How to stay organised in 2018

Once you’ve tackled most rooms in your home, purchased new storage solutions, and discarded things you no longer use, how do you continue to stay organised? One of the most important parts of any organising system is sustainability. It’s when you maintain an organising rhythm that you’ll really begin to notice the positive effects. Today’s blog post shares advice by Jane Stoller, the author of Organizing for Your Lifestyle, and the great news is that I’ve got a copy of the book to give away to one lucky reader, so read on for Jane’s tips and to enter the competition…

Give yourself time

Set aside time daily to organise, even if it’s just ten minutes at the beginning or end of your day. If you do this, you’ll instantly feel like you’ve achieved something. And, yes, I said every day; if you continue to make organising a daily goal, it will become a priority, and soon enough, you’ll be organising naturally. Dr. Gayatri Devi, associate professor of neurology at New York University states, “When you think about something tangible, you stop thinking about the theoretical.” Don’t just sit around thinking about getting organised—jump in! You’ll be encouraged to continue once you actually start experiencing the benefits (less stress, more time, a happier and healthier life).

Tell others

Tell everyone about your organising goals so that you can garner encouragement from friends and family. Similar to when you want to reach a health or fitness goal, telling people about your organising goals will help motivate you; once people are watching, you won’t want to fail! Tell your friends you’re on a track to get more organised, and even ask them over to help de-clutter. If you’re married or live with someone, let them know about your organising goals, and try to involve them in the process. You might even want to reach out to a mentor or enlist a mentor to help. One of my organizing mentors is Martha Stewart, and although I cannot personally reach out to her, I follow her on Instagram and incorporate her organising tips and ideas into my life. See organising posts throughout my Instagram or Facebook feed help as little daily reminders, with inspiration, DIY ideas, and some motivation.

Always consider ‘frequency of use’

Be ready and willing to re-assess, re-evaluate and re-organise so that things make the most sense for your daily life. Pick a few things that are important to you to implement as permanent changes in your life. For example, if you throw your socks in the draw, mismatched and all over the place, make an effort to always pair them together when folding your laundry. An easy solution to help organise socks is to buy all the same socks; this will help to speed up laundry sorting, getting dressed, and organising. This way, you’ll never lose time searching for socks. The most important thing about storing socks is folding them properly. If they’re not folded properly, they’ll never be truly organised. Also, don’t go overboard keeping single socks that are missing a partner. If you get to the bottom of your washing, and the match hasn’t shown up, it’s not going to, and you should cut your losses. Widowed white sport socks, though, are good to keep, because they can be used for cleaning various things; they’re great for grimy places where you’d likely throw out the cloth afterwards.

Organising is a lifestyle, but it isn’t one-size-fits-all. Incorporating organising habits into your life shouldn’t, ultimately, involve changing who you are, but rather maximising it. Organising is a lifestyle, but it needs to be your lifestyle. And the best way to stay organised is by making it a daily habit. Research suggests that it takes 21 days to form a habit, so make sure to stick with your organising goals for at least a few weeks in order to really see the impact!

And now, on to the giveaway! You could win a copy of Organizing for Your Lifestyle by Jane Stoller in my blog competition. Simply complete your entries via the Rafflecopter widget below, leave me a comment and keep your fingers crossed! One lucky winner will be picked at random after the content closes – best of luck to you all!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway is open to UK residents only. Competition runs from 5th – 19th November 2017. 1 winner will be chosen and will be contacted by email.