you often feel quite irritated when you cannot find your shoe, pen or notebook, because you left it somewhere and can’t remember where. This happens to almost all of us, almost everyday, because we often become careless in keeping things in their right places.

At times, we are tired and too lazy to organise our things and the next time we need to use them, we can’t find them easily.

Becoming organised may seem a bit difficult and demanding at first but once you learn to live and do things in an orderly manner, you will see that your life will become organised and hassle free.

Organise

The first step is to organise your room. For this, you would need to define specific spaces for your things. For instance, you should keep your shoes either in a closet or buy a shoe rack and place it in a corner of your room. Shoes always come in your way if they are not in place, and it’s a nuisance if you trip over them. When you take out something, remember to always put it back there again so that you can easily find it the next time.

De-clutter

The most important thing to do if you want a simplified life is to de-clutter your environment. De-cluttering would clear up unwanted things from the room and only the important things that you really need with remain. Moreover, it will clear up valuable space for new things that you will be needing and using. Often we want to get something that we really need in our room but just don’t have the space to put it and so we don’t get it.

First you need to look at everything practically and separate the things that you really need and use from the ones that you don’t or haven’t used in a long time. If you haven’t had the need for something in the last six months, don’t discard it but it can be stored away somewhere. And if you haven’t used something in a long time, say two years, either discard them or give them to someone who might have a use for them. For instance, if you haven’t worn your sandals for a long time or read those old magazines, it is better to give it to someone instead of cluttering your room.

It would be a good idea if you get someone’s help when you are doing this because you might have some sentimental attachment to things that you really don’t’ need or use and can’t bring to throw it away, so the other person will make you see sense.

When there is clutter, it certainly comes in our way, which makes us loose our focus and irritates as well. For instance, you are looking for your calculator in your table drawer, but there are unwanted paper cuttings, used calling cards and used up ball point pens filling up valuable space. Do a clean up act every now and then, and you will see how much junk-free your life will be.

Think before buying

At times we become impulsive buyers, ending up with things we seldom use or already have at home. For instance, you buy a set of colouring pencils just because it is in a nice box while you already have two or three sets of colour pencils with all the colours that you ever need to use. This only adds unnecessary stuff in your room which would later become clutter. It’s a good habit to make a list of things you want to buy and then go out shopping.

Everything in its place

The best way to de-clutter and organise your life is assign proper places to your things and always make sure that you keep those things there. Start this by keeping the things that you frequently need somewhere easy to reach and those that are either valuable or need to be in cupboards and drawers should be kept there.

Keep the clock, preferably with an alarm, a calendar and a place to put or post reminders and notes for yourself, in the most prominent places of the room where they easily and frequently catch your eye.

Your books should be in the bookshelf; your CDs/DVDs should be in a CD pouch/rack or in the drawer of your computer table; pens, pencils and other stationary item should be in a pencil bag or a stationary holder/rack. The more things you keep in your cupboard, cabinet, shelves or somewhere out of sight, the neater your room will appear. And once you have defined places for your stuff, you would by impulse, keep your belongings at their places and would never have to waste time and effort in finding them.

Having an organised and de-cluttered room would not only be easy to clean, it would also have a positive impact on the senses. It is a fact that a messed up room with clutter creates negative energies which makes you loose your focus when you study or read. An organised room, on the other hand, always attracts and soothes you, as everyone loves to work in a place where everything is in order.

When you learn to keep your room and personal things in an organised manner from a young age, you will start to work that way in other spheres of life too. And as an adult, with a demanding career, this de-cluttered way of living will go a long way in bring order and clearity, making your life easy, organised, stress-free and successful.