to ask how you become organised and together? Seriously how??

[inatrance]

This is a question for any of you who used to be disorganised/flaky and are now organised and sorted. I have been like this for so long and I drive myself and everyone around me crackers. I'm unbelievably forgetful, I am late a lot and I'm rubbish with finances. I'm so fed up of cringing because I'm so bloody rubbish and make stupid mistakes all the time!

I've got an 8mth DS and a 10yo DD and while I've always had disorganised tendencies, since I had DS, it's gone from bad to ridiculous and I feel like I am constantly trying to catch up with myself.

I'm self employed (which is for the best as even I'd have sacked me by now) and have somehow managed to run my businesses haphazardly over the last ten years without fucking up too massively. Well, not often anyway...

Well, no more, I've had enough. I am using the New Year to kick me up the arse and I need your help.

If you used to be crap and are now brilliant and incredibly organised, please, please tell me how you did it. What changed in your mind and where the hell did you start?

[Helenagrace]

Spaghetti are your children old enough to use a planner and checklist system? I had pictures on mine before my youngest could read. Have you tried giving them a box each for school stuff so it all goes together in one place?

[BettyBum]

Where are people getting filing cabinets from?

[CheerfulYank]

I have one...what should I do with it?

[VictorGollancz]

YY to 'little and often'. I took this approach to getting organised. If you're really disorganised, it's no use rushing into organisation at the drop of a hat; you'll give up and end up in more of a mess. I always did. I decided to take it sloooooooow.

So I bought a diary. I bought a lovely one that I loved. For the first six months, I just made sure I had it with me at all times - that was literally all I could cope with. Then I started to jot a few things in it. Four years on, I LIVE in my diary. It is big enough to scribble down lecture notes, it has 'to do' lists in it, it has a pocket to keep important receipts. It also looks pretty on a bookshelf so I have my life for the past four years to hand.

Same with the flat. Set the egg timer and 20 mins per day. That's it. All I could cope with at first was sorting one kitchen drawer. Gradually, the socks were sorted, laundry was done, clutter was banished (it took a few months!) and suddenly my 20 mins are being used to wash skirting boards or scrub behind the loo.

It's a mental habit. The wind woke me up at five this morning. A few years back I would have skived on the internet. Today I worked out that I could put on two loads of laundry and THEN skive on the internet while it washed. So now I'm skiving on the internet waiting for the second load. Life is so much easier now!

[CheerfulYank]

Victor that gives me a lot of hope. Thank you. :)

[VictorGollancz]

Oh oh oh, and as for filing cabinet, I have one of those expanding files marked for 'bank', 'house', 'car', 'bills' and 'stuff'. Once this fills up or I can be bothered, it goes into the relevant year ring binder, which live out of the way in a cupboard.

On a bad week, all I do is chuck the bills, bank statements and whatnot ON TOP of the file. Sure, it's not super-organised but it's fine; they're not strewn round the house, they're on top of the file they need to go in. Next week, they'll go in it and it'll be easy because they're on top. I never used to do paperwork cos it too bloody hours to hunt round the place for all the statements and bills. I still don't do it that often, but it's now second nature (after a couple of years), even when in a real rush, to open post, check contents, chuck in the right place and zoom out of the door.

Little and often...

[anonEnormousJuicybird]

[Shoshe]

I am pretty organized, but terribly forgetful (I have Lupus which makes it worse)

I bought a second hand PDA, It is kept in the kitchen fixed to the fridge door (our fridge is eye level height) At the beginning off the year, I put in all DH's shifts, all birthdays and such, all school dates (I am a nanny, to two families).

Everything that means I have to do something for it such as birthdays are alarmed 5 days before, for 7.30 in the evening. Birthday cards are bought in packs and kept with stamps, when alarm goes off I write and stamp cards and put in car on dashboard to post.

Anything for work I need to bring with me is also put in it and alarmed for 6.30 (about half hour after I get home)I put it in the car then.

Everything I need to buy goes on the memo pad.

I also have a blackberry, again everything I need to do, buy or bring with me is put into it and alarmed.

When the alarm goes off, do what it tells you.

It has helped, plus DH can put stuff into the pda as well so things dont get forgotten.

[mummyosaurus]

I use hotmail email and there is a calendar with it.

I have all birthdays in it, set to reoccur each year, also all appointments go first in my diary and then on hotmail, with a reminder set, so for a hospital appointment I'd have a reminder 2 days before, for a birthday party a week (to give time to make sure I've got a present etc) and so on.

You can invite people to an event (so I might invite dh and that then sets a reminder on his calendar). Great for my birthday.

I find it really useful.

Good luck, let us know what works.

[PostBellumBugsy]

Another uber organised MNer here.

The answer always comes around to being tidy.

Your whole life will be easier if you are tidy. This applies to pretty much everything. Sell or throw out all the shit that you never use. Get storage. It doesn't matter if you have no money, you can use card board boxes, old fruit boxes are particularly useful because you can stack them and get at things easily.

Once everything has a place, then you will always know where everything is. Once everything is tidy, your house will take no time at all to clean. You can do a room a day & it will never seem like an insurmountable problem.

Set up a filing system. Again if you are brassic, a couple of A4 filing boxes & some hanging files will do. You can order these online through a stationery outlet for less than £10.

Family calendar - in a prominent place in the house. Mark all school dates for the year ahead on it. Put all appointments on it. Check it every day.

I'm a single mum of two & I work full-time. I don't have a huge brain, I don't have a cleaner or any "staff". If I can do it, anyone can!!!

[Laquitar]

BettyBum
Vikings-Direct.co.uk has everything and in good prices.

[HoneyandHaycorns]

I would love to be able to describe myself as "uber-organised". That will be my goal for 2012!

Thing is, I'm not totally hopeless - there are some things I do quite well, so I have obviously found some systems that work. I think my real failure to get organised to date comes down to two main issues. Firstly, I have way too much stuff, and find it very difficult to be ruthless about decluttering. This means that there are many items in my house which have no home, and I simply don't know what to do with them. I know I should probably get rid of things more, but I always find myself thinking that we might want or need them at some point in the future. The second problem I have is one of inertia - I know I need to create new routines for getting things done, and I often start with the very best of intentions, but somehow I struggle to sustain the effort for long enough for the routines to become habit.:(

Does anyone have any tips for dealing with these issues, or am I just beyond help?

[PostBellumBugsy]

What kind of things are you keeping because you think you may need in the future Honey?

Also, are you making best use of the space you currently have available?

What could you do today, that would be the first step to being more organised?

[SootySweepandSue]

I'm organised but not tidy. All info is stored in my brain somehow. I remember most things unless they are stupid or not important. I know where everything is and I go nuts if DH moves my stuff around trying to 'tidy'. I don't like being super organised with diaries etc as somehow I equate that with nerdiness. No offence to the truly organised though obviously a stupid belief on my part.

[HoneyandHaycorns]

All sorts

Old tapes & CDs that nobody listens to (just in case we do want to listen some day), random pictures that aren't on the walls, hair curlers that I don't use, clothes that I don't wear, stuff that dd had as ababy, crockery that never gets taken out of the cupboard... The list is endless.

Then there is the stuff that I keep for sentimental reasons - old school work, dd's various creations, souvenirs of time spent overseas etc. I don't need this stuff but can't bear to part with it.

I have got better than I used to be, but it is still a major problem for me. I am currently on the fly lady thread over in good housekeeping, so am trying to do a bit each day to clear the clutter. My main target for today is to sort out a horribly cluttered corner of our bedroom. I dread to think what's in it, but I'm sure I will encounter some of those homeless items and be stumped as to how to deal with them!

[rooksby]

I

[HoneyandHaycorns]

LeQueen, you're so right about the wardrobe. I am totally inspired by your statement that your wardrobe just contains 12 well coordinated outfits - how simple, and yet how fantastic! This is definitely something I'd like to work towards.

I will invest in some nice memory boxes for some of the sentimental stuff, but you're right that it loses value if we keep too much. I have loads of books in the house, and love the idea of inserting some of dd's little notes and creations in to them. :)

The baby gear is a tough one. I desperately wanted another child, but somehow it never happened. I guess I am holding onto the baby stuff just in case, but I should probably pass it on to someone who will actually use it.

[eurochick]

I think it's all about systems and finding which systems work for you.

For example, I have a filing box for bills, receipts, banks statements, etc that gets dealt with every couple of months. Until I get around to dealing with it, the filing is there in one place if I need anything. Nothing goes in the filing box until it has been dealt with, so bills that need paying, etc are paid immediately at home or put in my handbag to be dealt with at the office. Once dealt with, I write on it that it has been paid and when it was paid and then it goes in the filing box. I've done that for years and it works for me.

You also need to find ways of dealing with your particular weaknesses. I am not a morning person and tend to walk around with my brain in a fog until I have been up for a couple of hours. If I had to sort out things for my day then, I would be in a mess, so I make sure I don't. Instead, when I go to bed in the evening, I have a think about what I will probably wear (weather permitting) the next day, sort out a handbag to go with it and get that bag ready. I will also get ready any gym kit or anything else I need, so that in the morning all I have to do is grab my bags and go. It might seem organised but it's actually dealing with what I know I am crap at, i.e. mornings.

[Xenia]

Honey, I have kept old stuff for sentimental reasons. it tends to be in named boxes in a loft type of area and I have an area with photograph albums which are numbered and in date order and that is also out of the way inside shelving in a cupboard.

Also I would make a suggestion to people not to buy things. The more you buy the more clutter there is. Or if you buy one item throw 2 out.

I noticed because I hurt my leg how much tidying I do do automatically running (never walking) up and down stairs again and again every day putting things away and they need to be put away and on my way up.

i think if you can manage it doing domestic admin, bills etc on the day (or even week) or receipt is good as you only look at the item once when it come in. If I can do that as a single working mother of 5 someone who is at home all day can surely do their admin every day.

[Laquitar]

Oh for those who have lots of filling to do i 've just looked at Vikings and one of their offers is: Buy 20 (!) level arch files and get a Free WW digital scale.

Hitting 2 N.Years resolutions at once!

I'm not passive-aggressive

[AnonymousBird]

Only read the top part of this thread so far but for me, at the most basic level, a major breakthrough on being organised has been my calendar on the computer and which syncs to my phone. I also use the reminders. They are absolutely brilliant.

Previously I was an "I-ll die without my diary" person, everything but absolutely everything was written in it. But unless I kept leafing forwards and backwards, somethings would get missed from time to time.

I now have the equivalent electronically and woe betide that I should ever lose my phone or my hard drive get wiped or something but it is a complete life saver.

I use alarms and recurrences to make sure, as far as I can, that no appointments or "to be done's" get missed.

[Richlinn]

This might have been suggested before, but I'd like to suggest www.flylady.net. There is a daily 'flight plan' on there. Everything is spelt out simply and clearly how to keep your home organised: The flight plan will give you different but manageable jobs to do around the home every day, without taking up too much of your time.