Centralizing & Decluttering

On my short stint as an active user on Pinterest, I found a rather good "Declutter & Organize" calendar from My Simpler Life. Beth Dargis gets paid by people to organize people's lives & write stuff like this, so I figured she probably knows what she's doing. I printed off a copy & put it up on my fridge so I will always see the daily task assignment. It's great for prompting ways to declutter!

I was "inspired" to expand the extent of the calendar when I visited my sister in Texas (writer of Life on Olive Street). She started using a housekeeping notebook (or something like that, I'm hoping she writes about it since it's pretty neat). Basically, it's a centralized place for her to keep track of weekly meal plans, shopping lists, task lists, housekeeping duties, coupons, Groupons, and whatever else.

Me being a household of one, I don't need to be terribly diligent about keeping track of everything for the sake of home management, but I do like being organized, sane, and knowing the answer to "when was the last time I vacuumed." This gave me the idea of centralizing various parts of life.

• Housekeeping- I started writing down when I did my "chores" on my decluttering calendar.
• Bills & Money- I've designated Wednesday as my "office day". I started saving all my receipts for the week to enter into my budget spreadsheet. I have also dedicated this day to balancing accounts and all that other good stuff. I was greatly aided in this by downloading the apps for my financial institutions on my phone so I can easily look up balances and transactions and manage payments and transfers.
• Lists- I also downloaded an app for notes & lists on my phone. It's great, no more random post-its in my purse! My lists are all in one place.

Overall, it's helped me be simplified and centralized.