This post is sponsored by Brother
The New Year is always a motivational time to make resolutions and changes, popular ones being to improve your health and becoming more organised around the home. As you know we have recently moved house, so I have many new organising projects waiting for me. I started packing the house 3 weeks before we moved. During that time I was so frazzled and stressed, purely because the house was a mess, with piles of items and boxes everywhere. Now we are in the new house, I have the majority of boxes unpacked and thankfully I am feeling much calmer and back to my relaxed self.
Being organised helps my mindset, reduces my stress levels and I don’t feel frazzled or overwhelmed as I know where things are. Try these 7 tips to help you get organised in 2016, to gain a little control amongst the chaos of everyday life.
7 tips to help you get organised
1. Put away the laundry
We all need to wear clothes, so we have to find time to wash them, but putting the clean clothes away can often be left for ‘another day’ and the pile keeps getting bigger and before you know it Mt Washmore is taking over the room. Each day find 5-10 minutes to sort your clean washing and put it away. Better yet, delegate and get family members to help.
My washing routine has changed over the years, now, I fold the washing while I am waiting for dinner to finish cooking, then call the kids just before it’s time to serve so they can put away their washing and set the table.
2. Label everything
You may know where everything belongs, but those in your home may not and it could be them helping to contribute to the mess because they put items back in the wrong spot. Make it easier for them to know where items belong by labelling everything!
- Containers in the pantry
- Drawers in the kitchen
- Wardrobe shelves
- Electrical cables
- Linen cupboard shelves
- Bathroom cupboard
- Tags in the vegetable garden
- Socks
- Undies
- Back to school supplies
- …ooh the list can go on and on!!
I find the 2nd and 3rd kitchen drawers the hardest to keep organised, as my kids unpack the dishwasher and rarely return the item to the right drawer. I know where everything belongs, but they don’t, so I have made it really easy for them by labelling where I want them to return items to.
I have used a Brother P-touch for years, I’ve been trialling the Brother PT-H105 (pictured below) and love that the labels can be used both inside and outside (labelling the herbs in the garden, below, so my hubby doesn’t pull them out thinking they are a weed, true story) ironed onto clothes and can withstand high temperatures (like the dishwasher), I am going to have so much fun with this little beauty over the coming weeks, especially when I get all the kids back to school supplies.
The TZe laminated labels are sun, germ, water, chemical, abrasion and temperature resistant. Indispensable, from the kitchen to the garden, the Brother labels stick and are the most durable in the market! The Brother PT-H105 Labeller is available from Officeworks from $29.
The Brother PT-H105W allows you to print your label on two lines, and there are a range of different colours and widths available. The double-line printing is great when you want so use a smaller label, the text is still easy to read.
When I start with the labeller I find it difficult to stop, so I organised my hubby’s side of the wardrobe. I purchased some plastic tubs from the local dollar store and now that they are labelled it makes it easy for him to find his things.
The Brother PT-H105 is really quick and easy to use. It is large display allows you to preview the label before you print. With many different options available to pick the text size, width and give it a fun design. When I was browsing through the menu I noticed it allows you to store up to 9 labels into the memory, this can save so much time! Particularly when I am printing labels for the kids back to school items, I don’t have to repeatedly type their names.
Lastly, another function I liked was that I can print multiple labels at once!
3. Make a to-do list
Days tend to get very busy and without a to-do list tasks can be forgotten, such as pay a bill, go to the post office, clean the fridge. Use a to-do list to help you remember all your tasks, plus ticking a box, or crossing the task off your list is a huge sense of accomplishment.
4. Clear kitchen surfaces
The kitchen is one of the most used rooms in the house and with the bench top cluttered it makes it uninviting for you to cook dinner in. Clearing the surface will not only give you a space to prepare food, it may also kick start your motivation to continue clearing other surfaces around the house. This is my new kitchen below, I LOVE it!
5. Meal plan
Speaking of cooking dinner, meal planning is a big time and money saver. By planning a week of meals, you will only need to visit the grocery store once, eliminates waste and allows you to create balanced and healthy meals for the family. Plus the big sanity saver is you’re not standing at the fridge door at 5pm wondering what to cook for dinner.
6. Make your bed
Once you get out of bed, pull back the sheets to air out your mattress. After you have had a shower, make your bed. By doing this one simple task it will help make your room feel and look, fresh and tidy.
7. Clear clutter
Clutter certainly can hinder you from getting organised. As William Morris says ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’. With this in mind start decluttering, grab your laundry basket and a large plastic bag, wander around the house, put rubbish in the bag and clutter in the basket to purge (sell, donate, repurpose or throw away items as you see fit). Don’t try to declutter the whole house in one go, you could try a basket a day, or each week.
What is your top tip to staying organised?
This post was coordinated by The Remarkables Group and run in accordance with my disclosure policy
