My colleagues quite often start a sentence with ‘You’re organised, you will know this’ or ‘Jane will find this’ if they are looking for a particular file. I am pretty organised at work. I have to be – I have a terrible memory so I need to keep lists of what I need to do and when, set reminders in my calendar and have a sensible filing system.
At home I am no different. I get really stressed if I’m not on top of the cleaning, laundry or shopping. At times I feel overwhelmed by how much there is to do, but good time management and a routine keeps me in control. I have to have a really good clean through every week and make sure any paperwork is taken care of. I do this on a Saturday. I do washing about three times a week. I don’t iron much because I shake clothes out before I hang them and smooth them out as much as possible.
I check my bank balance once a week so that I can keep an eye on spending, make sure all the bills are paid and that there are no odd payments in the account. I know what I pay for everything. If I didn’t how would I know if I was getting a good deal? I also check to see if there is any extra that I can put in one of the savings accounts.
I plan the menus for the week as well as the shopping list. As things get low I write them on a board in the kitchen so we don’t run out. I frequently cook double what I need to save myself a bit of time. We either eat it the next day as well or freeze it for those days when we are too tired to cook. On Sunday I made pukka yellow curry from Save with Jamie and we ate it again last night – curry is always better as leftovers! This is a nice recipe and it really is a good book. The recipe is here.
I started cleaning a cupboard or a drawer each week as my new year resolution in 2016 and it has really paid off. I know where things are and chuck out stuff we don’t need. Having said that, the drawers in my bedroom really need sorting at the moment as a continuation of my great wardrobe challenge, making sure I wear what I own or get rid of it. That’s one for next weekend.
I never feel I have much spare time, but being organised helps a lot. If I do everything I need to on a Saturday I have the day free to relax on Sunday. We either go out for the day or spend some time in the garden, depending on what we feel like and the weather.
I have areas I can improve on but I know that little and often is the way to go. Get things done, get organised and then you save time in the long run.
Are you an organised person? What are your tips to staying in control when you are really busy?
Margaret Powling says
It is lovely to hear of a person much younger than me (I assume!) being well-organized as this is how I used to be when I had children still living at home and work to go to as well. Now I’m just a little more relaxed about things but I am still fairly well-organized because a life-time of being organized makes this a habit as much as cleaning teeth before bed. I used to make all kinds of lists but now it’s mainly the shopping list – as with you, I jot things down on a notepad in the kitchen when things are running low or are totally finished, and then I know they must be added to the shopping list in my computer files. That is then printed before I go shopping. I seldom see anyone with a list but perhaps they have them on their mobiles as everyone seems to be ‘thumbing’ those these days.
I am beginning to start on cleaning out drawers, too, and our wardrobe, and the kitchen cupboards. Oh, and the bookshelves need a thorough overhaul and a ‘weed’, but that’s not to be entered into lightly, it’s a big job. As I’m retired I don’t have a special day for doing things, we both do things as and when we feel like it now, but we still have commitments in other directions, helping with family or my writing for example.
Yes, curry from left-overs is lovely, a great way of using left-overs.
Margaret P
http://www.margaretpowling.com
Swissie3 says
I’m organized too – always have been. I think you get more out of life, money, time, food – everything in fact if you are organized. I am also a “list person”/diary person and EVERYTHING gets put in my diary – or else you can consider it forgotten. Oh there’s room for improvement of course but like you I would find it so stressful not to be organized. Oddly enough I have been on a “clean one drawer a night” campaign since before Christmas and it really does make a difference. If I am going out (say to my sewing class) well then I just forget about it for that night but otherwise even if I only spend 15 minutes something gets done. I leave home at 7 a.m. and get home at 7 p.m. so I don’t have the time to spend faffing around looking for stuff. I think we are lucky to be this way as I don’t believe it comes naturally to everyone. Anna (in France)
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
I love that little and often approach. You can achieve loads!
P. says
It was a pleasure to read this post.
I am organised but sometimes I fall off the wagon due to depression and what a fall it is when it happens !
As I was reading it I felt it was me doing it but in my organised days. Now I am not on the floor but I need to climb a little more to be on the top of the wagon.
Reading what you wrote was such an inspiration. Thank you.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
If you are generally organised it probably helps when you are low. If this post was in any way useful I am happy
Myra says
What a timely post! I sat reading my favourite blogs (yours is one) while I should have been tidying my kitchen and baking corn muffins. I used to be so organized (pre-retirement days) and could multi-task easily. Now, I am so unorganized. Thanks for the “kick in the pants” today.
Myra, from Winnipeg, Canada
ilona says
Not very organized at all. No lists, things are forgotten, I don’t care. House is not pristine, hard to keep clean with three cats shedding and clawing everywhere. Don’t much like housework, I do just enough. Would rather play at arts and crafts, go outside, walking, days out. Each to their own.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
If I was retired I wouldn’t worry, to be honest . Your arts and crafts are amazing
Margaret Powling says
I think if you were retired you would still be organized. It’s the kind of people we are. I like to be fairly organized (and I don’t mean regimented, we don’t do the same things every day or eat at the same time each day) because that allows time for other things, such as my writing. I like to live in a clean and tidy house and have clean and tidy clothes because it’s who I am; I think our homes says a lot about how we regard ourselves, and I don’t mean we are necessarily self-regarding. I think sufficiently of myself and my husband to keep a nice, clean, polished home because it’s a more pleasant environment to be in – but that doesn’t mean I’m a Hyacinth Bucket, plumping cushions all day long, either. But we’re in our homes a lot of the time, so why not have them as nice as we can make them? I don’t mind housework because I don’t see it as ‘work’, it’s maintaining our home, and that is something we enjoy doing.
Margaret P
Eloise says
I am a list maker…..for everything: things to do, things to buy, things to remember. I love the cathartic feeling of sorting out drawers and cupboards but, although I was always organised at work, I am a bit untidy at home so the sorting out activity has to occur quite regularly!
Debbie Gilbertson says
I do many of the same things you do and they have been a lifesaver for me over the years. Good for you!
Elizabeth says
Living on my own and now using a wheelchair, I find it help tremendously to be organized as I can manage both a flat and a pet with chronic health concerns. I do make lists and plan ahead for the weekly shopping and any errands. I also do daily chores in order to keep my flat tidy.
Julia says
Yes! I am organised. My mantra is “Everything has a place, and everything IN its place!”
We had a transatlantic move which meant everything had to find a new place. It still drives me crazy that in my old house I’d know EXACTLY where to lay my hands on something, whereas now I have to search through several drawers to see in which one it was “temporarily” put!
And now because we’ve been here nearly 5 years, if I start moving things now I’ll promptly start remembering where they used to be – and never find anything again! 😀
Siebrie says
I’m pretty organised, and I’m training dds and dh by not helping them look for things :). If they did not put it away in its proper place, then they can waste their own time looking for it, not mine. I may just help them brainstorm, but it’s not me doing the legwork.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
I don’t know how you do that. Mine drive me mad when they take ages to find something because they aren’t looking properly