How to Organize Your Life in One Week

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There are a lot of reasons you might want to organize your life right now. Maybe you’ve moved, or changed direction in life. Maybe you never felt like things were together in the first place. Whatever the case may be, here’s how to organize your life in one week.

We’ll split up the different tasks into different days, so it doesn’t get too overwhelming if you’ve got a lot to do.

Let’s jump right in!

Days 1-3: Organize Your Home

A photo of a living room with a wall of shelves, filled with books. When learning how to organize your life in one week, setting aside time for organizing your physical space is the first step.
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To kick off your week of organizing your life, let’s start with the physical aspect. What’s your home like? Cluttered? In need of a good spring cleaning?

If you’re feeling disorganized in the abstract sense, the literal disorganization of your home might only be making things worse.

Let’s start by making sure your living space is conducive to an organized life.

Day One: Declutter

On day one, it’s time to pick things up around the home, so you can do your deep cleaning on day two.

Do you have piles of laundry lying around? Knick-knacks cluttering your workspace? Kids’ toys waiting to be stepped on?

Get yourself a bottle of water, turn on some music, and start moving things around!

A photo of a person holding a box of things, with other boxes scattered about the room. Sorting through your things is one of the first steps for how to organize your life in one week.
Photo by HiveBoxx on Unsplash

Depending on the amount of clutter, you might want to get a few boxes to sort things into.

Decide whether you want to get rid of anything, and place those items either in the trash, recycle bin, or a box to be donated later.

Are there things that belong in certain rooms that have found their way into other parts of the home? Toss them in the appropriate box (or pile).

Don’t worry about finding the right place for them yet; you still have to clean tomorrow! Just set them aside so you can easily find them and reorganize them later.

Tip! This step can apply to your technological life, too! Go through your emails, your old desktop folders, and clear out files you don’t need anymore. You may even decide to delete some social media accounts, or unsubscribe from certain newsletters. Get rid of anything that isn’t essential to your online experience.

Day Two: Clean

A photo of a hand holding a yellow sponge, wiping a window ledge. If you want to know how to organize your life in one week, cleaning your house is a key step!
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Deep clean. Vacuum, sweep, mop, dust, disinfect.

You can start in a particular room, and do all the cleaning in that room at once.

Or, you could start with a particular task, like cleaning all the windows throughout the home.

If you’re unable to do the physical work by yourself, see if you can enlist the help of family or friends. Make a day of it by putting on a great playlist and having some snacks ready in the kitchen!

Tip! Want to be more eco-friendly about cleaning your home? Try making cleaning products yourself!

Or, head over to EarthHero to discover sustainable cleaning brands!

Day Three: (Re)arrange

A photo of a kitchen sink with wooden open shelving on the wall above it, with pots and pans and dishes organized neatly.
Photo by Dane Deaner on Unsplash

Now it’s time to go back to those boxes of clutter, and find them a home.

Reorganize your shelves and cabinets.

You might want to invest in some storage boxes for things that don’t need to be as easily accessible all the time.

This would also be a good time to schedule any maintenance you might need done in the home, or at least take note of things that need fixing if it’s not in your budget right now.

You can also think about what sort of interior design style suits you best, and what you can do to make your dream home a reality. But this week is about organizing, not painting!

So, now that you’ve got your home organized, let’s talk priorities!

Day 4: Organize Your Priorities

What do you want your life to look like? What’s important to you? How do you want to feel every day?

The next step in how to organize your life in one week is to get your priorities in order.

Organize Your Life Into Categories

What do you consider the main areas of your life?

Some basics would be family, friends, career, hobbies, religion/spirituality, and health.

Maybe there are some specific categories of your life that you want to prioritize. (For me, engaging with my favorite fictional worlds is a category in itself; I’ve dedicated my Fridays to enjoying fandom.)

You can organize your life into categories to help you figure out which ones take priority over others, and if there are smaller priorities or goals within those categories.

Check out this post of questions to ask yourself when designing your ideal life. This should help you get your priorities in order!

Day 5: Organize Your Time

A close up photo of an hourglass, with sand filtering through from the top to the bottom of the glass. Organizing your time is key when organizing your life.
Photo by Roy Muz on Unsplash

Now that you’ve organized your priorities, you can start organizing your time in a way that makes sense for you.

Identify the concrete parts of your schedule, like work, school, or other obligations. Then, identify your free time and align it with your priorities.

If you are overwhelmed with a busy schedule, see if you can find things to let go of.

Consider setting a morning routine (and/or evening routine).

Always be sure to allow time for yourself to rest and recharge.

How To Use a Planner to Organize Your Life

You might prefer to keep all your organization in one place. Bullet journals are great for that.

Or you can use different planners for different parts of your life, like having a separate work planner or a self care planner.

When it comes to actually knowing how to use a planner to organize your life, it’s a very personal thing. We all have different planning styles. (For me, as someone with ADHD, I find that I often have to switch up my planning style in order to keep myself engaged with it.)

Whether you use a planner, an app, a calendar, or a combination of these things (or something else!), it’s up to you to find the best way to organize your time.

Try different methods of planning, and see what suits you best. You may prefer to only use a calendar to track appointments, or you might need a full daily schedule in which you divide your day into blocks of time to focus on different things.

Tip! Alarms aren’t just for waking you up in the morning. You can set alarms on your phone to notify you of recurring events. For example, I’ve set my phone alarm to go off five minutes before my weekly phone call with my sister, so I never forget to call.

Day 6: Organize Your Thoughts

A cluttered mind can lead to feeling like life is overwhelming.

To conclude the main steps on how to organize your life in one week, it’s time to get your thoughts in order.

This is an ongoing thing in keeping your life organized – not to mention an important part of self care.

You can start using a journal, or find another way to make sure you’re checking in with yourself and getting your thoughts out.

You can also keep a pocket diary on you at all times, to jot down any thoughts or ideas that come to you throughout the day. Or, you can use a notes app on your phone.

I like to use a dry-erase board in my room to quickly record any ideas I get throughout the week that I can come back to later.

Making sure your thoughts aren’t overwhelming you is a key part of keeping your life organized. Write it out! Talk to someone!

If therapy is an available resource for you, that can be a great way to make sure you’re sorting through your thoughts and feelings on a regular basis.

Day 7: Rest

A photo of a striped cat lying on a bed with crisp white sheets. Rest is essential after learning how to organize your life in one week.
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That’s it. You’ve learned how to organize your life in one week.

You’ve done enough.

It’s time to rest.

Hopefully, when going through your priorities and time management, you’ve acknowledged the importance of rest in your daily life.

Keeping your life organized can be hard!

Life in general can be exhausting.

You deserve time to yourself each day to rest and recharge, and do something that you enjoy.

So, at the end of the week, pat yourself on the back, and have some chill time.

Keeping at It

A photo of a hand holding up a small sign that says "Onward". Now that you know how to organize your life in one week, the key is to stick with it!
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Okay, so we’ve covered how to organize your life in one week.

But to keep your life organized, you’re going to have to do some regular maintenance and introspection.

Set a time at regular intervals to re-evaluate and see where you’re at, and take note of any part of your life that could use some re-organizing.

Quarterly (four times a year) is a good standard, but depending on your needs it could be as little as once a year, or as often as once a month or more!

You might want to check-in with yourself on different areas of your life at different times. For example, maybe you want to do a weekly evaluation of whether you’re sticking to your chores, or how you’re feeling emotionally, but only an annual evaluation of your career path or your general life goals.

Find what works for you. What works for you might change over time. That’s okay!

Keep re-evaluating your approach to life, and make adjustments when necessary.

But, above all? Try to enjoy the moment.

You can have the most effectively planned out life, but if you’re more focused on schedules than finding joyful moments within those schedules, what’s it all for?

Here’s to creating an organized life that opens us up to peace and contentment. ❤️

Sincerely,

Signature of the name Riley
Riley, he/they pronouns

Now that you’ve learned how to organize your life in one week, here’s how to stick with your new habits!

Still stuck on figuring out those priorities? Maybe you just need to get to know yourself a bit better.


Can you think of any other tips for how to organize your life in one week? Share your thoughts in the comments below! ⬇️⬇️⬇️

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In the background, a close up photo of an hourglass, with sand filtering through from the top to the bottom of the glass. In the foreground, text reads: How to organize your life in one week. Feeling cluttered? Overwhelmed? Disorganized? Here's how to organize your life in one week, and stick with your new organization. Beneath, highlighted in blue, is the URL to the blog, LiveByYourDesign.com.

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