If you are like most people, you spend more time than you’d like to admit looking for things you’ve misplaced, trying to remember important information, or just redoing things because you can’t locate whatever you did the first time. If this sounds all too familiar, it may be time to get organized. Although the organization is an essential part of taking care of your mind, an organized physical space means increased mental and emotional efficacy and stress reduction.

You’ve probably been putting that off, too, because it doesn’t sound like much fun. After all, if you were the kind of person who got excited about the organization, you wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. The good news is that even if you are not a naturally organized person, there is plenty that you can do to improve.

Create Systems

You’re always looking for your keys or your phone, mail piles up without being looked at, and you can never find the paperwork you need to file your taxes. These are common problems that many people face, and the solution is to put systems in place so that you can’t fail. First, designate specific spaces in your home as the place where things go, such as a basket by the door for your keys and a docking station for your phone whenever you aren’t using it.

There are apps and software platforms that can help you better organize financial documents. For tasks that you tend to put off, such as sorting mail, set aside ten minutes or other small blocks of time to quickly sort them. For this kind of task and decluttering, you may want to think in terms of putting things into three categories: discard, deal with immediately, or file/store. However, you should be careful not to over-rely on the last category.

Problem Solving

If organizing is a challenge for you, you probably deal with problems in a somewhat haphazard way. Taking a more organized approach to problem-solving can make a huge difference. Since being methodical doesn’t come naturally to you, keeping this process as simple as possible is essential. You need to define the problem, brainstorm solutions, and choose solutions. Maybe you want to go back to college, but you’ve been putting it off because it just seems overwhelming. When you sit down and look at it, you identify the main problem as your concern about the expense. Your brainstorming session should be judgment-free.

Write down everything you can think of, from asking relatives for money to seeing if your employer will pitch in for tuition to applying for loans. Maybe you’ll decide that applying for loans is a solid, sensible one among those ideas. You can look into private student loans online, where several lenders have made using a fast, easy process. Try to employ this system of identifying, brainstorming, and choosing whenever you face a challenge.

Consider a Professional

If all else fails, there are professional organizers out there. These are people who are good at what they do, and they can help you sort out what you need to organize and devise a system to deal with it better in the future.