You finally snapped and decided to learn how to get your life together once and for all. Something needs to change. And fast.
Because if you have to deal with just one more disaster, you’re in danger of burning everything to the ground. 🔥🤪
The will is there, and now all you need is someone to show you the way.
Let’s go.
(Small side note that this post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them. Your support will go directly to funding my strawberry trifle addiction. 🍓😘)
Maybe you woke up one morning and decided you couldn’t go another day without dealing with the disorganisation. Or you tripped over something lying on the floor and it was the final straw.
Or maybe you were more like me, where it slowly dawned on you that you were ready to walk out the door and never look back. 🙋
Whatever the reason, you’re fed up with the mess and you want to make a lasting change. But where do you even begin?
HOW TO GET YOUR LIFE TOGETHER IN 7 STEPS
Listen, I floundered and flailed for several years and eventually figured it out. So I’m sharing the secret with you.
Here are my simple steps for how to get your life together.
Plus, I’ve turned them into a handy dandy little acronym so they’re easy to remember:
A PROPOS
Are you ready?
Step 1 of How To Get Your Life Together: ASSESS
Sometimes life falls apart overnight but I think for a lot of us it’s a very gradual process. It’s a bit of clutter here and there, a forgotten appointment, mounting stress…
Before long it feels like everything is falling through the cracks. All the plates you were so carefully spinning are crashing down.
And when there’s so much chaos, where do you even begin to focus your efforts? 🤷
I get asked this question a lot and I have 2 options for you to choose from – the top of your bedside table, or the very next thing that bugs the living snot out of you.
Your Bedside Table
Why start here? Quite simply because it’s one of the first things you see in the morning and one of the last things you see at night. If you can get it under control you’ll fall asleep and wake up feeling a little more peaceful. ☺️
Plus, it’s a small, manageable space where a little effort goes a long way.
And that momentum will eventually ripple around the rest of your room.
The Next Thing That Annoys You
In an ideal world you’d wave a magic wand and it’s bibbidi-bobbidi-boo-tiful. 🪄
But you know that’s not the case, and if you try to do everything all at once you’ll actually end up achieving nothing. Except maybe a breakdown. 🫠
Or maybe you think there’s one “right” place to begin.
I’m here to tell you from VAST personal experience that there isn’t. The right place is ANY place you can make progress and build momentum.
Maybe you open a cupboard door and something falls out for the fortieth time and you’re just FED UP.
Or maybe you dread checking the mailbox because you know it’s going to add to the pile of papers you’ve got on your kitchen countertops. (Paper decluttering tips right this way.)
Or if you have to decide on ONE. MORE. DINNER you’ll lose your mind. 🤪
The next thing that makes you want to tear your hair out is the first thing you’re going to tackle.
And listen, you don’t have to solve the problem in the next few seconds, but it’s the first place you’re going to make some progress.
How? That’s the very next step in the process.
(See how easy that first one was?)
Step 2 of How To Get Your Life Together: PURGE
Decluttering has changed my life in multiple ways and it’s the first thing I turn to when things are feeling a little chaotic.
Now I’m not saying you have to live in a barren home with only the basic necessities, but I’m sure we could all stand to let go of a little.
So whether it’s clearing a few unworn clothes out of your closet or cancelling a commitment you’re no longer interested in, you’ll lighten your load.
Life is better with a little breathing space. 🧘
I like to think of it as curating my life. Just like a gallery only displays the greatest things they can get their hands on, I keep only the best bits so I’m not distracted by sub-par pieces.
How to declutter so it’s quick and painless
I’m going to teach you a simple decluttering game to get the absolute biggest bang for your buck… and you’ll literally only have to get rid of ONE thing.
(I’m assuming you’ve already chosen where to begin from step 1 so you’re not just staring at your entire house.)
Ready?
Starting with the biggest item in that area (the thing that takes up the most space or the most time), ask yourself if you could let it go.
There’s no need to agonise over any decisions here. As time goes on you’ll erode more and more clutter but for now we’re just looking for those easy answers. 📦
If you can’t declutter the first item move on to the next biggest, and so on. Eventually you’ll get to something you can let go.
If you can get rid of it immediately, do. Otherwise put it in a donation box or wherever it best belongs before it leaves your life for good. (Bye, Felicia. 👋)
If it’s a calendar item or similar, simply delete it. (You may need to let someone know. Send that email or make that phone call now.)
Do whatever is necessary to remove it from your life, or at least put it in a place that makes its exit easier.
And you’re done.
This little game is a winner in two ways:
First, you don’t have to make any difficult decisions. Just go with the first easy answer and follow through.
Second, by starting with the biggest items you’ll make a bigger dent. Sure, you could remove an old receipt but it’s not going to have the same impact as decluttering a book, for instance.
Want to keep going? Have at it! But if you can let go of just one, you’ve won the game. Good for you! 🎊
Looking for some other fun decluttering games you can play? I have 5 in this video that will help you kick some extra clutter to the curb:
See how easy these steps are? See how you’re feeling a little lighter and brighter already?
Let’s keep the momentum going.
Step 3 of How to Get Your Life Together: RE-ASSESS
Before you go any further it’s time to quickly regroup. After all, there’s no point doing more work than is necessary.
So ask yourself if the problem has been solved. 🤔
Maybe you couldn’t close a drawer because it was stuffed and so you removed a big item and now it glides shut. Great!
Or sometimes you’ve done as much as you can or want to do in one space and you’re ready to move on.
If that’s the case, give yourself a big ol’ pat on the back. When you’re ready to tackle something else start back at Step 1, or skip to Step 2 if you’ve already decided on the next task.
But let’s assume you’ve made meaningful progress but you haven’t quite crossed the finish line yet. That’s when you decide that there’s more to be done.
Let’s move on to Step 4.
(I told you these steps were simple.)
Step 4 of How to Get Your Life Together: ORGANISE
You’ve pulled everything out and purged what you don’t want. (Or, if it’s a calendar item, you’ve cleared some space by deleting a commitment.) Now it’s time for the next step.
How to organise
Realistically there are eleventy bajillion different ways you could do this but we’re keeping it simple.
Simple is something you can stick to.
The easiest way to organise is to put similar things together. Like with like.
For physical items this means putting all your books together, or keeping all your papers in one cabinet. For calendar items this means batching similar tasks together, like running all your errands on one day instead of spreading them throughout your week.
The logic behind this is quite simply that it’s easier to find things when they’re all kept together.
Your books are on the bookcase, your papers are in the filing cabinet, your recipes are in the binder next to your baking supplies, your old cords and cables are… clutter. Get rid of them. 😜
And with tasks, it’s easier to batch all the similar ones together than to hop around.
As with the decluttering, go with your gut instinct here. We’re not trying to make things difficult.
If you’re unsure about what category an item belongs to, or if it feels like a bit of a miscellaneous thing that doesn’t have any mates, ask yourself the following question:
Where would I look for this? 🕵️
The first place that pops into your head is probably the place you should put it.
It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else if it works for your brain. If you’ve got a recipe book and you don’t know whether to put it in the kitchen or on the living room bookshelf, ask yourself where you’d look for it and leave it there.
And for all my fellow perfectionists we’re not trying to subcategorise here, or to go beyond basic function. Leave the labels and color coding for later.
What’s best is simply to make things better.
The added bonus of putting similar things together is that you can see what you have. There’s no greater wake-up call than thinking you need to buy a new white t-shirt and then discovering you already have twelve in your closet.
And three still have tags on. 👀
(You can also see what you DON’T have. Gaps will be apparent when everything’s together and you can spot what you may need to stock up on. No more discovering that you have five thousand shower gels but not a single drop of shampoo left. 🧴)
Organising also helps you see what kind of storage you need.
Don’t go out and buy anything just yet (that step comes a little later) but seeing how much or how little of something you have will give you a better idea of how you’re going to store it.
And that’s another step done and dusted.
Let’s move on to the next phase, which I promise is a lot less complicated than it sounds.
Step 5 of How to Get Your Life Together: PUT A SYSTEM IN PLACE
Systems, like routines, get a bad rap because they sound complex and cumbersome. But just like a morning routine can be as simple as rolling out of bed and heading straight for the coffee machine, a system is just some sort of process that makes life better.
And yes, you guessed it, it can be simple.
As before, you can ask yourself a basic question to get the ball rolling:
What might solve this problem?
And while yes, you might nail it from the get-go, chances are you’ll have to make some tweaks. This is why you’re not spending any money at this stage. 💸
Try out temporary solutions if you can, creating storage tubs from old boxes, or using what you have on hand as makeshift options.
Test it out before you splash out.
Again, you’re not looking for the world’s best solution, you’re simply conducting some basic experiments. You don’t have to have it all figured out at this early stage.
If you’re sick of wasting food you might try a basic meal plan so everything’s used up. Or once a month you could do an empty-the-pantry challenge where you use up everything that’s left before your next shopping trip. Or you could rotate your food on a weekly basis so the stuff with the shortest expiry is at the front and not festering away at the back of your fridge.
I’d always struggled with meal planning but implementing my 7-step process was what eventually solved it for me. I started really small and built up my system over time.
First I simply noted what meals my family enjoyed eating. (It took quite a while because we each have such different tastes.) Then I gathered all those recipes together in one place.
From there I made a master list of all the ingredients needed, and put them in order of where they were in the store. I even added the aisle numbers so I could immediately go directly where I needed without strolling past unnecessary items and potentially making impulse purchases.
(My local grocery store has 80 aisles. I used to walk up and down most of them, staring at the wide selection of items on offer. These days I hit up about 10 aisles, zipping in and out with my master list.)
Now each Monday after dinner my family and I take a few minutes to list out some meals we’d like to eat that week. I make a note of them, highlight the ingredients on my master shopping list, and hit up the store the next day for everything we need.
Game. Changer.
Pick one option and run with it. You can always add a few more bells and whistles to the system as you go, but for now you just want to get it up and running.
When you’ve got one set up, it’s time for the next step.
Step 6 of How To Get Your Life Together: OBSERVE
This is when you see how things are working out for you over time. Now, fair warning that any new system can come with a few teething troubles. It can take time to get into a new habit or way of doing things, or to get to know something inside and out.
Give it a few weeks so you can get used to it.
This is why you only start with one small option instead of overhauling your entire life.
When you try to do too much it’s hard to see what’s causing any cracks.
If you notice that something isn’t quite working out for you, ask yourself:
How could I make this even easier?
Chances are your system is still a little complex and you’ve added too many steps to it. Or you’re fighting your natural tendencies by trying to implement the “perfect” system instead of finding the one that’s perfect for you and your family.
I’ve wasted a lot of time and money over the years trying to make something look like it did in a magazine or on Pinterest. (Very much NOT how to get your life together.)
Now I realise that the best solution is the one that actually works for ME, not just for a magazine shoot or in someone else’s home.
In the Instagram vs. reality battle, choose reality every time.
It’s also worth noting that just because something isn’t working doesn’t mean you need to ditch the whole system and start again.
Maybe it’s just one element that’s not working. So really try to get clear on the specific sticking points.
Your system may simply need a little oiling instead of having to start from scratch.
On the flip side, take note of what’s working well and why. This may help you improve the system, or implement a similar one in other areas of your life.
When I figured out that I prefer things to be behind closed doors I was able to use that information to save me a LOT of hassle (and cash) when it came to decorating our new home after we moved.
Visual clutter overwhelms my senses so, while it works wonders for others, open shelving is rarely a good option for me.
Now that you’ve seen how it’s working it’s time for the final phase.
Step 7 of How to Get Your Life Together: SHAKE THINGS UP
Obviously if something isn’t working you need to make some improvements. But I’d also recommend an occasional shake-up anyway, because the truth is that no system is perfect in perpetuity.
No matter how good your process may be, things are always shifting and changing. You are evolving in so many ways, and new tools and technologies are being invented all the time.
To be clear, I’m not saying to change on a whim, or as soon as you see something new.
I often feel the tug of “shiny object syndrome” when a new productivity app comes along, for instance. But I know from lots of experience that even if the system I’m currently using isn’t always flawless, the new app will come with its own issues.
But if things have been chugging along for a reasonably significant period of time, there’s no harm dipping your toe in a new pool to ensure the habits you have in place are still working well for you.
Here’s what I’d recommend in terms of timeframes:
If something’s been fine but you’re not convinced it’s the best fit, I’d give it a minimum of 2 months before testing new waters.
If it’s been working well and you’re just looking to experiment, I’d recommend waiting a minimum of 6 months, but ideally a year or more. That way you’re not constantly chopping and changing. (Sometimes the benefit of a system is in its longevity.)
This will give you an intimate understanding of how the system is working and where it’s lacking.
Don’t invest huge amounts of time and energy into setting up something new unless you know it’s going to be so much better.
If there isn’t a large and obvious improvement, stick with what you’ve got.
And remember you don’t have to start from scratch. It’s often better to tweak a system than to throw it away and begin again.
In short, if it ain’t broke… try fix it anyway. Just like you don’t always notice small changes in the day to day, you may not notice that your system’s efficiency has eroded over time.
I never notice how dull our knives have become until my husband sharpens them. Then WOW, the improvement is immediate and significant.
These 7 steps can apply to many different areas of your life, whether you’re trying to control the clutter in your home, the chaos in your calendar, or to get clear on which goals are worth going after.
By weeding out the unwanted, you’ll have more space and clarity for better things to bloom.
Now you know exactly how to get your life together there’ll be no stopping you!
And because you’ll want to refer back to this over and over again to refresh your memory (I know I have), go ahead and pin it.
