-old bottle of Scotch your brother gave you ten years ago.

5. Delegate All The Tasks

Do you have roommates, spouses, children, an old guy living in your basement without rent? Delegate the cleaning and the organizing to these people.

Don’t let the people who live with you be moochers. You might quickly realize that the problem was never yours, to begin with. You were lying to yourself thinking you had to clean up everyone else’s mess.

If your spouse refuses to clean up after themselves, it might be time to call the counselor. After that, it’s up to you what you do.

6. Put It Away Right Now

Wait, did you just set that stack of mail on the first thing you saw when you walked in the door? What are you doing?!

Go through that stack, get rid of the junk mail, and put your bills where you will see them and remember to do them.

You said you wanted to kick that habit of losing your bills, right? This is one of the best ways to do it. Put things away as soon as you use them.

Once, a man neglected to put away his drill after completing a project. He immediately donned his VR headset and began to play an active game. He stepped on his drill bit and drilled into his foot.

He almost bled out because he didn’t put away his drill right away. Don’t be like the VR guy. Put away your things immediately.

7. Write Down All the Things!

When we invented writing, our brains lost their ability to remember things as easily. This is why it’s unwise to rely only on your memory for important to-do tasks.

No matter what pop culture says, never actually believe in yourself. Always write down the important things.

Organize Your Life and You’ll Be Happier

Happiness doesn’t come from money or possessions. In fact, too many possessions can cause grief or even crippling obsession.

Instead, organize your life and choose happiness. If you want more advice on how to live your life, check out our lifestyle section.