This document provides tips for getting organized through 5 steps: 1) Keeping items in their designated places; 2) Using calendars, planners, and smartphones to stay on schedule; 3) Making to-do lists of daily, weekly, monthly, and long-term tasks; 4) Following through on scheduled tasks by setting timeframes and combining similar activities; 5) Working efficiently through multitasking, delegating responsibilities, and making decisions. Organizing takes consistency but makes life easier when one knows where items are and what needs to be done.

1. Get Organized
The information was taken from Wiki How How to Be Organized transformed by Tanya Linkletter

2. Introduction
If disorganization is congesting your life and you're feeling scattered and frustrated as a result, it's time to get organized.
To achieve organization on the outside, you will need to take steps on the inside, by clarifying your priorities, objectives, and how you want your belongings and lifestyle arranged.
Try to keep stuff where it belongs.
Know what you need/want to do, when you are going to do it, and avoid the stressful situation of not knowing what needs to be done.
Organization takes time, but when you get into the habit of it, life becomes so much easier!.

3. 5 Steps to become more organized

4. Part 1 of 5: Keeping Everything in Its Place
1 Organize your space. Whether it's your home, bedroom, kitchen, home office, closet, or desk, you need to see what's in there, throw away anything you don't often use, and give everything else a convenient and clearly designated space.

5. 2 Put it back.
Right now. Once you establish where everything belongs, you need to get in the habit of putting it back there as soon as you're finished using it.
Don't put it on the kitchen table or on the couch and move onto something else, thinking to yourself that you'll put it away later. That's a big no-no.

6. 3 Reusable plastic baggies are your friends.
Store away items in plastic bags. This way, the items will be compact, clean, and dust- free. But they will also be all over the place if you don’t have a storage system!
Place the bags in closets, desk drawers, cabinets, and other places. Ziploc bags are convenient, useful, and cheap, so use them!

7. Part 2 of 5: Using a Calendar, Planner & Smartphone

8. 1. Use a Calender
Get a calendar and put it in a place where you see it every day, preferably in the morning. For most people, that's on the refrigerator, on their desk, or on their computer desktop.
Wherever you put it, make it part of your routine to refer to it every day.

9. 2. Use a planner
A planner is especially useful if you have a lot of appointments and your days are so varied that you have trouble keeping track of your schedule. For example, if you travel a lot or attend classes at various times of day, it's much easier to carry a planner with you to consult frequently--you can't do that with a calendar. You can also usually fit more information in a planner..

10. 3. Use a smart phone
A smartphone, is even better than paper calendars and notes because the data is searchable, it can easily be entered into phone or Web-based tasks that need to be done, and reminders of urgent information and purges of unneeded information are automatic.

11. Part 3 of 5: Making Lists

12. 1. Write it down
A short pencil is better than a long memory. Anything and everything you need to remember should be written down.
Even if your memory is great, nobody is perfect and it doesn't hurt to put it on paper, just in case.
Record phone numbers, appointments, birthdays, shopping lists, and things to do, and record them where you can easily find and refer to them when you need them.

13. 2. Make to do lists
Make a to do list for your day. Your daily or immediate list should never be more than 5 items long, or else you're taking on too much and setting yourself up for failure. Mark one or two of those items as things you absolutely must get done that day, and pursue those tasks relentlessly until you get them done.
Make a to do list for the week. Appropriate items here would be: Groceryshopping, fix air conditioner, etc. Draw from this list to make your daily to-do list. A white board or board with erasable markers can help to remember all one has to do every day, or long term goals.
Make a to do list for the month. This list would have more general tasks like: Birthday gift to Jill, get car serviced, dentist appointment. Draw from this list to make your daily and weekly to-do list.
Make a to do list for your life. Drastic, yes, but why not use this time to rethink your life and where it's going? Getting organized is all about priorities, and it never hurts.

14. 3. Take to time to organize
It creates order and structure, and will also help avoid not being able to return things to stores and fines.

15. Part 4 of 5: Keeping to the Schedule

16. 1. Follow through
There's no point in making a to-do list if you don't discipline yourself to complete the tasks you've assigned yourself.
There are many ways to stick to your to-do list.
Stop procrastinating, remove or ignore distractions, and hop to it.
If something keeps slipping to the bottom of your to-do list, take a good look at it. Is it really important? If so, get it over with, or at least get it started. If not, put it back in the long-term list for "someday" or get it off the list altogether. Don't let yourself get hung up on something for too long.
If you find yourself bored, or your normal routine interrupted, you might distract and satisfy yourself by attacking the to-do backlog.

17. 2. Setting a time frame
Having a time frame is a very effective way to organize one's day.
Knowing that one has designated a time slot for each item on the list lets one know that there is no need to rush to finish things.
Just take the time that you have granted yourself and do the job well. Don’t rush to finish it. If one were to rush to finish a task, it might not have been done as accurately as if one had taken the time and done it gradually and more effectively.

18. 3. Combine similar activities.
Make all your phone calls at one time.
Do all your errands at the same time.
Pay all your bills at the same time.
Do all shopping in one trip.

19. Part 5 of 5: Working Efficiently

20. 1. Multi task
Task-switching takes time, so don't try to think about one thing, like a TV show, while thinking about another, like studying.
 It's most effective to multitask when one task is mindless, like folding towels, or can be set aside for automatic processing for a length of time.
 You could load the washing machine, send some emails or load a stew pot while it churns away, load the dryer, arrange your travel supplies, then hang the clothes as soon as they're done so they don't stay wrinkled.

21. 2. Delegate responsibilties
Make sure the person you appoint to do the task has all the tools necessary to do the task.
Remember that most things are much better done than set aside for doing perfectly, and that doing them can teach the person (maybe a child) not only how to do them but how to address related problems.
It's hard to be organized if you insist on doing everything yourself.

22. 3. Make more decisions
Clutter and disorganization is often the result of failing to decide what to do about, or with, something.
Start flexing your decision muscles with little things, and you'll soon find yourself more confident about taking action on the stuff around your home, on your desk and in your office. Try it today!