It’s Time to Organize Your Life

Organize your life and your finances and save money!

Do you have a little bit of extra time? You can use this time to get your life organized!

It’s time for me (and you) to organize your life. Wait! What does this have to do with personal finance and saving money?

Disorganization and chaos lead to money loss. Do you remember my eyeliner story? I kept on buying eyeliners (spending money) only to find a few eyeliners tucked in the back of my closet.

Eyeliners aren’t expensive, but all these types of things certainly add up!

Organize Your Life and Finances

This advice applies to the big stuff- forgetting to pay a bill, not being on top of the car, or home maintenance. When you are always just trying to keep up with yourself, it’s hard to remember or do all the small things, like emptying the dryer lint. The problem is that forgetting that means that you might end up with a house fire, and I don’t want to know how much that costs.

The Sweater Debacle

I just was about to order some sweaters for my boys for the winter. Not an excessive amount of money because I’m a frugal shopper but not a significant amount either. Just before I was about to buy it, my husband asked me to get out the baby’s clothes in the next size. Imagine my surprise when I found some sweaters I had purchased last year for my boys on clearance. Not only had I forgotten them, but they were stuffed into an unlabeled box with lots of new baby clothes.

It is not exactly saving money if you buy the same thing twice, is it?

Money Saving Tips for the Organized Person

A lot of money-saving hacks only work if you are organized. If your life is organized, you can shop on sale and out away for next year. If your life is organized, you can meal prep for the week. If your life is organized, you can put up a crock-pot dinner instead of getting takeout. If your life is organized, you can shop in bulk and not have to throw lots of extra food out.

If your life is organized, you can shop at the right time and when you are not hungry. You can use the coupons you get instead of finding them at the bottom of your purse a few days after they expire. You can get cheaper stuff online because you don’t need it right away. You can choose the no-rush shipping for an additional discount (children’s place has that) because you don’t need it as soon as you order it.

Set Up a System

There are a few systems in my life that I am trying to implement and some that I already have implemented.
However, one thing is clear. It’s time to set up some systems in my life. And if it’s time to organize my life, then it’s time to organize your life.

It’s not that my life was not organized. It was. But I haven’t changed any of my organization strategies or systems in years, but a lot has changed since then, and I’m not just talking global pandemic. We have more kids and more stuff. Our strengths are different. Our hot spots and delays are different.

To take control of your finances, you have to take control of your life first.

I wrote about doing a spring cleaning, Passover time. That was a de-cluttering time to get rid of all the stuff that bogged me down. Stuff creates clutter and chaos and makes it difficult to be organized. Stuff also costs money because you need to buy stuff for your stuff. You need to buy baskets and closets and furniture to keep your stuff properly. There is literally a whole store that sells containers to keep your things in. You better be buying the right things and keeping the right stuff at those prices!

I Love FlyLady

Now I am thinking of getting started on the FlyLady program again. I read her book a million times, and I love her systems, but I keep on having to restart them. Now is the beginning of the year, I think that now is the perfect time to start getting organized again.

Sometimes, people want to start getting their finances in order- either by making a budget or starting the $1,000 Savings Challenge. They start side hustles and start researching all the ways to save money or make money quickly. But none of that will work if you don’t get your life organized first. Of course, organizing your life will look different for different people.

Organize your Finances

You need to take control of your life and organize your life before you start managing your finances. You won’t ever get your financial life in order or make headway with your financial goals if you don’t have your life under control. Organize your life first and then get your finances in order.

Who is with me? Should we start trying to get out of the chaos and moving towards a more organized life?
There are so many great organizing books and programs, but I personally like FlyLady.

My mother read this when I was a teenager, and I have adopted many of her tools since then. Sink Reflections is not a personal finance book, but following her book will save your finances. Getting organized about meal planning, cleaning, shopping etc. will save you money. No more spending money on takeout because there is no dinner, no more buying things twice because you forgot where you put them, no more last-minute shopping.

The tools and habits in this book are life-changing! No joke. I really, really recommend that you take a minute to read this book. You don’t need to buy it- get it out of the library and then buy it only when you decide that this program is for you- it is certainly not for everyone.

You have to pick the program and system that works for you. Remember that what an organized life means for you is not what an organized life is for everyone else.

With the start of the New Year, it’s an excellent time to get your finances and home and life in order. What are you doing to prepare for a hopefully great new year?