If you're really good at getting things done / staying on top of thingswhat are you like?

[chaiwalla]

What are your tips? What do you do! Do you wake up at the crack of dawn?

Do you plan from the night before/ week before? Is your mantra to tick off everything on your list before you go to sleep?

How do you do it? What's your mindset? How do you not get into the trap of procrastination? How do you keep motivated and determined?

Organised person here! My main tips:

Proper 'house' meeting with DP every week to discuss housework, finance, make lists, divide tasks etc.

Important Things Folder (all essential paperwork, passports, policies etc.

I constantly 'move' stuff around and put things 'back.'

However, I have a few 'junk' drawers and a garage that's a landfill!

I am organised but not in a list making way. I just deal with issues the moment they arrive: i.e. if I get an email asking me for meter readings, I go and get them immediately and send.

If I have to return something on a form, I open the letter, sort out the form and send.

I hate having things piling up, so I tackle everything immediately.

do things fast. We get up 1 hour before leaving the house. In that time I have a bath, do make-up and hair, get dressed, make the beds, make breakfast, make lunch (for me), feed the cat, wash up and go on Instagram for 15 minutes, sometimes I also write a shopping list or bring the washing in.

^^

Do life admin at work /when you're on the train etc.

Friendly but aren't you usually in the middle of something else? Or not home?

I love being organised, I think of it as doing my "future self" a favour. Putting the slow cooker on in the morning - means I can relax more when I get in. If I don't put the washing away after it has come out of the dryer, it will sit on the side and piss me off every time I look at it. By doing it right away, I am being kind to myself.

The same with putting out the bins, filing that bit of paper where it is supposed to go etc. I sometimes find that I have given myself a mental pat on the back when I find something exactly where it is supposed to be

My ethos it to do something as you think of it and not put it off; or set a reminder that you will absolutely stick to.

I agree with the previous poster that being more minimalist helps. Cleaning and keeping organised is less of a faff if you don't have as much stuff about the place to deal with - washing is easier to put away if your wardrobe is not overflowing!

Trying not to get lost in Mumsnet threads helps:-)

Seriously though, get help/machines with the stuff you can outsource:

1. cleaner. Use decent products on the stuff you have to do yourself (vinegar, cif, Mr Muscle and washing up liquid, plus loads of cloths you can wash every week is all you need)
2. washer/dryer
3. do not iron except essentials
4. order shopping online only
5. if you sell on ebay, find a local Hermes drop off and do that instead of queuing at the Post Office -- it's cheaper and saves time.
6. Banking apps, other apps that help you sort things like bills (that are not sorted by direct debits).
7. Buy stuff in bulk, so you never run out of anything.
8. If you can do any work-related stuff in advance, do it -- I often work at night (and have conf calls at night with global clients)
9. And yes to lists, but mine are always depressing because they never get done.

Caveat: I am rarely on top of all the kids' stuff, but I do manage time to tutor them in four different things, on top of taking them to music school three times a week. So prirotise what you think is important and the rest has to take second place.

I am extremely organised, my tip is to just SLOW DOWN I know this sounds contradictory to getting stuff done, but if you just work through stuff at a steady pace, it all gets done with fewer mistakes and less chance of forgetting stuff. I have lists, lots of them and I tick off as stuff is done. I never put off till tomorrow what can be done today but all of that is done at a workable pace. That will cut down on your stress levels too.

I don't wake up at the crack of dawn at the moment, but have had to in the past due to work circumstances (long commute) and would do it again if I had to (thinking once baby is older and needs to be up for school etc...I would rather be up and ready before him and be early for school/work rather than rushing/leaving everything to the last minute). I don't seem to need as much sleep as most people though (I don't always sleep well at night but don't seem to suffer for it in the daytime, even though I get tired earlier in the evening than many others).

Husband and I meal plan religiously. We make shopping lists and stick to them. In fact I'd say I make a lot of lists/write a lot of things down in general. You are more likely to remember them that way - but I'm not obsessive to the point of ticking off everything on a list before going to sleep!
I also keep a paper diary as I remember everything better this way. I schedule in gym/swimming/Pilates the way you would organise a doctor's appointment and like to look at my diary on a Sunday to know what I am going to do in the upcoming week.
I do usually have a good idea though of what I am going to wear the next day though and all essential makeup is kept close by in the bathroom so I'm not running around like an idiot looking for everything!
I do have quite a photographic memory though so tend to remember where things are even when I have a lot of a particular item (e.g. books, beauty products).

I am highly focused/determined just as part of my personality. I find it easy to switch off from outside noise and know that if I can power through a task and get it done now I can reward myself later (e.g. with a trip to the cinema, like tonight!).

If staycationing/having a day off/staying in at the weekend, I tell myself I have to do non-online things first/in the morning before switching the computer on.

So I'd say some of it is good habits and some of it is inborn personal traits. It would be wrong to say I never fall into the trap of procrastination, however!

I have an ongoing list in the front pocket of my handbag- literally everything goes on there- and I use it daily (every morning at my desk before work starts)
Meals are roughly planned and I use my freezer a lot, I do loads of 'kettle jobs' in the minutes while it's boiling, dishes away, wipe a surface etc etc. Likewise, if I am running a bath I use that time to clean the bathroom. I have a stair basket and everything has it's place so it's not too onerous to put the things back.

If it's any comfort OP, there's something on today's Metro that says two-thirds of us are either living in chaos or only just staving it off, so I think the organised ones are in the minority. I'm not one of that minority unfortunately I keep functioning reasonably smoothly but my house isn't particularly tidy and if anything unexpected happens everything goes to hell. My mantra is: lower your standards.

I have lists, routines and a flexible childminder!

We have a family planner with everyone's commitments written on it on different colours.

On the fridge is a list of things that the DC need to take to school every day, and a list of who is going to pick them up.

Also on the fridge is a list of non-negotiable term time, weekday dinners which are prepared and frozen half termly apart from Friday when they get a pizza! The frozen dinner is removed by me each morning and left out to defrost.

Washing is done on the same days each week. I put the load on at 9.30Pm the day before on a 9 hour delay so it starts at 6.30am and is ready for DH to hang out at 8pm before he goes to work.

If we didn't operate like this i expect we would be facing almost daily chaos...

Oh, and I shop a lot online! Much faster than trailing around the shops when you already know what you want and yet don't know where to get it from!

For those of you who have to do lists. I end up with a million lists. Lists for house work / kids stuff / shopping etc. How do you keep tabs on them all. It just feels too overwhelming

@chaiwalla it's all in one place. Diary. Saying that if I lost my diary I would probably hyperventilate as everything is in there!!

True as well that husband pulls his weight, we clear up as we go (though he's better at this than I am), we try to do things straight away wherever possible so we don't forget, and that both of us have good memories just generally...so I accept we are lucky as well as having good habits.

Placemarking for tips. I have lists and am mostly organised if a bit last-minute. Am number one procrastinator for stuff that's a bit hard though.

Single mum for the last 15 years, worked full time. I am ORGANISED!

I have no option. If I wasn't things would go wrong. It is massively in my interests to be organised as I am completely 100% responsible for me and the DC and if things go wrong the only person who can sort it out is me.

I have a rolling list of things to do in my head. I never make written down lists, I just have it all in my head, constantly all the time.

I never put off what I can do today, because I've learnt the hard way that sometimes tomorrow is too late.

I make the internet work hard for me, so I shop online for pretty much my entire life, I book holidays online, I do all my banking online, I organise my utilities, insurance online etc etc etc. Everything that can be direct debited is etc.

Basically I am always looking to streamline and make life more efficient because that means I have time for myself.

Being tidy and making the most of storage really helps me too. It is much easier and quicker to clean rooms that aren't covered in clutter. A kitchen surface with nothing on it takes one minute to wipe down - if you have to lift up 15 things to clean under them then you are probably talking 5 minutes.

If everything has a place and you know where it will be, you can put things away easily and you never lose stuff - again precious time saved. This goes for domestic admin too. File stuff immediately and then you know where it is.

Keep on top of laundry and clean as you go a long, so that nothing ever gets overwhelming.

And my best tip of all is to get the DC to help. Start them young with 'helping' to tidy away toys at the end of the day and get them more involved as they get older. I always tell mine that if they want me to do fun stuff with them or for me to drive them to parties etc, then they have to help me, or otherwise I'll be too busy or too tired.

I would not remember anything without using ‘reminders’ on my phone. I even put ‘phone mum’ on it for a once a week chat and a reminder to send off birthday cards etc, submit weekly bills (self employed) and wash the car. It’s a life saver. Also I get up early and vacuum the whole house before I go to work, I couldn’t be bothered to do it when I come in from work and have 4 hairy animals, a teenager and a husband so it always needs doing. I do a weekly tesco shop and meal plan for the week. I get told that I’m really organised but quite frankly the alternative would be so stressful!

Lists, calendar, weekly planner.

A place for everything, I get up at 5am every weekday and sometimes the weekend so I can get stuff done with an empty house.

I think procrastination comes from a lack of confidence. Someone who doesn't want to deal with situations will kick it into the long grass and it usually then becomes a bigger issue. One of the reasons why I force myself to be organised is because when I haven't my DC have missed something, we haven't had anything to eat or there is some other consequence. My motivation comes from others not being affect by my fuck up. If I have a small problem I will deal with it straight away so it doesn't escalate.

Expecting dp to do his fair share and pulling him up on it if he doesn't.

My life would be v stressful if I was doing all or 75% of it by myself.

We share bills and childcare 50/50. Housework and life admin should be no different.

I know too many women who rush from work to shop for food and cook meals when their partner just goes home from work, sits down to eat and maybe reads a bedtime story. No wonder they're stressed.

I meal plan- even if that means doing it on my phone in the supermarket car park! I've got a list of meals that we enjoy so that i don't always end up reverting to the same 10 things all the time. When i'm really organised i online shop as its a good timesaver.

One load of washing per day.

30 minute blitz after tea each day where i clear up and have a quick hoover of kitchen. That takes about 15-20 mins then spend the other time zone cleaning. So Monday - Dusting everywhere, Tuesday- Kitchen, Wednesday- hoover everywhere, Thursday- bathroom and Friday- Bedrooms.

Reminders on my phone

Amy day goes something like this: I get up at 1am to shower and apply make up, manicure, curl hair etc. I plan and lay out complimentary (not matching) outfits for myself, OH, 2x DS's and baby. Around 3am I clean toilets, floors and kitchen surfaces. I fold and put away laundry. I breastfeed the baby several times whilst cleaning. This takes 3 hours most mornings. At 7am I make a healthy breakfast for the freshly showered DC. I help them put on their just-ironed clothes and brush their hair...
No, my life is chaotic but I try and do one big job a day plus wash up and do a couple of loads of laundry. And get rid of stuff thats not needed. Trying to relax and let go is key!