Are you looking to get your life organized right now? This 31 Days challenge may be just the thing! Here is the entire list for your review and sharing.
The rules are simple. Organize one area each day for 31 days. And, wait and see how your life will be transformed into a well-oiled machine. And, improving your ability to handle anything that comes your way.
31 Days to an Organized Life, broken down into what to do each day
I split these tasks up into weeks.
Week 1
Looking for your keys, have a centrally located key (affiliate) holder for everyone to use.
Write a 'Bills to Pay' list with due dates. Post it where you can see it easily.
The night before, write down what needs cleaning and which chores need to be done.
Clearing out the clutter from the entrance will make you feel relaxed when you enter the home.
Organize your bathroom by zones to make your morning routines run more smoothly.
Write recurring chores, like cooking and cleaning, on your calendar to manage time.
Ask yourself, "Have I completed EVERYTHING I needed to do for the project?"
Week 2
Prevent urgent work by determining potential outcomes.
Organize your grocery list to match the store's layout.
Keep kids' school backpacks (affiliate) and coats/hats (affiliate) in one place.
Keep the kids' school supplies in one place for easy use.
Clear out your purse while waiting for your child's classes to finish.
Run errands that are close together to save time.
What is most important in your bedroom? Get rid of items you don't love.
Week 3
Group kids' books by age group to help bedtime run smoothly.
Sort mail right when you bring it in.
Pull your favorite recipes and put them in one binder (affiliate) for saving.
Have bins on the steps (catch-all bins) to hold things before you go upstairs.
Keep your home office desk cleared at the end of each day.
Maintain an extensive calendar to track all family members' activities.
Group like items in your pantry (affiliate).
Week 4
Group small like items in the junk drawer into small bins.
Store keys on hooks near your bag.
Create areas in your kitchen to help speed up your meal prep.
Keep a first-aid kit in your car.
For narrow spaces, use the floor-to-ceiling shelving (affiliate) to create more storage.
Have a healthy snack bin with individually packed snacks for your kids to grab.
Sort games by age group to keep younger kids away from inappropriate games.
Week 5
Add a weekly clipboard for current week papers.
Clear counters each night after cleaning the dishes.
If you want to share or print the entire 31 Days to an Organized Life, use the image below. Feel free to share with others on Pinterest or other platforms.
Feel free to share. I hope this helps you get your life organized. Here's to an organized life and year!
Janet Schiesl says
I love that most items on the list take only a few minutes to do. Maintain organization happens in small bits.
Linda Samuels says
#16 is one of my favorites. So often mail can pile up, but if you commit to handling it RIGHT when it arrives, and routing the keepers to the appropriate spots, it keeps the piles from building up. In truth, most of the mail is junk mail and gets recycling immediately. The few keepers (mostly bills) go into the Bills to Pay folder and wait there until it's time to attend to them.
I love that you developed this list of individual projects to make life more organized. What a great idea!
Seana Turner says
This is such a terrific list. Love the printable! I have to laugh about #9. Just before the pandemic hit, our grocery store reorganized. Suddenly my list no longer matched the store's flow, coinciding with it suddenly being difficult to get items I wanted to buy. Then toss in having to walk in only one direction and follow the arrows on the floor. I feel like a grocery shopping loser LOL. It's going to take me a little while to get back to the efficient place I was. It's surprising how much a change like that can throw you off your game:)
Ronni Eisenberg says
What a great list! I really like numbers 4 and 30. The entryway is the first area you see and a window into your home. Messy counters are a sore spot with me. Clear these areas and you’ve made a big jump. I’ve been clearing for a week bit by bit and what a difference it’s made. I’ve read the riot act to family and I’m counting on things staying as they now are!
Kire Sdyor says
I think I use about 27 of the 31 items on this list. Unfortunately I live with anarchists who continue to topple my little sand castle.
andleeb says
All the tips are very nice and it can help a lot to specify the work and also save some time that I most of time waste while finding my keys and stuff. I have taken the print and try to follow what applies in my case. Thank you for a great share.
Christine Larsen says
Mmm... many nice ones Sabrina.
No. 9 gives me pause however. In my neck of the woods, supermarkets move their products on a constant basis. And I shop at three different ones.
However, after all these years of experience, I'm adept at guessing where they could/should be. Best news is that often I'm right!
Thanks for much to experiment with.
Marquita Herald says
Well I had a nice long comment for you but the captcha bounce me back and so this time I'll just say I really enjoyed your list, great tips!
Kim says
What a great list - I find that I don't refer to recipe books anymore now that you can google and then save any recipe on pinterest. I still have some cookbooks though (they do have pretty pictures and great ideas in them) One day I likely will part with them. sigh!!
Krystle Cook says
Great organizational tips! I always try to do the chore list but it never seems to stick. Something will come up and I'll miss something and it just goes from there. I'm so trying harder when we move. I'll have to keep up with the space. I hate dusting though.
Alice says
I stopped #18 to add a little extra fitness to my daily routine. I must walk up or down if anything is on the stairs!
Donna Janke says
Great list of organizing tips. I wound up doing number 17 unintentionally. When preparing to spend my first winter away from home (escaping the cold to a warmer climate), I made copies of my favourite recipes so I didn't need to take a whole bunch of different cookbooks with me. I put the copies in a binder and find now that I use that binder a lot even when I am back home and have all my other cookbooks.
Lenie says
Number 17 is the one I need to focus on. I must have thousands of recipes, most of which I will never use. I keep them sorted by kind in file folders but what I need to do is go through them, eliminate many, and then put them into folders. Good to be reminded.
Patricia Weber says
The infographic makes for a great take-away peace, I was smiling at about 10 or so - when kids aren't in the picture, other tips can certainly apply. There can still be 31 of them. And most organizing tips I can relate to because - either I or my husband do things this way. Thanks.
Jacqueline Gum says
Very comprehensive list! Thankfully I already incorporate a lot of these; not having kids means that I can skip a few. LOL But now that it's in front of me, I can check to be sure!