Friday, November 22, 2013

My Top 5 Most Important Places To Keep Organized!

Today, I'm sharing with you my top 5 places that I think are most important to keep organized!

If you've been reading for any length of time or you know me personally, you know that I am obsessed with being organized. I think it's important to keep all areas of the home organized but there are five areas I think are the most important to keeping my life in order.

1. My purse.

My friends regularly refer to my purse as a Mary Poppins bag because I love carrying a huge purse. Since it's super huge I tend to accumulate a lot of things inside it. I make a point to clean it out at least once a week so I keep things inside that I truly need.


Before my purse gets cleaned out it generally looks like the above picture. A total mess!




You can see from the above three pictures I dump everything out on my desk. I tend to keep a lot of things inside my purse on a daily basis but there are always extra things in there that need to be taken out!

Some things I keep in my purse regularly? My daily planner, my to-do list notebook, wallet, medicine, ipod, keys, hairbrush, keys, sunglasses, glasses, pens, and lotion.
Everything else needs to not go back in!


Once I get everything I need back in my purse, I take my change and toss it in a change jar, throw away any trash, and make sure extra things get put away in the right places.


Looks so much better already!

2. Make a To Do List (or have a to do list notebook) and Utilize a Planner.

I am that weirdo that has requested a planner as part of my Christmas gift this year =) I know, I know.

My favorite planner right now (that I have been using for the last three years) is made by Lily Pulitzer. I  love it because it's small enough to carry in my purse, but large enough to fit everything I need to write on each day. You can find it here.

I use a small notebook from the Martha Stewart line (at Staples) to keep track of my to-do list. I like to keep a running long list of everything on my to-do list. I put small items on there such as folding laundry and larger items such as completing scrapbooks. It makes me feel good to be able to cross off the smaller items, and I feel REALLY great when I'm able to cross off one of the bigger items!

3.  Organized Closet

I cannot even begin to stress how important it is to have an organized closet. Not only does it make it easier to find what are you going to wear each day, but it also makes it easier to put laundry away. Anything that makes a process like putting laundry away a little bit quicker makes me very happy!


I like to organize my clothes by category and then by color to make it super easy to find exactly what I'm looking for. I also make sure to leave my hangers on the rack so I put each clothing item back in the same spot after doing laundry.


I also have separate bins in my closet for different items. I have bins for t-shirts, flats and flip flops, scarves, small bags, hats, and bathing suits. Keeping thing separate and not all bundled together really helps in making your morning routine run faster.

4. Organized Fridge and Pantry.

I consistently go through the fridge and pantry to get rid of expired items which helps keep it very organized most of the time. However, I also like to go in and straighten items up because it is so easy for food to hide in these areas! So often I take home leftovers from restaurants and never eat them. Then they get pushed to the back of the fridge and if the fridge isn't gone through once a week who knows how long it would stay there?!



5. Have a "Catch All Basket" or a place to put things you aren't ready to deal with yet.

I use a basket in my room as my "Catch All Basket", this is where I put mail I'm not ready to open/deal with yet and other things I bring home with me. Sometimes I bring home something I know I want to use in my scrapbook eventually, but I'm not quite ready to file it yet, so into my Catch All Basket it goes. This is also where I put catalogues, magazines, letters, and anything else I know I eventually need to sort.

Once a week, I empty out this basket and put everything in its designated place or recycle/trash it. Sometimes even organized people don't feel like putting everything away immediately and that's okay, but it's so nice to have a place to put those items until you are ready to deal with them!


So those are my top 5 places I find to be the most helpful in my organized life. I personally like to have everything organized, but sometimes that's just not a possibility. If I have these five places organized, I feel at least a little in control of my life- and that's really what organizing is about, being in control.

To see all of my organized spaces, you can click on the "My Organized Spaces" tab at the top of the page, or click here.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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