Fast, Effective and Free Organizational Tools and Tips for Better Time Management
There are many things that you can do to keep yourself more organized and, in turn, help you manage your time better. As with all new things, it may take you a little while to truly integrate these new organizational skills in to you daily routine, but once you do you will notice a lower stress level and higher productivity.
One of the biggest time management and organizational tools of all time is the simple to-do list. This may sound like a silly, and maybe even, redundant piece of advice, but do you right now have an up to date to-do list? You cannot possibly remember everything, no one can. There are a million little things that you need to get done everyday. There are also a lot of things that you wish you could do, if you just had the time.
The truth is, you waste a lot of time everyday just trying to figure out what you should do next. With a running to-do list you can stay organized and keep the idle time between tasks down.
All you need, to add this time saving organizational tool to your life, is a 99-cent pocket notebook. You can, of course, spend $99 on a fancy organizer, but that is not necessary. Any style notebook will work, but with a small pocket notebook you can take it with you anywhere. This way, anytime an idea or task comes your way, you can immediately add it to your to-do list.
Now, simply having a list will not keep you totally organized. It’s what you do with that list that makes the most difference. Everyday, either in the very beginning, or right before bed, you need to sit down and review your list. Prioritize the items on your list and re-write it with the most important items listed first.
Always date your lists, this will help you to keep track of when things are getting done. Organizational skills go beyond just completing tasks, it is also about having a handle on your tasks.
If you have phone calls listed on you to-do list, make sure that you have the phone number and any other pertinant information about the call written on your task list. This way, if you are in the car and there is a traffic jam, you can pick up your cell phone and make your calls while you wait. You don’t have to waste time being idle because you are not at home where your information or phone numbers are.
Now that you have your to-do list squared away, it is time to look at your mail and bills. It is great to have an entry on your to-do list of “pay the cable bill,” but what if you don’t know where the cable bill is. Again, the time that it takes you to look all around the house for the cable bill is time eaten away and wasted by not being organized.
You need to have a single area for your mail, as well as your checkbook, stamps, and envelopes. That alone will save you time when trying to pay bills.
Incoming mail should be sorted right away. Throw junk mail in the trash immediately, it only serves to bog you down by cluttering your mail area making it hard to find your actual bills. Once you have your mail sorted, you need to put it away in an organized fashion.
You should have three bins, unopened incoming mail, outgoing mail, and bills to be paid. These bins can be folders in a wire frame, they can be office style bins, they can hang on the wall, or they can be, my favorite, cereal boxes that have been cut in half.
Office supply stores have mail organizers that have slots numbered one through 31. This way you can put your bills in the appropriate date slots for when they are due. These organizational tools are very helpful for determining at a glance what bills are due. They are not necessary though; as long as you make sure that you have “check bill box” on your to-do list you should be just fine.
Another, very good, organizational tool is the simple bulletin board. Inexpensive, the bulletin board can hold all of your bills, your RSVP cards, parking tickets, whatever it is that you need to keep track of. A great time management trick for the bulletin board method is to tack envelopes on to the bulletin board. Write a description of what is inside the envelope on the outside of the envelope.
For instance, you may have an envelope tacked to the bulletin board that says, “lotto tickets,” and inside that envelope are all of this week’s tickets. Next week, you take last week’s tickets out and throw them away, you then fill the envelope with the new tickets and tack it back on the board. Other envelopes might say “deposit slips,” or “coupons,” and so on. Now, all the loss little papers that you used to have scattered all over are in one easy to find location.
If you stick to even one of these methods, you will see an increase in you organization and time management. You will get more done with less stress, and you’ll feel more confident about your handle on your tasks.
We all lead very busy and, sometimes, very hectic lives. It can very difficult to stay on top of all the things that we need to acomplish in a day, a week, a month, or even a year. Time management and organizational skills are a must-have in a world where everyone in a family has to multi-task.
There are many things that you can do to keep yourself more organized and, in turn, help you manage your time better. As with all new things, it may take you a little while to truly integrate these new organizational skills in to you daily routine, but once you do you will notice a lower stress level and higher productivity.
One of the biggest time management and organizational tools of all time is the simple to-do list. This may sound like a silly, and maybe even, redundant piece of advice, but do you right now have an up to date to-do list? You cannot possibly remember everything, no one can. There are a million little things that you need to get done everyday. There are also a lot of things that you wish you could do, if you just had the time.
The truth is, you waste a lot of time everyday just trying to figure out what you should do next. With a running to-do list you can stay organized and keep the idle time between tasks down.
All you need, to add this time saving organizational tool to your life, is a 99-cent pocket notebook. You can, of course, spend $99 on a fancy organizer, but that is not necessary. Any style notebook will work, but with a small pocket notebook you can take it with you anywhere. This way, anytime an idea or task comes your way, you can immediately add it to your to-do list.
Now, simply having a list will not keep you totally organized. It’s what you do with that list that makes the most difference. Everyday, either in the very beginning, or right before bed, you need to sit down and review your list. Prioritize the items on your list and re-write it with the most important items listed first.
Always date your lists, this will help you to keep track of when things are getting done. Organizational skills go beyond just completing tasks, it is also about having a handle on your tasks.
If you have phone calls listed on you to-do list, make sure that you have the phone number and any other pertinant information about the call written on your task list. This way, if you are in the car and there is a traffic jam, you can pick up your cell phone and make your calls while you wait. You don’t have to waste time being idle because you are not at home where your information or phone numbers are.
Now that you have your to-do list squared away, it is time to look at your mail and bills. It is great to have an entry on your to-do list of “pay the cable bill,” but what if you don’t know where the cable bill is. Again, the time that it takes you to look all around the house for the cable bill is time eaten away and wasted by not being organized.
You need to have a single area for your mail, as well as your checkbook, stamps, and envelopes. That alone will save you time when trying to pay bills.
Incoming mail should be sorted right away. Throw junk mail in the trash immediately, it only serves to bog you down by cluttering your mail area making it hard to find your actual bills. Once you have your mail sorted, you need to put it away in an organized fashion.
You should have three bins, unopened incoming mail, outgoing mail, and bills to be paid. These bins can be folders in a wire frame, they can be office style bins, they can hang on the wall, or they can be, my favorite, cereal boxes that have been cut in half.
Office supply stores have mail organizers that have slots numbered one through 31. This way you can put your bills in the appropriate date slots for when they are due. These organizational tools are very helpful for determining at a glance what bills are due. They are not necessary though; as long as you make sure that you have “check bill box” on your to-do list you should be just fine.
Another, very good, organizational tool is the simple bulletin board. Inexpensive, the bulletin board can hold all of your bills, your RSVP cards, parking tickets, whatever it is that you need to keep track of. A great time management trick for the bulletin board method is to tack envelopes on to the bulletin board. Write a description of what is inside the envelope on the outside of the envelope.
For instance, you may have an envelope tacked to the bulletin board that says, “lotto tickets,” and inside that envelope are all of this week’s tickets. Next week, you take last week’s tickets out and throw them away, you then fill the envelope with the new tickets and tack it back on the board. Other envelopes might say “deposit slips,” or “coupons,” and so on. Now, all the loss little papers that you used to have scattered all over are in one easy to find location.
If you stick to even one of these methods, you will see an increase in you organization and time management. You will get more done with less stress, and you’ll feel more confident about your handle on your tasks.
