Organize Your Day

By

Jo Bodey

I'm a bit of a night owl and tend to be brain dead first thing in the morning. Planning my day the night before is much easier for me - I get up with a list ready to follow - very motivating. The alternative is to get up with a vague idea of what I need to do and then procrastinate for a couple of hours until I wake up properly!

Regards

Jo

By

cookwie

I write my to do list on a large calendar, and check it through out the day and last thing at night for tomorrow's activities.
Each morning, I transfer the information to a 'to do' sheet of paper. If the paper is lost, I still have the master list in the kitchen.
Some of my best thoughts occur while I can not conveniently write them down. I purchased a keychain digital recorder at Radio Shack originally which has since been discontinued.
I searched until I discovered one for $50 approx. at Best Buy which is quite slender and fits next to my cell phone in the holder.
At the touch of a button, I can record whatever thoughts pop into my head and replay or erase them at my leisure.
If I didn't have a $30 rebate, I wouldn't have purchased the $50 item, but looking back on it, it was certainly worth the money. The recorder is a SONY ICD-B100 and runs for a very long time on two AAA batteries. It can record up to 8 hours and has 3 different recording quality modes and choice of speaker loudness.
Some of the fancier models can be hooked up to a computer, but not this one.

By

ThriftyFun

Staying organized is hard for all of us sometimes.

I have a tip that will never fail you. When I get up in the morning and get my first of two diet colas for the day, it's automatic "plan your day" time. The first thing I need to do is think about what I have to do today to keep my life in order. I make a list on paper, then I don't have to run around unorganized all day and avoid making special trips I could have saved myself by looking at the list. It takes five minutes.

Today I need to pick up my pills, go to a meeting at 6:00, fix dinner, remember to send the mail I organized last night. After my meeting I have sewing to do for the Farmers Market this weekend. This will keep me on schedule. I'm not going to pack my day too tight just in case my grandchildren stop by for a visit, or I decide to make some phone calls to check up on friends.

By Ardis Barnes

By

ThriftyFun

By Maria Gracia

Start off each day in an organized way, and you'll get more done than you can imagine. Here are 5 simple steps.

MAKE A TO DO LIST.
Make a list of the things you have to do tomorrow, the evening before. Prioritize and organize each item in the sequence that it should be accomplished. Consolidate similar tasks together. When you wake up in the morning, you'll have a clear-cut guide detailing everything that must be done.

BE CAREFUL OF GETTING DIVERTED.
Very often, a schedule gets thrown off track due to distraction. If you find that you constantly get off track, get a watch with a timer and set it so it goes off every 30 minutes. Every time it sounds, be sure you're working on what you originally said you would. If you're not, stop what you're doing and get back on schedule. Most distractions are not emergency situations.

CALL BEFORE YOU LEAVE
If you have an appointment during the day, always call to confirm before you leave your home or office. This will ensure that the person you're meeting did not forget about the appointment. Also, if there is going to be a long waiting time, perhaps you can do something else first, before you leave.

CHECK OFF ITEMS AS YOU COMPLETE THEM.
Every time you finish something, cross it off your To Do List. This will give you a sense of accomplishment throughout the day.

DO A FINAL CHECK.
At the end of the day, take a look at your list. How many items were you able to accomplish? Are there only 1-2 things left undone, or many? If there were just a few undone, simply move them to tomorrow's To Do List. If there were many undone, and you worked diligently on everything all day, then you probably had too many things on your list to begin with. Re-think how much you can possibly do in a given day. Remember, you only have 24 hours, and you should be using a third of those hours to sleep!

About The Author:
by Maria Gracia - Get Organized Now!
Want to get organized? Get your FREE Get Organized Now! Idea-Pak, filled with tips and ideas to help you organize your home, your office and your life, at the Get Organized Now! Web site
http://www.getorganizednow.com

By connie (Guest Post)

i'm new to thirfty fun.........it's all so interesting & helpful. i have a couple questions & as i find my way around the site, i'm sure i'll find the answers. thanks! love this ezine!