Extra LSR: How I Stay Organized.

Getting organized is the key to balancing blogging + real life.

I’m one of those super organized A-types. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been naturally wired to organize, plan, straighten, and clean. Picture this: a 7-year old Ash who actually enjoyed cleaning her room, organizing her toys, and putting things away. Yep, guilty as charged. There’s a touch of OCD in there, too, but that’s another story.

This ability to stay neat and tidy in all areas of life has translated pretty well to adult life: I successfully balance a full-time job, this blog, a social life, and personal downtime, all without completely losing my mind. I rarely miss a deadline, the blog churns out a steady stream of content, and my to-do lists gets done way more often than not.

So how? After so many of you responded to , I thought it would be a great topic to dig into on LSR. Here are my top tips for being productive, getting organized, and staying sane in the process. While much of this is blog-centered, there are other methods and tricks I practice that are life-in-general-related– so there’s a little something for everyone here.

Get your calendar right.

The first step to getting organized is to get your schedule in check. I’m personally a Google Calendar girl, but to each their own. Some ways I maximize my cal’s efficiency:

• Color code by type. Color-coding means that you can take a look at your calendar and know at a glance what type of events/appointments are ahead of you, which makes for simple scanning. I’ve got a color for: blog-related stuff (including posts, events, and deadlines), beauty/wellness (doctor’s visits, medspa appointments, spray tans, manicures, etc.), the 9-5 gig (I don’t sync my work calendar to my Google cal so it’s not like every single meeting is captured, but I do have this category to flag super important issues like off-site training or work-related travel), and gym sessions.
• Use reminders for little one-off things. Need to remember to do something at a specific time? Calendar alarm to the rescue. I use this for things like checking my bank account to see if a brand payment has posted on time, remembering to put the chicken in the oven at the exact time needed for dinner to be ready by whatever-o’clock– you get the point. Very handy for those totally-going-to-slip-my-mind events.
• Not everything needs a reminder. While I log a lot of stuff in my Google calendar, not every single event is set to alert me with a notification. I won’t set notification alarms it’s just something I need to be generally aware of (like bookmarking Kansas City Fashion Week) vs. setting alarms for super important, more specific things (like the actual starting time of the KCFW runway shows I’m attending). This keeps my phone from blowing up every 5 seconds.

Do the work ahead of time.

Pre-work makes the dream work, people. Here’s where I apply it:

• Meal planning + prepping. This is typically a weekend activity; I’ll plan meals, Dave and I will grocery shop, and then we’ll prep veggies, cook batches of chicken, and make keto fat bombs for use throughout the week. This makes weeknight lunches/dinners super easy– you just grab + go.
• Grocery store efficiency. I keep an evergreen grocery list in my Evernote app, which means I have a running list of everything I typically stock in the fridge + pantry, formatted with checkboxes before each item. I take stock of what we have in the house before going to the grocery store, unticking what we need to buy, and then I have a handy reference for what I need. So much simpler than trying to remember what’s in the freezer when you’re in the middle of the frozen food aisle. It’s easy to add things to the list as you discover new foods or try out new recipes. I also organize the list by section of the grocery store to streamline my shopping once I’m there. Since I start in the produce section and work my way to the other end, that is how my list is organized.
• Packing my gym bag the night before. I unpack and repack my gym bag as soon as I get home from the gym. Then the bag is ready to go in the morning, no guesswork.

I work ahead as much as I can on the blog, too. This applies to shooting, writing, the whole nine yards. I try to stay at least a week ahead; this means I’ve got the 2-3 posts for the upcoming week edited, linked, written, and scheduled (via Hootsuite) done before any given Monday. And that allows me to use little blocks of free time I have throughout the week working on the following week’s content. Get ahead, stay ahead.

How I make this happen:

• Batch shoot outfits + campaigns. Shoots normally happen on the weekends with my photog + pal, Brina,  This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but it’s how we structure most of our shoots.) This method stocks up a cache of photos I can edit, write, and schedule in blocks of time– rather than just shooting only what I’m wearing that day and then posting it asap.
• Work the process in blocks of time. For me, there are 6 steps to publishing a blog post: planning the outfit (or flatlay if it’s non-fashion content), shooting the look, editing the photos, linking the elements of the outfit, writing the post, and finally writing + scheduling the promotional social copy to promote the post once its live. Because I don’t typically do everything in one sitting, knowing these steps helps me plan on what to do when.
  • For example, I might shoot a bunch of looks on a Saturday, but then edit + write on Sunday, and finally go back and schedule one evening after work. It still gets done, just in chunks. But I try to finish a step once I start, so I can easily keep track of where I am in the process of completing a blog post.
  • I use Hootsuite to schedule tweets, Facebook to schedule my page’s post, and the RewardStyle app to schedule my Instagram posts. All of this content is written ahead of time (and the Hootsuite + Facebook platforms actually publish for you, so once you schedule, you’re done).
• Social engagement sprinkled throughout the week. I try and spend about an hour or so a day on Instagram engaging with my feed and catching up with pals. Interacting with the app help boosts your content, especially if you’re engaging around the same time as you post. So it’s a win-win; my posts get a boost and I’m keeping up with all the feeds I love.
• Maximize those random free weekend afternoons. While I usually work in chunks + by step, I try and take advantage of those Saturday and Sunday afternoons where I don’t have anything else to do. Maybe I have a few looks that have yet to be edited, or maybe I can start writing a longer post that’s not on the editorial calendar until next month– maximizing that time helps keep me ahead of the game.

Another pro to working ahead: when an actual emergency arises (be it blog-related or not), you have time to pivot and address it. For example, because I’m not writing blog posts the night before they’re set to go live, I can address random time-sensitive issues like my site going down or a last-minute request from a brand I’m working with less stress. More breathing room = lower cortisol levels.

A to-do list app will save your life.

I have recently started using ToDoist, a to-do list (on steroids!) app. You can sort things by category (I’ve created several of my own categories, including blog, shopping (lol), social (media), etc., in addition to the standard: personal, work, and errands.) You schedule things for specific times (spin class at 3:00) or just have a task listed as something you need to get done on a certain day (make doctor’s appointment). You can move things around, rescheduling as you see fit.

The app makes it so easy to check things off as you get ’em done, and add things as they pop into your head. (I’m notorious for having a trash short-term memory; capturing the task/thought immediately is key.) Another to-do list tip: I spend time each evening making sure tomorrow’s to-do list is ready to roll. It usually takes just a few minutes and then when I wake up the next day, I have my list of what needs to get done ready to tackle.

If you can’t tell, a completed to-do list is a personal badge of honor for me. I love checking boxes, okay? It keeps me organized and on top of things; not to mention the extreme swell of productivity-related pride I get when the list is done.

I use ToDoist for large and small tasks; for example, a Tuesday might have:

• Blog post: return comments
• Return {insert brand name} email
• Edit next Thurs LSR photos
• Spin + lift
• Water flowers
• Invoice {insert brand name}
• Order dog food
• Sweep floors
• Face mask

The little tasks (water the flowers) are right in there with the big (edit next week’s blog photos) because they both need to get done. I’ve found that it’s not actually the big + hairy tasks that stress me out– it’s those random, nagging tasks I keep overlooking that pile up and cause me more stress. Why? Because it’s tiny little stress bursts that culminate over time. For me, walking downstairs and seeing that I still need to organize that pile of mail next to the phone and, oh yeah, the dogs still need food, and shit, I forgot all about scheduling the cable guy again contributes to me feeling out of control. (And control, whether fully attainable or not, is something this Capricorn needs. Hi, OCD, party of Ashley.)

Speaking of control…

Create + maintain a clean, clutter-free space.

This may not apply to everyone– I’m aware there are people living on the planet who actually thrive in chaotic, messy environments. (Or, people whose environments do not directly impact their productivity.) And that’s cool! However, I am totally not one of those people. For me, my environment dictates my mood. A cluttered, dirty space immediately stresses me out. (Note: this only applies to spaces that are mine. I will not come to your house and judge you on your organization, or lack thereof.) I need order first and foremost if I’m going to focus on anything else because I literally cannot focus if my space is a mess. But who has time to stop, drop, and clean for hours on end before getting something else done? Not me. So I try to keep things mostly clean + organized all the time, and here’s how:

• Make my bed as soon as I get out of it. First of all, it wakes me up. (I’m not a morning person, so I need all the help I can get.) Secondly, my bedroom immediately looks clean, which contributes to the, “Okay, let’s do this damn day” vibe.
• Clean + straighten as you move through a room. Examples of this include: wiping down the bathroom counter as I’m brushing my teeth, straightening my vanity as I’m picking out jewelry for the day, putting away a stack of clothes sitting on the chair in my dressing room before I get dressed.
• Going somewhere else? Put stuff away. Before I leave a room, I find myself doing a quick sweep of what doesn’t belong– and then I fix those things. Example: I’m headed upstairs to take a shower. But first, I’ll round up the random lip gloss sitting on the counter, an unboxed package I need to put away, and the pair of shoes I left by the couch. Up the stairs we all go, and everything gets put away. Boom. Less clutter, efficiently executed. It keeps piles and piles of stuff from gathering, which keeps the whole house generally tidier.
• Do it when you see it. If you have the time (and most of the time, you do, if you’re honest), pick up/clean/wipe down/dust something when you notice it. There! Done! No need to come back to it! I’ll often see something, it’ll bug me, but I don’t really want to do it right that second, and then I’ll check myself: get it done. See it, do it. This is so handy when I’m on the phone; I use that time to catch up with whoever and also clean.
• Chunk out those annoying medium-sized cleaning tasks. Who says you have to devote an entire Wednesday night to cleaning your apartment/house? Or a whole Saturday afternoon? Just like blog work, I chunk it out. I might tackle dusting the blinds for Tuesday after work, sweep the floors on Wednesday, and wash + change the sheets on Thursday. Those not-fun-but-necessary projects get done without you losing too much time– and your house stays overall cleaner + more organized in the process. (PS, I don’t dust the blinds every Tuesday, I swear. This was just an example.)

Schedule time to work– and play.

Are you sensing that I don’t like to just sit and relax very much? Guilty as charged! I like being productive– and I’m also pretty good at being productive. So where do I find time for my personal life? I schedule it in, like everything else. Schedules and to-do lists make my world go round, so penciling in the fun stuff is just as key.

Despite both having busy schedules, Dave and I make it a point to eat dinner together most nights before diving into a few of the shows we love. (He’s currently treating me to the delight that is Community.) We put date nights on the calendar to shake up the wash, rinse, and repeat of the usual grind. I make sure to check in with pals I haven’t seen in a while and schedule a lunch (or wine) date.

However, everyone needs time for themselves. Whatever that looks like, whatever thing makes you happy or recharges your batteries, find time to do it. I recommend blocking out time for you on your calendar so it gets done (because we often put off the things we love to help other people/keep life running smoothly). Lunches with girlfriends and date nights get put into my Google cal (and therefore my ToDoist, because they sync– brilliant). Gym sessions and spin classes get logged, too. Those feel-good things should take priority, so get ’em on your calendar!

I hope this was helpful! By no means am I saying that everyone should adopt the fairly-OCD way of life I have, but I hope you can find a few tricks here to add to your life that makes it easier!

Linking up with Elegance & Mommyhood, Curly Crafty Mom, Living on Cloud Nine, Meet at the Barre, Threads for Thomas, Nancy’s Fashion Style, A Pocketful of Polka Dots, Shelbee on the Edge, Michelle’s Pa(i)ge + Northwest Blonde, and Pink Sole.