12 Tips on How to Organize Your Life Now

 Whilst helping clients decluttering and organizing their home, office and life, I often get asked what are my top tips for staying organized. Over the years I have built up tricks and habits to stay organized (especially when juggling life as a solopreneur, home owner and social media addict). These are my 12 tips on how to organize your life now (and how I stay organized every day):

1. Create a to do list - I use the app TickTick religiously. It syncs on my computer and phone so I can update wherever I am. The beauty of this app is that it allows me to create projects and then lists within these projects (which follows the "Getting Things Done" Principles that I have implemented into my life).
2. Write down everything - take it out of your mind and reduce the stress of trying to remember what you were thinking about before. I write down my reminders in Ticktick and any other notes in Evernote.  Having my phone by my side even when having a shower, helps me to quickly drop those thoughts into one of the two apps quickly, before I forget again.
3. Use one tool and stick with it - Stick to one that you are comfortable with and keep on using it. If you prefer to write in a notebook, use that notebook for everything. If you like to use apps on your phone or computer, use that, but be consistent.
4. Don't multi-task - I used to think I could multi-task but the reality was that I was jumping between different projects and wasting time rather than focusing on one matter and finishing it quickly. Now I just do one thing at a time.
5. Do it now! - Don't throw the dress on the floor, put it in the laundry straight away or hang it in your wardrobe. It will take 5 seconds.
6. Use FAT - File, Act and Toss for everything you touch or see (emails, paper, food, etc).
7. Have a place for everything - if you don't have a place for the item: a) find a place for it b) get rid of it c) or get rid of something else to enable this to take the place.
8. Keep backups - Buy 2 x 3TB (terrabyte) harddrives. Save all your files, music, movies, pictures in one hard drive and make a duplicate copy. Store them in different locations. Add an entry in your calendar to update them every quarter of the year.
9. Scan copies of your important documents - spend half a day scanning and saving important documents such as your birth certificate, education certificates, passports, residence visas, land titles, insurance policies. Put them in one folder and mark it "Important Personal Documents" or something similar. I would save these files in a cloud based service such as Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud so you can access them at any time wherever you are in the world.
10. Buy something new? Get rid of 2 items - Whenever you buy something new, make it a habit to get rid of 2 (yes two!) items out of your life to make way for the item.
11. Check the expiration date on food - I check the expiration date of the food in my cupboards once a month. I find items that are close to expiring and put them in the front of the cupboard or on the counter to use next. Anything expired is thrown away immediately and I make a note in my shopping list (on Evernote) or any items that I need to replace immediately.
12. Unsubscribe - On this side of the world, I notice that companies love adding us to their mailing lists and spamming us. I spend a few seconds to Act (remember FAT in point 6) and unsubscribe from any spam emails.

What tips do you use to help you stay organized. Let us know in the comments box as it might help someone else.If you need help to stay organized, contact me using the contact form and I will be in touch shortly to find out how I can help you!Happy Organizing!     [twitter-follow username="decluttrme" scheme="dark"] 

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