Ten On Tuesday: Ten Ways to be More Organized

1. Have a To Do List - Actually, I have two lists.  One for work and one for home.  For home I have an app on my iPhone called Tasks that is with me wherever I go so I can keep track of what I need to do.
   
   
2. File Your Bills - Get a hanging file box or an accordion file and keep all unpaid bills in an "unpaid" folder until you take care of them.  Then all you have to do is make another folder for each of your bills to hold everything that has already been paid.  You can start over with a new folder every year and just keep the previous year's folder in some kind of an archive.
   
   
3. Keep Your Coupons/Reusable Bags With You - If you don't have them, then you can't use them!  I haven't started doing this yet, but having a little zippered pouch with your coupons in it is a great idea.  Keep it in your purse/wallet or car so you don't get to the store without the things you need.  We are forever leaving our reusable grocery bags at home when we go shopping.  If you just pop them into the car after emptying them out, then you will have them for next time.
   
   
4. Keep a Calendar - Pick your poison... I use one on my iPhone that reminds me of appointments, birthdays and play dates.  Want one you can access anywhere?  Use Google's free online calendar.  You can even sync it to Outlook. 
   
   
5. Manage Your Emails -I have a rule.  Emails stay in my inbox until I deal with whatever they are about completely.  And I HATE having a large inbox.  So, when the email and it's contents have been dealt with I can happily file it away in it's own appropriately named little folder.  I'm telling you, if I didn't do this at work, I would forget to do so many things!!!
   
   
6. Plan on Leftovers - Make enough dinner so you have enough leftovers for lunch the next day.  If you are like me and aren't a big fan of the plain old homemade sandwich for lunch, having leftovers for the next day will cut down on ordering out which is beneficial to your health and wallet.
   
   
7. Don't Put Things Off - When it comes to home, I am the queen of I-can-do-it-later.  Dishes?... tomorrow.  Laundry?... I've got a shirt and pants to wear.  If I just did these things when I had a spare moment, I wouldn't end up staying up until 2am waiting for the drying to finish or having a huge pile of dirty dishes in the kitchen I have to do before I can make dinner.  As you can probably tell, I'm not so good at this one even though I know better.
   
   
8. Don't Make a Trip Empty Handed - Getting up to get a snack?  Grab a nearby soda can or two and drop them into the recycling.  Going to get a book?  Drag that laundry basket into the bedroom on your way.  The more you just do little things to clean up as you are doing the things you DO want to do, the more you will get done of the stuff you HAVE to get done.
   
   
9. Save, Save, Save -  No matter how small, but some money away every time you get a paycheck.  That way when you want to do something fun that is out of your normal budget, you might just be able to.
   
   
10. Always Have Something Productive To Do with You - Women have it easy.  It is socially acceptable and even trendy to carry around ginormous handbags that we can pack full of neat things to do when we have to wait for anything.  While I am not a big fan of monstrous purses, and tend to carry either medium or small sized ones, even I can stuff a book, small knitting project or Kindle (if I had one) into it.  I know this doesn't sound like a way to be more organized... but more of  a way to not be bored, but by having these kinds of things on your person, you can accomplish quite a lot.