Have you ever encountered someone especially tidy? You’ll know who I mean – they’ll open a cupboard door to reveal an intricate system of labels and dates. Or perhaps their medicine is organised by type and date – in their handbag! They have a system in place for everything, and it always makes your jaw drop.
Want to take a leaf out of their book and get a little more organised? We’ve rounded up 7 everyday habits that tidy people practise, and how to go about them. So you can reap the same rewards and feel a little more controlled in the chaos.
Deleting photos on your phone
I’m always impressed by anyone who organises the photos on their phone. Between the blurred screenshots, multiple angles of sleeping pets and spontaneous memes, they soon add up. If you don’t keep on top of them, you eventually run out of space in the Cloud, and risk losing what’s not uploaded.
Decluttering and organising your digital photo album for 10 minutes a day is all that’s needed to make a difference. You can do this whenever is convenient to you – whether that’s on your commute home, while your oven pre-heats, or when you’re relaxing in bed. You can work your way back one month at a time, deleting what’s not needed and moving the rest to dedicated albums. A colleague at work does a single day at a time, but over multiple years, to give herself a walk down memory lane!
Sorting through your handbag each night
Before you turn in for the night, a tidy person would go over what’s in their handbag. You can quickly chuck any rubbish you’ve picked up over the day, including receipts, tissues and wrappers.
When I asked the table next to me what rubbish they had in their bags there and then, answers included empty blister packs, loyalty cards, conkers and condiment sachets. So chances are, there’s something in your bag that needs throwing away!
Once your bag is decluttered, you can check you have all your necessities: keys, money, phone, etc. But don’t carry anything you won’t use tomorrow, or it’s just extra weight. Make sure any medicine and feminine products are in date while you’re here, too. Expired medicine should be disposed of at a local pharmacy.
Setting out clothes for the morning
It’s a simple habit, but it makes a phenomenal difference to your morning stress levels, not to mention your appearance. Laying out your clothes the evening before means you won’t go tearing through your wardrobe the next day. It gives you time to stop and coordinate what works well together, find items you wouldn’t usually wear, and accessorise. You might even start using more of your wide range of handbags if you combine this with your bag check!
I knew a colleague who went so far as to lay out her wardrobe for the entire week on a Sunday night. You’d have to keep an eye on your weather app to make sure everything’s appropriate if you want to go this far!
Labelling freezer goods
Moving into the kitchen, an organised person will tend to label food in the freezer with a freezer-safe marker. That means you won’t forget about what you’ve frozen and end up with a rogue item covered in freezer burn!
If the item was initially stored in cardboard packaging, you can save a significant amount of room in doing this, too – just be sure to add the cooking instructions to the label if needed.
For full organisational marks, you can seal and freeze liquids horizontally in freezer bags. Then once it’s frozen, you can file each pack upright for easy access. Stack items in reverse date order, so the oldest gets used first.
Decanting your dry foods
Likewise, dry pantry foods are often decanted into labelled, sealed containers in kitchen cupboards. That way they stay fresh, you can easily see how much is left, and pests can’t get to them. You can also line them up side-by-side to maximum the use of space. Just remember to note any expiration dates on the labels.
The same system can sometimes be found in the laundry room, too. But rather than food, the containers are holding powder detergent, scented beads and pods. There are specialised containers for softener and laundry liquids, too, which you can pour directly from.
Keeping on top of children’s artwork
Children’s artwork is tough to declutter because it’s so sentimental. The trouble is, it gradually builds up over the years, until we’re forced to cram it into the drawers. There has to be a better way!
An organised person would take pictures of the artwork, so they’ve got digital copies filed away, and then print their favourites in a personalised coffee table book. In doing this, you've archived the work and can look back on it much more easily, rather than losing it to the depths of a drawer.
Sorting through the post
Junk mail won’t have a chance to stack up if you practice this simple habit. Take 5 minutes a day to flick through what’s come in the letterbox. Junk mail can be tossed, while bills and letters to be actioned can be prioritised in a mail organiser (put items that need sorting sooner towards the front).
When you reach the weekend, address your priority letters. Once you’re done, take 5 minutes to shred anything that contains personal info – those you need to keep can be filed away. Check out 7 lessons I learned when I sorted through 10 years of paperwork for guidance on setting up a system.
Paperwork filing kit
