As a new mom, I'm sure you know how much time can be wasted in a day looking for misplaced or lost items. Whether it's the milk you have on hand or your favorite lipstick color, sometimes it seems like the harder you look, the more elusive those items become.
It's important now than ever for me to be organized at home and with our things. If I'm not well organized, then those precious minutes of my life that I should be spending with my new baby will be going to finding the baby's socks, getting the baby's toys in their favorite little hand of theirs, and looking for things my partner can't see. So how can you be more organized as a mom?
With this in mind, I can eliminate this time and make our lives much easier by being a little organized. I will share some great organizing tips that helped me make my life much more manageable this 2021 and my organization plan for 2022.
Lists, lists, and more lists
I make lists—lots of them like to-do lists, shopping lists, bucket lists, household lists… well, you get the idea. Lists are a great way to sort out my thoughts and work out how to tackle something, whether a project or just random things that need doing around our house.
I'm living inside my Google Sheets, where I keep most of my lists such as online orders, installment schedules, etc. However, for 2022, I'm making the switch to Notion as it's more feature-rich than Google Sheets. I'll be migrating the lists that needed more visuals or images and keeping those more formula-based in Google Sheets.
Track everything
After watching Winnie Wong's How to Be Basic: The Ultimate System video, I got inspired to track everything. She uses Sortly for her overall inventory and shares it with her followers via Pinterest boards. For myself, I'll use the following organization systems this 2022:
- Notion - to house everything such as inventory but create a separate page for the recommended items that I can share publicly.
- YNAB - to track our cash flow for household expenses and personal dues.
- Google Calendar - to keep track of appointments, time-sensitive reminders, and due payments.
Capturing every thought and notes
One admitted flaw that I have when it comes to work is I tend to scatter my work notes in different papers depending on which memo pad or notebook is within reach by the time of a call or a meeting. It's an unproductive habit considering I can't find the notes I need all the time when I need them.
For 2022, I invested in a Hobonichi Techo A6 that I can use as my main planner. I chose the A6 size as I prefer portability over writing space. Within the Techo, I have my habit tracker, yearly goals, monthly goals, quarterly goals, memory keeping, daily notes, etc. For work and learning notes, I purchased an A6 Memo Pad (set of 3) from Hobonichi, which will supplement the space I might need.
I made the switch from digital to paper planner this year as I find some of the software I use limiting. With the freedom to make my system within the planner, I can write and use the pages as I please.
Digitizing files and photos
I started to digitize my files and photos last 2020 when I upgraded my Apple Storage plan. This year, I will continue to do the same and add receipts, other paper files, and old photos for our digital stock so I can have less paper clutter on hand.
I categorize my photos per year and per folder (Family, Friends, Selfies, etc.) so it's easier to find. I also share the master folder with my partner, who uses an Apple device, and I keep a local folder on my Macbook. That way, we can have access online and offline anytime we want.
Making use of storage savers
Storage savers, for me, are buckets, boxes, and other storage items that I found on Shopee. It can be an organizer for food in the fridge or stackable bins that we can use for linen and heavy clothing.
Compartmentalizing our things into different organizers will make it easier for me (and the people around me) to find the things we need.
Making use of labels
Following up on storage savers, I also use labels for organizing our stuff. I use the waterproof label sticker from Totsafe and supplement the adhesive with glue tape since it sometimes falls off textured surfaces.
Right now, I'm at 40% of the organization system I'm targeting for this year. Since we will be moving to a different place sometime this 2022, I can go all-out with all the tracking and organizing after the big move. I'll also be sharing a more detailed post on my systems in the future.
What are your organizing hacks or storage tips? I'm more than interested to know!
No comments: