How to Organise Your Life in 2026
44 tips and tricks to be your most organised, joyful self.
I am not the most organised person. I lose track of time. I start systems with enthusiasm and abandon them quietly. I forget appointments I personally scheduled. I have bought storage boxes in moments of optimism and then used them to store unrelated chaos.
But, boy, do love organising.
I am a huge fan of Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. His central argument is that modern time-management is built on denial of our limits, mortality, and the fact that we can never “get on top of everything”. Most productivity systems quietly promise that one day, if we optimise enough, life will finally feel under control. That day never comes.
Productivity, Burkeman argues, is a trap. Becoming more efficient doesn’t free us; it simply makes us more rushed. Clearing the decks only ensures they refill faster. Nobody in the history of humanity has ever achieved “work–life balance”, and we certainly won’t get there by copying the six things successful people do before 7:00 a.m. The email inbox will never stay empty. The to-do list will never stop growing. Someone will always be mildly disappointed in you. And the fully optimised version of yourself, the one who finally has time for what life is really about, will never arrive.
So what I take from this is that time is precious and limited. There are things we do in life because there are many things we choose not to do. Organisation, then, I believe, isn’t about mastering time or controlling life but about choosing how to spend our finite weeks.
This is not a guide written from the position of mastery. It’s written from inside the mess, by someone who reorganises because disorder makes her anxious and because order, however fleeting, feels kind to one’s self. It also permits time for better, marvellous things, like eating a gelato on a hot summer day, reading a book by a fireplace, dipping feet in the ocean, having sex on the kitchen counter, etc.
Enjoy.
General organisation
Keep one master to-do list and one daily list. Don’t overcrowd them.
Have a to-read, to-watch, check later files in your notes. I used to take screenshots of books, shows, articles and other things I found interesting, but would immediately forget about them. Keeping a note is so much more helpful.
Create routines that nourish your soul. It’s important for me to have alone time in the morning, so I wake up at least half an hour before my baby. It makes me a happier better human and mother. And looking at the popularity of this note, I am not alone.
Home and physical stuff
Store items where you drop them anyway. Organisation that fights habits always loses.
Reset your space for 10 minutes nightly. Put on a timer if you must. Timers prevent perfectionism. Be quick above everything else.
Declutter by removing, not rearranging. If you’re moving things around, you’re avoiding decisions. Also, limit storage before you organise it. Too much storage is a luxury and very often equals too much clutter. Fewer containers force decisions.
Keep important documents (passports, contracts, medical info) in one physical folder.
Create a “drop zone” at the entrance for keys, bag, shoes, post, etc.
Have one open basket per room. For items that don’t belong but you don’t have time to deal with now.
If you have kids, implement toy rotation system on monthly basis. Hide some toys, then exchange them. It will reduce clutter and the children will appreciate it, it’s like monthly Christmas for them.
Choose a bookshelf organisation system that suits your character. I organise roughly by genres and vibes.
Have a jewellery tray on your night stand, like this one. It’s just incredibly chic.
If flowers lift your mood, have a flower budget and buy them weekly. “I can buy me some flowers…”
Wardrobe
Create a uniform. Have few good quality pieces. Read this brilliant article by Elsa Schiaparelli on how to be chic on a budget. “Most women are foolish in the matter of clothes; they buy too many things, thinking they have to have them. That even applies to some movie stars. And when a woman has a limited income she is inclined to buy numbers of cheap things, and this is a serious error.”
Have signature jewellery that works with every outfit and just screams you. For me, it’s golden hoop earrings and a tennis necklace.
Hang things instead of folding whenever possible. If not possible, fold vertically.
Keep “worn but not dirty” clothes in one place, preferably not chair, not floor, not bed. This one is hard for me, but I am trying very hard to hang the clothes behind IKEA mirror.
Use one-in, one-out rule. You don’t have unlimited space, physical or mental. When you buy a new piece of clothing, sell, gift or donate an old one.
Store off-season clothes completely out of sight. Visual clutter drains energy even if it’s organised.
If it needs ironing, you don’t need it because life is simply too short. Of course, I HATE ironing and actually don’t own an iron, so you do you. But if you feel the same way I do, chances are the clothes that requires ironing will collect dust instead of being worn.
Everything in your wardrobe should be ready to wear. It should be clean, ironed (if you iron), mended.
Cooking
I don’t necessarily follow all my own advice here always because I love to cook, shop for food, etc. So to me it’s a pleasurable activity I don’t mind “wasting” the time on, but it’s still good advice.
Keep one permanent shopping list. Add items as they run out.
Shop for ingredients that work in multiple meals. Overlap reduces decisions later.
Stop buying “aspirational” food. If you didn’t cook it last month, you won’t cook it next month.
Cook once, eat twice (minimum). If a meal doesn’t produce leftovers, it costs too much time. Better yet, batch cook. I myself never mastered the art of batch cooking, but, again, because I love to cook and do it every day.
Standardise 5–7 core meals you can cook without thinking. Caroline Chambers from What To Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking and Corre Larkin from Coco Larkin Cooks share excellent easy recipes. Also, keep a written list of meals you actually like because memory lies and lists don’t.
Keep one “emergency meal” always stocked. Frozen dumplings, pasta plus pre-made sauce. This prevents takeaway spirals. I always have pelmeni in my freezer.
Digital organisation
Have scanned copies of all you important documents.
Name files like a human. “Invoice-Vodafone_2025” instead of “Final_FINAL_v8”.
Delete apps from your phone you don’t use at least weekly.
Delete pictures once a week.
Turn off all notifications except calls and messages. If it’s urgent, they will find you.
Clean up your in box as you go. Delete, delete, delete.
Unsubscribe aggressively once a month. If you didn’t open the last five emails, you don’t need it.
Health, energy, beauty
Have daily/weekly/monthly/yearly non-negotiables. My daily is movement. My weekly is hot yoga. My monthly is manicure and massage. My quarterly is facial. My twice a year is teeth cleaning and haircut.
Keep your vitamins by the coffee machine. It’s the only way I remember to take mine.
Create a “can’t skip” routine. Cleanser, serum, moisturiser, sun screen.
Have one reset product. A product you apply when everything feels off. For me it’s sheet face masks. I don’t know what it is about them that instantly makes me feel better.
Have a signature lip colour. Mine is Clinique’s Black Honey for everyday and Mac’s Russian red for the nights out (not happening anytime soon with a baby). I feel more put together the second I put it on.
Creativity, goals
Have an idea notebook. Katherine May wrote an excellent essay on how to keep a writer’s notebook. But even if you are not a writer, do keep a notebook. Write things down even when they seem bad.
Do creative work before consuming content. Otherwise your ideas get drowned out.
Protect the first hour after waking. This is when your brain is least colonised by other people’s priorities. Write morning pages, if you can. It’s an excellent excellent tool for self-discovery.
Set goals that describe behaviour, not outcomes. “Write 300 words a day” survives reality better than “finish a novel.” I am not sure who said it but it’s a great saying: Most people overestimate what they can do in a day, and underestimate what they can do in a year.
Create yearly and seasonal vision boards. Life changes every few months, light, weather, energy, workload, social demands. January and July are not the same but can be equally wonderful. Romanticise all seasons of life.
Apps and programs I use:
Pomofocus - Simple web-based Pomodoro timer. I use it for writing, cleaning up, etc.
Notes - for to-do lists, shopping lists, to-read lists, etc.
Notion - Master hub for notes, tasks, goals and knowledge management. I use it for anything that requires more space that simple notes.
Google Calendar - Syncs across devices, which is great, shares with others, which is even better.
Pinterest - A visual discovery engine. I am a huge Pinterest admirer. I use it for design, DIY, travel inspiration.
Canva - I create all my vision boards there.
Goodreads or The StoryGraph to organise books! I swear to myself to start using on of them in the next year. I have a hard time of keeping track of the books I read.
It’s important to remember that your motivation will probably disappear, I know, mine will. This is why good organisation isn’t really about discipline. It’s mostly about design and building systems that survive indifference. Systems that work on tired days, distracted days, busy days, and days when you simply don’t care very much. If something requires constant willpower, constant optimisation, or constant self-surveillance, it will eventually collapse under its own weight. (If you are me. I have VERY LITTLE willpower) Good organisation is supposed to reduce effort over time, not ass more to it.
In life, feeling joy should be your primary intention, and every single productivity tool or organisation hack must support it.
❤️ I feel like I need to read this once a week to remind myself. Great post.
Love this thank you. And literally just finished watching series 3 episode 2 of Blue Lights and just downloaded ‘I just wish I had a bigger kitchen’ - it’s a sign!