18 LISTS TO GET ORGANIZED: LISTS TO MAKE TO STAY ORGANIZED!

​18 LISTS TO GET ORGANIZED: LISTS TO MAKE TO STAY ORGANIZED!

​Lists are an incredible tool for getting your life organized. They help you to visualize things and get your brain flowing. They are also a productive way to stay on top of your responsibilities and goals! Which is why I have compiled this helpful list of 18 list ideas to get organized. So, if you are interested in learning what lists to make to stay organized then keep reading! These are the lists to write to get your life in order.

​But before we totally jump into this list of helpful lists, I want to quickly mention the benefits of lists! Because lists are a lot more than just the basic to do list ideas. There is so many more reasons and ways that writing lists can help you out! Then we will chat about the lists to make to stay organized.

​Why are we talking about lists to make to stay organized?

• Making lists helps you stay focused. When you are starting to drift away from things or miss things you are able to look back at your lists to re-align and get focused.
• They also help to ensure that you don’t miss things! Being forgetful happens to us all and lists can help to avoid missing important things.
• Lists are an efficient and easy way to share information. As you will see below a lot of these lists are a great way to compile information and share it with your family (or friends!) so you can get on the same page. Like the meal planning list!
• They can help you feel like you have more control of your life by ensuring you know what you want! And a big part of why getting organized is so beneficial is that it helps you feel in control of your life.

​The first step to keeping these lists and helping get yourself organized is to get a notebook that you like. You should definitely get a spiral bound notebook because it is easier to go back and forth between pages and have more long-term running lists. These are the lists to write to get your life in order and keeping them in one place like a notebook make it much easier!

​{ Helpful lists to write to stay organized}

1. Daily To Do list – A running daily to-do list is probably the most helpful list that you can use to help keep organized. There are lots of different to do list ideas you can do but daily is definitely my personal favorite type!
2. Weekly To Do list – A weekly to-do list can be a life changing tool to keep (and stay) organized. I have a whole post on creating a productive and helpful weekly to-do list including a free digital list.  Check it out here: How to Write Weekly To-Do Lists + Free Template.
3. Goals list - Both short term and long-term lists of your goals is very helpful for keeping your dreams and priorities in mind.
4. Fitness progress list – Keep track of your gym activities and progress. This isn’t just the scale/measurements but also how far you ran each day or how much you lifted. These lists will help keep you on track of your fitness goals but also will help keep you organized.
5. Stores/Shopping list – This is for stores and items BESIDES groceries. Keeping a list of things that you’ll need at Target or for your kids is helpful. It’s easy to forget that you need Sharpies when you go to Target in 2 weeks.
6. Meal planning list – Keeping a running list of what your meals will be for the next 5-7 days is so helpful for staying organized. It ensures you can avoid the fighting over what to eat and that you know what groceries you need to buy. Bonus- it helps you also avoid food waste, which now more than ever is so important. You can also get a cute meal planning list pad for your fridge like this one.
7. Budget list – This will depend on your individual family finances and what your preference is, but I have found a general list tracking my incoming money and outgoing money helps me largely keep my finances in check. I also have a monthly expenses list for reoccurring monthly bills that is very helpful even if you have everything on auto-payments like I do!
8. Spending list – Similar to your budget list but a spending list is a more detailed list of what your spending money on. This list helps you get a much better idea for budgeting on what areas you are spending money on and a good idea of where you could be saving money. It sounds difficult but if you just take a second after going to a store or ordering food to jot down the items and the store/restaurant it will become a habit and can really help your finances if correctly utilized.
9. Running Grocery list – A running grocery list is great because you're more likely to remember things if you write them down when you realize you need them rather than hoping to remember on the 1 day a week you normally write up your grocery list. Think about it- it’s hard to remember on Sunday that you used the last bit of ketchup on on Thursday if you haven’t needed ketchup since then!
10. Emails to send – This is more so a list for me at work but it’s so important for me to jot down emails I need to send. For me, as I’m walking around and meeting with people, I’ll think of something I need to inform someone of or of an idea to discuss over email and to avoid forgetting about it I just keep a running “emails” list!
11. Events to attend – Next up on the lists to write to stay organized is definitely one of the most fun! I like to keep this list running as ideas of events I want to attend and fun things to do! I love checking out the local events on Facebook and then keeping a running list of them.
12. Cleaning lists – The best way in my experience is to break this up into daily, weekly, and monthly. It helps keep track of not only what needs to be cleaned but when the last time something was cleaned. I just released my free weekly cleaning schedule printable that you can get here!
13. Books you want to read/ shows to watch lists – This is pretty self explanatory but when you see a TV show you want to watch or hear about a book you want to read then jot it down.  You probably won’t remember the name of a random book that your coworker recommended 3 months ago when you finally get a chance to read a new book, so jot it down in the moment.
14. Birthday & Anniversary list – Make this list so you never forget the birthdays and anniversaries of your loved ones. Trust me- if you remember the wedding anniversary of your sister that will mean the world to her. This is absolutely an essential one of the lists to make to get organized and keep your life easier!
15. Areas/items to declutter list – Keeping a list of what needs organized or decluttered is so helpful so that when you get the opportunity to declutter then you already have a great list to start with. This is super helpful when you get the time to work on organizing your home. (I have a list of 50 items to declutter in your home to get this list started/help you brainstorm!)
16. Usernames and passwords lists – A notebook page that does not travel with you with your username and passwords can be super helpful. Remember – it’s much more secure to have random and un-associated passwords for each account you have. This is an organized list that can really help keep your life organized. If you prefer usernames and passwords in a book here is one you can use.
17. Restaurants to try list – Keep a running list of restaurants you hear about or that are opening soon that you want to try. This is incredibly helpful when you are debating with your family/significant other where you want to go to dinner. This is one of the lists to write that when it comes in handy you will be so thankful you had made it.
18. Professional accomplishments lists – This is the last of the lists to make to get organized but it is so helpful! It’s actually very easy to forget about professional accomplishments such as the name of an award you won or the dates of a certification. Keep a list with all that information! It will come in handy when updating your resume/CV for different types of jobs or if you need to write a professional autobiography.

​Best of luck using these 18 list ideas to get organized this year. I believe you can truly get your life organized by utilizing lists to keep yourself in order! These lists to make to get organized should help your life a bit more of an organized and hopefully happier life. Remember that lists can be amazing tools and you can go beyond the simple to do list ideas to really help you better and organize your life.

​These lists to write can be so helpful for getting your life in order this year!