Little Ways To Live a More Simple Life - What Are Yours?

Several weeks have passed since my organization Motivation Monday with the quote that said organization is about living a efficiency, saving time, and improving your quality of life.  I have continued thinking about little tweaks in my life that can help me be mentally more organized. The nature of this post reminds me of those from the Happiness Project.

(Has anyone read that book?). My basic take-away from that book was that the things that make us happy—in this case through organization—are typically very small things that are very simple to apply to our lives ONCE WE RECOGNIZE THEM. Sometimes we don't know WHY we feel so disorganized or unhappy and might not think that very tiny things can actually make a very big difference in our lives.

That said, I thought I share a few VERY, VERY simple tweaks I've been incorporating that have helped me feel more organized.

1. Keys. 
A few months ago my sister mentioned to me that I always seem to be losing my keys. I thought she was wrong because I didn't think looking in my purse for 1 minute for them qualified as always losing them. They were somewhere in my bag right?

But I decided to have one specific place in my bag for my keys. Now I always put my keys in the buttoned front pocket of my purse when I'm out and about. (It's also been helpful to only use one purse for the past several weeks.) I have occasionally put those keys in a different pocket, and it totally throws me off! I make sure to put them in the pocket because it gives me a little piece of mind and when I have my hands full, I know exactly where to reach to find those keys.

Now when I get home, I've incorporated a little key spot similar to that from the Big Bang Theory.


My desk is right by the door when I walk into my apartment, so I unlock the door and drop the keys in their spot on the desk. I know right where they are and never have to search for them when I need to leave the house. I've also noticed that I've made the habit of jingling my keys as I'm walking out/locking the door as a double check that I have them and don't lock myself out. Because, yea, I've done that.

2. Put personal belongings in back seat behind driver's seat.
I don't have kids and usually drive around by myself so this is the method that works for me. On any given day, I likely have at least 2 or 3 bags with me: purse, laptop case, gym bag. Those are my three staples. For a while I was always putting these items on the front seat next to me. I'd often go to that door to drop them off and then walk around the car to get in. I'd either do the reverse when leaving my car OR I'd try to pick everything up while I'm sitting in the car and basically fall out with all of that stuff attached to me.

It wasn't pretty, let me tell you that.

Then I started putting my bags in the back seat behind me. I've been doing this for a couple week's regularly and it's amazing. 1). I always put my stuff there so I always know where those things are. 2) I don't have to walk around the car. I walk to my side of the car, stop at the back seat, then take one step and I'm in the driver's seat. 3) I don't fall out of my car with a million bags. I'm not even tempted to do this.

You guys, I told you these were very simple things that make my life easier. VERY.

3. Halved frozen bananas for smoothies.

I drink a lot of smoothies for breakfast or between classes when I don't have much time to eat. And any avid smoothie makers know that bananas help make a smoothie thick and creamy. I had previously seen tips for freezing banana slices, but that just didn't work for me. The slices all stuck together and I could never separate the right amount. But I realized that a half banana is pretty standard for most of my smoothies so I tried just freezing them cut that much.

This has worked SPLENDIDLY!

I placed the cut bananas on a plate in the freezer initially. Once they were mostly frozen I transfered them to a basic plastic sandwich bag like shown. They do not stick together and I can easily pick one to put in my Magic Bullet.

4. Organizing notes
I currently use Google Keep and Evernote to keep track of notes, blog ideas, important reminders and such. Google Keep is brand new and I'll do a post on it soon. I have the Google Keep widget on my phone and can add a note, photo, etc. with comments at any time from anywhere. This program works offline too and syncs with your Google Drive. But both programs are great ways to organize your thoughts, access information from anywhere, and have searchable files. I'll do a post looking more specifically into these programs soon.

Anyways those are my simple tips for a more simple life. I have sooo many more ways to simplify and organize my life. So think about what you do and let me know.