6 Things I Do To Feel More Organised At Home

I’ve always considered myself to be fairly organised, but towards the end of the last school term, I found myself feeling a little out of control when it came to keeping on top of things around the house and life in general. Over the past couple of months, I’ve been making a bigger effort to get myself more organised but with less effort – which sounds odd but actually works!  Here are six of the things that I do to feel more organised at home.

15 Minutes Timer Clean

Now this has been a HUGE game changer for me when it comes to feeling a bit more organised around the house.  I picked this idea up from Leanne who runs the ‘Organising the Four of Us‘ Facebook page and Blog (make sure you start following her page) who suggests setting a timer for 15 minutes each night and then again in the morning to do a tidy up and clean of your kitchen/dining area (whatever works for you) which then helps you to keep on top of things throughout the day – and after all, who wants to wake up to a messy kitchen in the morning?! This is such a simple concept, but it has made a HUGE difference in both how our days starts and goes, you really should try it!

Plan

I’m a bit old school when it comes to keeping track of things and I have two planners that I use to keep track of personal and work deadlines/goals etc.  I also have a calendar which  hangs in our pantry which details EVERY activity, appointment, event, things I need to do etc. which really helps me keep on track with things.

Prepare in advance where possible

I know it sounds super simple, but where possible I try and get as much done in advance ready for the next day. This includes doing things like packing lunch boxes, filling drink bottles the night before – and even popping the baby bag or other items I need to take with me in the car the night before or early the next day.  I’m also big on meal planning as it helps me feel a little organised in the afternoons when I know (and in many cases have already prepared – see next point) what we are having for dinner.

Meal Prep

It may not be for everyone, but prepping our meals and snacks on the weekend is one of my favourite ways of helping me to feel organised during the week.  I like to spend a couple of hours on the weekend planning what we are going to eat for the week (see how I meal plan here) and putting together as many of those meals and snacks as I can, with a few serves to pop in the freezer for easy meals later down the track.

Get rid of the clutter

While de-cluttering and minimalism seems to be all the rage at the moment, it’s something I’ve been consciously working on for around 18 months now as I find a cluttered and messy room/house leads me to feeling unorganised and out of control.  I’ve been taking small steps to declutter our house by tacking one cupboard, draw or room at a time. While we still have a way to go, we have definitely made progress and it’s had a really positive impact on helping me feel more in control of things.

Plan to leave the house 30 minutes before you actually need to.

Wrangling all three boys into the car can be a nightmare – and it’s often a 20 minute job in itself!  Without fail I find myself running back inside to grab things that I’ve forgotten (usually something essential like my keys or purse) and I can guarantee one of the boys will need to use the toilet or the bub will need a new nappy just as we are about to leave. If I aim to leave the house half an hour before we actually need to leave,  I find that I’m pretty close to being on time and eliminate the stress of running late to appointments or school drop off.

What do you do to try and stay organised – well as much as a parent can be anyway!